European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

The workplace of the future will be characterised by a much higher proportion of hybrid working. In hybrid work settings “employees can divide their time between collaborating with colleagues on-site and WFH [working from home]” (McPhail et al, 2023; p. 157), and spend part of their time physically present in their place of work and part of their time working remotely (from their homes or from remote working hubs). Working from home as defined by the International Labour Organization (Papandrea et al., 2020) thereby describes individuals either working part or all of one’s regular work time at home, i.e., in one’s primary place of residence. In contrast, telework involves working from a range of alternative locations outside the main office (McPhail, 2023, p. 156) and remote working is defined as “any form of work not conducted in the main office, and may include work at branch locations and other business units” (McPhail et al, 2023; p.156). This special issue focuses specifically on hybrid working, recognizing that this term can capture a variety of experiences in terms of the balance of time spent physically present in the office vs time spent working remotely.

Hybrid working has several advantages for organisations, including the possibility of substantial cost-savings (e.g., lower cost of office space) and for employees, including greater flexibility and reduced commuting times (e.g., Delanoeije & Verbruggen, 2020). Moreover, the reduction in commuting and ability to work from home away from major cities holds appeal for governments as they attempt to manage the twin transition (digital and green transitions). Hybrid working which also includes WFH can improve employees' wellbeing by providing them with greater flexibility and autonomy (De Vincenzi et al. 2022) and reduced commuting time and costs (Aksoy et al. 2022). However, hybrid workers can also experience a sense of loneliness and isolation due to reduced social interaction and support (Papandrea et al., 2020; Leka, 2021) and blurred boundaries between work and personal life (De Vincenzi et al. 2022). Generally, the adverse effects of working from home are more pronounced among women, younger workers, those with lower incomes & those with caretaking responsibilities who face additional burdens of juggling care and work responsibilities (Sostero et al., 2020). Evidence remains inconclusive not only regarding the association between hybrid working and employee mental health, wellbeing, and performance, but also on team processes (e.g., participation, communication), team cohesion and climate as well as organizational outcomes (e.g., innovativeness, productivity, organizational commitment). Only recently research has started to evaluate performance in the context of hybrid work (e.g., Allen et al., 2024). Moreover, less is known about antecedents and consequences of hybrid work at the team and organizational level (e.g., Arena et al., 2023) and how they unfold over time. Hybrid working environments, comprising different forms and types of alternative work arrangements are not homogeneous and can vary in terms of the pattern of hybrid working, the ratio of remote to in-office working (ranging from those who wholly work in the office, wholly work remotely or work some days in the office and some days remotely) and the autonomy with which workers can choose when and where to work, amongst others. These alternative work arrangements also present new challenges and the need to upskill organisational decision-makers, such as leaders, managers, and HR professionals.

We are interested in papers that advance our understanding of the design of and different forms of hybrid working environments as well as its promoting and hindering factors, boundary conditions and consequences. In particular, we are interested in understanding factors influencing hybrid work at the societal, organizational, team, leadership, and individual level. We are interested in receiving submissions representing high quality research with rigorous designs using longitudinal, diary, qualitative, and/or intervention designs and approaches aiming to improve hybrid work and its consequences for workers, teams and/or organizations. Thereby, studies are welcome evaluating the distribution and amount of hybrid working and its effects before, during and after the pandemic. We will consider interventions at the individual, team, leadership and organisational (e.g. structure, culture) levels to develop scientific evidence to support an evidence-based approach to promoting mental health, wellbeing, and performance in this changing work environment. When considering hybrid work, its antecedents, and consequences as well as intervention approaches, questions such as the following are raised:

• Which forms of hybrid working can be distinguished and which impact do they have on outcomes at the individual, team and/or organizational level? Do various degrees of hybrid working have different longitudinal impacts? How have hybrid working patterns evolved before, during and after the pandemic?
• How does hybrid work impact different outcomes at the individual (e.g., health, wellbeing, performance, creativity, work-family interface), team (e.g., collaboration, psychological safety, team climate) or organizational level (e.g., productivity, commitment)? How does hybrid working impact various measures of productivity at the team and organizational level (e.g., joint activities, innovativeness etc.)?
• Which are the characteristics of ‘good‘ hybrid work? How can hybrid work characteristics be assessed and differentiated? Under which boundary conditions can the negative impacts of hybrid work be alleviated, and positive ones boosted?
• How can workplaces (e.g., office design) be made more attractive for hybrid workers? How should hybrid work be designed and crafted; for example, how can employees use various proactive strategies to build better hybrid work for themselves and create boundaries around work?
• How can leaders address the challenges of leading with less face-to-face interaction with employees? What are effective leadership practices in hybrid working environments?
• Which interventions at the organizational, team, leadership and individual level are effective in improving hybrid work and its consequences?

We welcome submissions that improve our understanding of hybrid work and provide approaches to designing and crafting hybrid working environments in a healthy and resourceful way. The special issue submissions will need to adhere to the rules of EJWOP (e.g., no cross-sectional self-report studies, no student samples).

References

Aksoy, C. G., Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., Davis, S. J., Dolls, M., & Zarate, P. (2022). Working from home around the world (No. w30446). National Bureau of Economic Research. DOI 10.3386/w30446

Allen, K. S., Grelle, D., Lazarus, E. M., Popp, E., Gutierrez, S. L. (2024). Hybrid is here to stay: Critical behaviors for success in the new world of work. Personality and Individual Differences, 217, 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112459

Arena, M., Hines, S., Golden, J. III (2023). The three Cs for cultivating organizational culture in a hybrid world. Organizational Dynamics, 2, 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2023.100958

Joni Delanoeije & Marijke Verbruggen (2020) Between-person and within-person effects of telework: a quasi-field experiment, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 29:6, 795-808, https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2020.1774557

De Vincenzi, C., Pansini, M., Ferrara, B., Buonomo, I., & Benevene, P. (2022). Consequences of COVID-19 on employees in remote working: challenges, risks, and opportunities. An evidence-based literature review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(18), 11672. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811672

Leka, S., (2021). The future of working in a virtual environment and occupational safety and health. Discussion Paper, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/future-working-virtual-environment-and-occupational-safety-and-health

McPail, R., Chan, X. W. (C.), May, R., & Wilkinson, A. (2023). Post-COVID remote working and its impact on people, productivity, and the planet: an exploratory scoping review. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 35, 154-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2023.2221385

Papandrea, D., Azzi, M., & Alwani, D. (2020). Managing work-related psychosocial risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Geneva: International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---safework/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_748638.pdf

Sostero, M., Milasi, S., Hurley, J., Fernandez-Macías, E., & Bisello, M. (2020). Teleworkability and the COVID-19 crisis: a new digital divide? (No. 2020/05). JRC working papers series on labour, education, and technology. https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Future-of-working-and-OSH_EN.pdf

Authors are asked to first submit an extended abstract (1,000 words) by 30.09.2024 which will be reviewed by the special issue guest editors. Please submit this abstract via email to the guest editors. Authors invited to submit a full paper will be notified by the end of November 2024. The deadline for full paper submissions is 31.04.2025. Please submit your full paper online via the journal's submission portal. It is envisaged that the special issue will be published by January 2026.

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