Here to Work:

An Exploration of In-Person Work in an Era of Hybrid Work

Devin Kilpatrick

PhD Candidate in Management & Organizations

University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business

What is Hybrid Work?

• Hybrid Work: A flexible working arrangement in which a worker utilizes access to both in-person work at a location shared with other members of their organization, and offsite remote work
• Two key traits of hybrid work:
• Choice between working in-person with others as well as remotely
• Flexibility to switch between locations on a regular basis

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(e.g., Bell, McAlpine, & Hill, 2023; Yang et al., 2022; Kilpatrick, Greer, & Thatcher, working paper)

What We Know About Hybrid Work

For individuals, positive outcomes for hybrid workers include:

• reduced commuting time/cost
• improved work-life balance
• enhanced perceived physical and mental health
• Perceived (and actual) productivity

For organizations that employ hybrid workers, positive outcomes include:

• Access to broader talent pool
• Reduced office real estate costs
• Ability to offer lower pay in exchange for hybrid work

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Ramani and Bloom, 2022; Bloom, Han, and Liang, 2022; Wigert and White, 2022; Barrero, Bloom, and Davis, 2023; Choudhury, 2021; Putzier, 2022

Hybrid Workers Value Choice and Flexibility

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What We Don’t (Yet) Know

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Hybrid Workers

In-person Workers

Research Question

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How does hybrid working “spill over” to impact in-person work (and in-person workers) within an organization?

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Hybrid Work as a Source of Tension Between Workers?

Research on white-collar, remote-capable workers suggests:

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• Remote worker prevalence is negatively associated with (in-person) co-worker satisfaction

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• Having remote-capable coworkers decreases the extent of face-to-face interactions and perceived job autonomy

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• Teams comprised of both fully in-person and fully-remote employees have higher levels of turnover amongst in-person workers than fully in-person teams

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• Hybrid workers choose whether to work in-person or remotely based on the decisions of other hybrid workers in the organization

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Opportunities to Extend Literature Through:

1. Studying how workers’ choice and flexibility in working location influences those beyond their direct coworkers
2. Exploring how workers utilization of choice and flexibility impacts workers who must work in-person
3. Incorporating the diverse work experiences of blue-collar workers

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Why a Qualitative Study?

• Well-suited for theory building, especially around novel, emerging phenomena
• Places workers’ experiences front and center, allowing for nuance and variance to emerge that enriches theorizing
• Builds platform for future research through development of testable model

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Cameron & Rahman, 2022; Dutton, Worline, Frost, & Lilius, 2006; Gonsalves, 2022; Petriglieri, Ashford, & Wrzesniewski, 2019; Rauch & Ansari, 2022; Paluck & Cialdini, 2015

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Developing an Angle of Inquiry

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An Equity Theory Perspective:

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• Access to hybrid/remote work may be construed as a job benefit that is inconsistently extended within the organization, or a characteristic of certain job types/categories
• Lack of perceived fairness might lead to compensatory behaviors such as decreased effort, turnover, and conflict
• If disparity in access aligns with other demographic and/or non-demographic faultlines, this might further exacerbate conflict and polarization

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Kossek & Lautsch, 2017; Adams, 1963, 1965; Mowday, 1991; Lau & Murnighan, 1999; Thatcher & Patel, 2012; Meister et al., 2019

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A Social Support Theory Perspective

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• Others at ones’ workplace can be a source of support / energy as well as stress

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• Being present in the workspace of others allows for the development of mutual respect and understanding

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• Contact at others at work influences psychological states as well as behavioral outcomes at work

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• Isolation from other workers is associated with negative effects such as diminished perceived respect and organizational identification

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Ragins & Dutton, 2017; Halesbesleben et al., 2014; Bartel, Wrzesniewski, & Wiesenfeld, 2012; Hinds & Cramton, 2014; Mortensen & Neely, 2012; Grant, 2007

Methods

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Research Sample

• Workers in the Facilities and Operations department at a large midwestern public university

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• To date: 50 pages (and counting) of memos, 600+ pages of interview transcripts, field notes, pictures… currently, 40 interviews

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Research Sample

Variance in:

• Demographics (gender, race, age, depending on department)
• Union membership (AFSCME, Skilled Trades Union)
• Job type (custodian, horticulturist, parking services attendant, plumber-fitter, maintenance tech…)
• Schedule (# of days per week, length of shift, time of shift)
• Job tenure (2 months - 29 years)
• Job training (high school diploma, apprenticeships, college…)

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An “extreme case”?

Sample is compelling for three reasons:

• Demographically diverse population with wide array of job tasks that underpin university function
• Short to medium- term prospects for hybrid work are low due to technical, manual nature of jobs
• Work in an organization where many other groups of employees are able to work hybrid / remotely

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Potential Limitations:

• Sample does not include participants with high levels of college education
• Workers who did not choose to take part in study might have different view of job experiences than workers who did participate

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Interview Procedure

• Semi-structured interviews:
• Begin with “grand tour” questions (e.g., “tell me about your job here at the university. What’s a typical day like? What types of tasks do you do each day?”)
• Transition to questions about hybrid work / workers (e.g., “Do you have have any interactions with hybrid workers?” “In what was does it change how you do your job when others come to work?”)
• End with questions about actions that “customers”, staff, or managers do to make workers feel valued / appreciated

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• Asked probing / follow-up questions throughout to clarify existing answers or to gain additional perspective

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Interview Locations

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Data Coding / Analysis

Grounded Theory approach (e.g., Locke, 2001): moving between data and theory

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Memoing

Theory

Coding

Data

Consult Existing Literature

Themes

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Overview

Theme #1: In-person workers notice the choices made by hybrid workers

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Theme #2: Hybrid work allows fully in-person workers to engage in task crafting

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Theme #3: Hybrid work leads to variance in in-person worker job demands and job intensity

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Theme #4: In-person workers may believe it is their job to not be noticed

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Theme #5: The rise of hybrid working in an organization results in minimal change to in-Person workers’ attitudes towards their work

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Theme #1: In-Person Workers Notice Hybrid / Remote Work

In person workers do generally notice that others are working a hybrid/remote schedule, but how they come to notice varies from job to job and person to person.

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How Do Fully In-Person Workers Discern Whether Others Work Hybrid / Remotely?

“Sometimes I can tell when some people are working remotely, because they don't have any [trash]. I go by the trash. When I look at your trash can, [and there’s] no trash in there for a couple of days.” C.29

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“So some people [who work in person regularly] like do a bit of gardening, so I know that they're likely going to have a lot of leaves falling, they're gonna have plants close to the window, they have their windows open.” C.33

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“The administrative buildings… may be 10% 20% occupied and their presence is different every day of the week, based on who's on one rotation for that day….on the days where there's more occupancy, we get more priority calls.” AS.42

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Theme #2: Hybrid Work Allows Fully In-Person Workers to Engage in Task Crafting

Task crafting: altering the number, scope, and ordering of job tasks (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; Lin, Law, & Zhou, 2017)

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• While task crafting to minimize interruptions and disturbances to other workers is not new, the introduction of hybrid work gives in-person workers ways to minimize disruptions on others.

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• Task crafting is linked to increased sense of autonomy as well as job satisfication

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How do In-Person Workers Engage in Task Crafting?

Ordering of tasks within a given day:

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“On one hand, it's easier to do it when they're not there. But you can be flexible… you can kind of play with your work orders and the priority in which you do it.” M.47

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“If you got to change lights in an office, it's better to get to that office when they're not there. That way, I'm not interrupting them and go in because I gotta usually go to the office, see what I need for lights.” M.45

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How do In-Person Workers Engage in Task Crafting?

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Attempts to re-order tasks across days: success depends on own autonomy over schedule

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“It's like you get to get at things that you wouldn't normally able to because so many people in the building. So it was kind of like you know, you can attack certain things and get that task done that you've been wanting to for a second…. Certain floors, bathrooms, wax, things like that.” C.26

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“I know that sometimes customers can be annoyed. That, you know, it's like, ‘why do you got to be here now?’ And or the other one would be, ‘well, I'm not going to be here tomorrow. Can you come here tomorrow?’ And I don't know I just have to tell them, ‘I'm sorry, I am not in charge of scheduling…’ if I can't get to everything, because I'm getting calls, then I will just displace it. It'll end up on my tomorrow's schedule” M.45

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Theme #3: Hybrid Work Can Lead to Variance in In-Person Worker Job Demands and Job Intensity

“ [The introduction of hybrid] was basically a change in dynamics of how how things come in. Instead of being a five day consistent ‘this is how things work’, it's a little more up and down, a little more chaotic.” AS.42

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“It gives me a chance to rest, to descansar [relax].” C.20

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“A Little More Chaotic” or “A Chance to Rest”

“ [The introduction of hybrid] was basically a change in dynamics of how how things come in. Instead of being a five day consistent ‘this is how things work’, it's a little more up and down, a little more chaotic.” AS.42

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“It gives me a chance to rest, to descansar [relax].” C.20

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Theme #4: In-Person Workers May Believe It Is Their Job to Not Be Noticed

Traditional perspectives on the value of in-person work suggest that benefits of working in-person include “face time” and interactions with others that allow for relational development and derivation of a sense of meaning from work. However…

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“No One Wants To See The Custodian”

“They want a ‘fairy custodian…’ [It’s] better [they] know that you were here and not be seen than to be all up in their mix. No one wants to see the custodian. They just want the work done.” C.22

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“I would actually try to intermingle with the customer and say, when are you going to go on vacation? Because I don't want to be in and disarray you, because you got to study so that you get to get your degree here. Is that the end of the school year, you're grading your kids? The paper? I totally get that.” M.44

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“I don't think [hybrid] has impacted as much because we’re kind of nameless faces. Like they don't bother us. We don't bother them. I mean, I'm trying to be professional.” C.23

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Jobs Designed for Minimal Interaction

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Work Order Flow:

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Customer Calls in Issue

Call Center Worker Creates Work Order

Scheduler Receives Work Order

Managers, Schedulers Meet to Assign Work Orders

Skilled Tradesman Receives Order

Skilled Tradesman Executes

Order

= Remote Worker

Flex Spaces Allow for Minimized Interactions

The introduction of hybrid work has lead to lower levels of overall building occupation and greater amounts of “flex space.” This allows in-person workers to minimize interactions with others, particularly the hybrid office workers:

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“Occupancy rates in these buildings, at least some of the buildings … [have] been pretty back to where it was mostly, there's still a few labs that didn't recover, that are empty….” M.39

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“They're building a lot of flex space in different buildings, where you don't really have a desk or an office, you have a cubicle, can sign up for and go use that as your workspace. The good thing about that is if there's an issue with the workspace here, and you can move to another workspace.” M.42

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“I see people, they're just in their office like two, three days per week, like that…. I say, you know, ‘I'm sorry… you know, if it's not a problem, I'm gonna have to have you move.’ And they're like, ‘Oh, no problem’, they grab their laptop, and they go down the hall and do whatever….” M.46

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Gonsalves 2022, 2023

Theme #5: Minimal Change in In-Person Workers’ Attitudes Towards Jobs?

The equity lens would suggest that “hybrid work for me, but not for thee” could result in changes in attitudes toward –or perceptions of– work. However.…

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Work Is Changing; Attitudes Are Not

“Work is pretty much money. I mean, it's pretty consistent. Like I said, the best thing of having a job that's not a career, that's not your passion, the best thing I ever thought that a job can be is that pay is fair. And I can go to work and go home. I don't think about what I did. I don't talk about this job outside of work. I don't complain to people that yes, that person I work with is this or that.” C.23

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“My thing is, I just come and do my job, make more money for my family and go home and this life outside, these doors really don't matter what you walk in here, but a lot of people like to bring it into the job and why.” C.26

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“Maybe like getting home at two in the morning isn't ideal, but it's so liberating. Having weekends, I get almost two weeks off for Christmas. unimaginable to me. Like I still like it freak myself out. But I'm actually not gonna be getting paid for next two weeks. We it's non vacation time, but like just because it's Christmas and New Year's. Like I went to Arizona for Christmas break. unimaginable to me in my previous life, you know? Yeah.” C.28

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Towards a process model:

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Noticing

• Seeing / encountering people
• Work order quantity
• Condition of building / facility / classroom
• Posted signs / messages
• Conversations with workers

Work Attitudes

• Meaning of Work
• Sense of Purpose
• Sense of Appreciation
• Sense of Value

Work Behaviors

• Effort exerted
• Work intensity
• Attention
• Dis/engagement
• Tasks completed
• Task sequencing

Contextual Factors

• Job type (worker)
• Job type (customer)
• Shift / Scheduling
• Work location (e.g., academic building, administrative building)

Hybrid Working

• Prevalence
• Regularity of scheduling
• Extent of interaction with in-person workers

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Contributions

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Theoretical Contributions

1. To better understand the impact of hybrid work within an organization, consider workers with and without access simultaneously

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• Hybrid work’s impact on in-person workers is unique when compared to that of remote work because it a.) introduces variance to in-person job intensity and b.) creates additional opportunities for in-person task crafting

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• Shifts attention of flexible work research from the groups who have access to flexible policies to those who don’t, highlighting experiences of blue-collar workers

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Practical Contributions

1. Highlights impact of hybrid working beyond hybrid workers themselves – to understand outcomes, look across levels and groups within an organization
2. Organizations might improve the work experiences of in-person workers through standardizing hybrid workers’ schedules
• Predictability allows in-person workers to better exercise autonomy and control over their work routines, social interactions, etc

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Thank You!��Questions? Feedback?��devinbk@umich.edu�devinkilpatrick.com�

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