The future of hybrid work in Italy: A survey-based Socio-Technical-System analysis

Abstract

The urgent lockdowns introduced by many countries at the beginning of 2020 to contain the rapid diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic overturned many paradigms, significantly affecting workers’ daily routines. Since regulations, policies, habits, and practices have changed, it is legitimate to wonder what will happen, in the long run, to the high percentage of employees who used to work remotely. We analyzed flexibility in time, place, and contract, to examine the complex constellation of hybrid work arrangements through its essential and commonly understood elements (flexibility types) and their interconnections, distinguishing between workers usually based in the office and those based off-site. Adopting the Socio-Technical-System (STS) framework, the paper investigates whether and to what extent companies have changed their structures by designing new functions, roles, and services, such as a head of agile work, work-life balance policies, and psychological support services. We empirically analyze the hybrid work phenomenon through a micro-survey of indirect questions involving approximately 600 Italian respondents. Italy is an interesting analysis domain because radical changes have been introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper presents three main theoretical advancements. First, the study advances the research on flexibility in terms of space, time, and contracts, finding different types of interdependencies with on-site and off-site working. Second, the study extends the theories on the STS framework to flexible work, identifying whether and to what extent interdependencies occur among its main components: the social structure, people, technology, and tasks of hybrid work. The STS framework has also been used to explain the evolution of organizational priorities during the pandemic phases, revealing a relationship between the new role of “head of remote/hybrid workforce” and place flexibility. Third, the paper proves micro-surveys effectiveness with indirect questions in investigating socioeconomic and organizational phenomena. From a practical point of view, the collected data show that Italian organizations need to prepare to deal with the new work scenario because new recommendations should be given to human resource departments about managing hybrid work.