Effect of hybrid working on employee engagement

https://doi.org/10.35912/ahrmr.v5i2.2892
Published: Jun 24, 2025

Abstract:

Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, partial homeworking or hybrid working gained popularity among employees and employers across the world. Since then, many organisations continue to implement hybrid working as a high performing work practice (HPWP) to improve employee performance. This study explores the effects of hybrid working on employee work engagement on the scale of the level of energy, work involvement, concentration, and enthusiasm. This study also investigated the factors that influence employee engagement in hybrid work.

Research methodology: Using a cross-sectional study design with snowballing sampling technique, interview data of twenty nine IT employees were collected. Interview data were analysed thematically using NVivo software.

Results: The qualitative analysis of interview data reveals that despite some factors of homeworking that affect work engagement negatively, hybrid working has potentials to improve work engagement through increasing their work and family life balance and reducing commuting exhaustion.

Conclusions: Hybrid working can enhance employee engagement by reducing commuting stress and supporting better work-life balance, particularly in terms of energy and flexibility. However, challenges such as communication barriers and work-family conflicts especially among female employees may hinder its effectiveness. With adequate organizational support and clear structure, hybrid working can serve as a strategic approach to boosting employee engagement.

Limitations: Qualitative analysis of only twenty six sample of only one organization is not sufficient for generalizing. A quantitative analysis using data of broader sample may provide a result generalizable to other types of organizations or regions.

Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of factors that influence employee work engagement by emphasizing the benefits of hybrid working to improve employee engagement, an important facilitator of higher performance.

Novelty: This research made a comparison between homeworking, onsite working and hybrid working, and explored the factors of different work arrangement that influence employee engagement, an area that has not received enough attention in the existing literature.

Keywords:
1. Commuting Exhaustion
2. High Performance Work Practices
3. Homeworking
4. Hybrid Working
5. Work Engagement
6. Work-Life Balance
Authors:
Bilkis Afroza Siddika
Department of Immigration & Passports, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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How to Cite
Siddika, B. A. (2025). Effect of hybrid working on employee engagement. Annals of Human Resource Management Research, 5(2), 295–307. https://doi.org/10.35912/ahrmr.v5i2.2892
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Issue & Section
Vol. 5 No. 2 (2025): June
Articles
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References

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    Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2008). Towards a Model of Work Engagement. Career Development International, 13(3), 209-223. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430810870476

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    Chung, H., & Van der Lippe, T. (2020). Flexible Working, Work–Life Balance, and Gender Equality: Introduction. Social Indicators Research, 151(2), 365-381. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2025-x

    CIPD. (2024). Employee Engagement and Motivation. Retrieved from https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/engagement-factsheet/#6227https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals

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    Eldor, L., & Vigoda-Gadot, E. (2017). The Nature of Employee Engagement: Rethinking the Employee–Organization Relationship. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(3), 526-552. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1180312

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    Halford, S. (2005). Hybrid workspace: Re?spatialisations of Work, Organisation and Management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 20(1), 19-33. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2005.00141.x

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    Mahmod, S. (2022). Demystifying Work-Related Outcomes and Life Satisfaction of Bangladeshi Working Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Annals of Management and Organization Research, 4(2), 109-127. doi:https://doi.org/10.35912/amor.v4i2.1535

    Milasi, S., González-Vázquez, I., & Fernández-Macías, E. (2021). Telework before the COVID-19 Pandemic: Trends and Drivers of Differences Across the EU.

    Mohapatra, M., Madan, P., & Srivastava, S. (2023). Loneliness at Work: Its Consequences and Role of Moderators. Global Business Review, 24(3), 433-450. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150919892714

    Niebuhr, F., Borle, P., Börner-Zobel, F., & Voelter-Mahlknecht, S. (2022). Healthy and Happy Working From Home? Effects of Working from Home on Employee Health and Job Satisfaction. International journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1122. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031122

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    Palumbo, R. (2020). Let Me Go to the Office! An Investigation Into the Side Effects of Working from Home on Work-Life Balance. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 33(6/7), 771-790. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-06-2020-0150

    Petani, F. J., & Mengis, J. (2023). Technology and the Hybrid Workplace: The Affective Living of IT-Enabled Space. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 34(8), 1530-1553. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1998186

    Peters, P., Poutsma, E., Van der Heijden, B. I., Bakker, A. B., & Bruijn, T. d. (2014). Enjoying new Ways to Work: An HRM?Process Approach to Study Flow. Human Resource Management, 53(2), 271-290. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21588

    Radoni?, M., Vukmirovi?, V., & Milosavljevi?, M. (2021). The Impact of Hybrid Workplace Models on Intangible Assets: The Case of an Emerging Country. Amfiteatru Economic, 23(58), 770-786.

    Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 71-92. doi:https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015630930326

    Shuck, B. (2011). Integrative Literature Review: Four Emerging Perspectives of Employee Engagement: An Integrative Literature Review. Human Resource Development Review, 10(3), 304-328. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484311410840

    Siddika, B. (2023). Hybrid Working, Well-Being and Gender: A Study on a Public Sector Organization During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Asian Journal of Social Science Studies, 8(2), 25-44. doi:https://doi.org/10.20849/ajsss.v8i2.1345

    Sung, J., & Ashton, D. (2005). High Performance Work Practices: Linking Strategy and Skills to Performance Outcomes: Department of Trade and Industry London.

    Ten Brummelhuis, L. L., Bakker, A. B., Hetland, J., & Keulemans, L. (2012). Do New Ways of Working Foster Work Engagement?. Psicothema, 113-120.

    Turner, P. (2020). Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations. Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations.

    Wang, B., Liu, Y., Qian, J., & Parker, S. K. (2021). Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID?19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective. Applied Psychology, 70(1), 16-59. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12290

    Wheatley, D. (2012). Good to be home? Time?use and Satisfaction Levels Among Home?Based Teleworkers. New Technology, Work and Employment, 27(3), 224-241. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2012.00289.x

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    Wood, S. J., Michaelides, G., Inceoglu, I., Hurren, E. T., Daniels, K., & Niven, K. (2021). Homeworking, Well-Being and the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Diary Study. International journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7575. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147575

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  37. Wang, B., Liu, Y., Qian, J., & Parker, S. K. (2021). Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID?19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective. Applied Psychology, 70(1), 16-59. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12290
  38. Wheatley, D. (2012). Good to be home? Time?use and Satisfaction Levels Among Home?Based Teleworkers. New Technology, Work and Employment, 27(3), 224-241. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2012.00289.x
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