En inblick i upplevelsen av gemenskap vid användandet av hybridarbete - En kvalitativ studie om hur gemenskap upplevs vid hybridarbete bland medarbetare i ett bemanningsföretag

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to research about how the community is experienced by staffing agency employees working within a public organization that uses hybrid work. To gather the empirical data, we conducted a qualitative study with an abductive approach. Empirical data was collected from 13 interviews. The data was divided into eight different themes to include relevant information. The themes identified were informal meetings, activities, face-to-face interactions and communication, emotional support and work environment, isolation and absence, and a flexible daily life. The empirical data was also analyzed using various theories, primarily focused on the HR-perspective to provide a deeper analysis of the challenges and opportunities associated with hybrid work in relations to community. Some of the challenges identified were that respondents perceive hybrid work as potentially reducing informal meetings, physical interactions, causing misunderstandings in remote communication, increasing feelings of isolations and absence, all of which negatively impact the sense of community. On the other hand, the results showed that hybrid work offers the opportunity for a more flexible daily life, allowing respondents to more easily balance work and private life. The contribution of our research compared to Golden, Veiga & Dino´s (2008) research shows that professional isolation can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction while our study shows that isolation causes some respondents to experience a reduced sense of community.