The Hybrid Turn: A Sociological Examination of Hybrid Working Arrangements, Self-Optimization, and Employer Expectations in Post-Pandemic Society


Spencer Huesken, Queen’s University

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shifted the ways that many people understand and engage with the workplace (Baldwin, 2020; Dwivedia et al. 2020; Iivari et al., 2020; Nagel, 2020; Alon, et al., 2020; Hite and McDonald 2020; Habáni et al., 2021). Alternate models such as ‘remote’ and ‘flexible’ work and the incorporation of digital technologies (e.g., Microsoft Teams and Slack) into existing work practices have precipitated a range of scholarly and policy discussions orientated around the notion of ‘hybrid work.’ While these practices, as well as the term itself, existed long prior to COVID-19 (Barsness et al., 2005; Thompson 2019), the advent of the pandemic has facilitated an unprecedented and rapid adoption of alternate working models across many ‘traditional’ sectors of work to adequately support organizational and individual productivity and ensure the success of Canada’s broader economy. Given the ubiquity, speed, and variance of these changes, there is no clear definition of the term, or an understanding of how it is being differentially utilized, and we have little knowledge of how this is being experienced across different contexts of work. The shift to ‘remote’ or ‘hybrid’ models raises important sociological questions about inequities in the organization and experience of work, particularly how specific framings and uses of digital technologies have shaped the experiences of pandemic disruption in terms of working practices, and the expectations and possibilities of reorganizing work/life arrangements in the post-pandemic period. This research presentation will present preliminary data from my PhD dissertation project which has two broad aims: (1) to understand how hybrid work is being framed in different sectors of the Canadian economy at the institutional and policy level, and (2) to examine the ways that hybrid work practices are being differentially adopted and understood at the individual level. This includes the ways that these practices are shaping relationships with work and the subjective experiences of those novel practices, and (3) examining how workers across two key sectors — public and private— are adapting to, negotiating, or developing alternative models of hybrid work through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper will be presented at the following session: