Navigating Choppy Water: Flexibility Ripple Effects in the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Future of Remote and Hybrid Working

IF 2.7 3区管理学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Work Employment and Society Pub Date : 2023-09-19 DOI:10.1177/09500170231195230

Daniel Wheatley, Matthew R. Broome, Tony Dobbins, Benjamin Hopkins, Owen Powell

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Abstract

This article investigates the challenges of navigating the adoption of remote and hybrid working for large organizations with diverse functions. Focus groups with employees of the UK business of a multinational organization identify conceptual contributions to the sociology of work and employment and empirical findings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that inform future policy and practice. Location-based flexible working has a potential unintended ‘ripple’ effect wherein application of individual-level flexibility has wider-reaching consequences throughout the organization. Findings emphasize that organizations need to recognize and respond to new realities of location-based flexibility. Management must navigate potential ‘ripples’ in the development of flexible working policies and practice, shaped by various tensions, including an overarching autonomy–control paradox. This requires a coordinated approach centred on ‘inclusive flexibility’ and ‘responsible autonomy’ that involves moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies towards a tailored approach offering employees choice, agency and voice in decision-making, while accommodating different stakeholder needs.

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在波涛汹涌的水域航行:2019冠状病毒病大流行中的灵活性涟漪效应以及远程和混合工作的未来

本文研究了为具有多种功能的大型组织采用远程和混合工作所面临的挑战。与跨国组织英国业务的员工进行的焦点小组确定了在2019冠状病毒病大流行背景下对工作和就业社会学的概念性贡献和实证研究结果，为未来的政策和实践提供信息。基于地点的灵活工作具有潜在的意想不到的“连锁反应”，其中个人层面灵活性的应用在整个组织中具有更广泛的影响。研究结果强调，组织需要认识到并应对基于位置的灵活性的新现实。管理层必须驾驭灵活工作政策和实践发展过程中潜在的“涟漪”，这是由各种紧张关系形成的，包括一个全面的自主控制悖论。这需要一种以“包容性灵活性”和“负责任的自主权”为中心的协调方法，包括从一刀切的战略转向量身定制的方法，为员工提供选择、代理和决策发言权，同时满足不同利益相关者的需求。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Work Employment and Society Multiple-

CiteScore

7.90

自引率

13.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Work, Employment and Society (WES) is a leading international peer reviewed journal of the British Sociological Association which publishes theoretically informed and original research on the sociology of work. Work, Employment and Society covers all aspects of work, employment and unemployment and their connections with wider social processes and social structures. The journal is sociologically orientated but welcomes contributions from other disciplines which addresses the issues in a way that informs less debated aspects of the journal"s remit, such as unpaid labour and the informal economy.