THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF HAPPINESS AT WORKPLACE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HYBRID WORK MODEL AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN IT INDUSTRY

The word “Great Resignation” is shaking up many organizations across different sectors in the world. The Covid-19 pandemic significantly changed the employees’ views on their careers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, organizations mostly used the flexible work arrangements like work from home (WFH) or remote work (RW) and hybrid work model (HWM) to run their business activities ensuring safety of employees. Work from home option and hybrid work is changing the work dynamics. It has become a significant reason for the employees especially women employees to continue their employment as they can also continue care-giving at home and do remote work. It has been reported that they were quitting their jobs when organizations insisted on them being physically present in the office. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of hybrid work model on happiness at work and employee retention and also to find  out does the happiness at work mediate on the relationship between hybrid work and employee retention. Hence, the empirical study was conducted among employees working in IT companies. The sample size was 200 and the collected data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Hybrid work model was found  to provide employees the space and flexibility to manage their professional and personal life and also increase their happiness at work. Happiness at work was found to positively impact retention of employees and mediates on the relationship between hybrid work model and employee retention. In the situation of a high shortage of skilled employees, the hybrid work model could be the most effective method to attract and retain skilled employees, since it influences the employee’s intention to stay or quit their job. The findings of the study will be help organizations to design the modern workplace with futuristic development and to retain talents.