Strengthening Local Governance Through Flexible Work: Hybrid Work Implications for Employee Well-being and Public Financial Management

Abstract

This article examines how hybrid work can strengthen employee well-being and public financial management (PFM) in Birgunj Metropolitan City. Design/methodology: It uses a qualitative case-study synthesis of municipal PFM materials, remote-work survey findings, municipal documents, audit evidence and relevant literature. Findings: Flexible work can reduce commuting pressure and support continuity, but isolation, weak work–life boundaries and inadequate home workstations may undermine staff well-being. The remote-work evidence shows favourable overall quality of life (M=4.45/6), alongside limited social interaction (M=4.26), weaker colleague connection (M=4.25) and difficulty separating work from personal life (M=3.92). For PFM, digital and hybrid workflows can improve revenue administration, reconciliation, procurement tracking, reporting and transparency; however, weak controls, fragmented records and limited digital capability can reproduce existing governance failures online. Practical implications: Birgunj should introduce role-based hybrid work, secure digital systems, measurable outputs, ergonomic support and risk-based internal audit. Originality/value: The article integrates employee well-being with municipal financial governance, two themes commonly treated separately. It argues that hybrid work should be assessed not as an employee benefit alone, but as a governance intervention whose success depends on the interaction between people, processes, technology and accountability.