Working Hybrid at Universities: Old, yet New Practice?

This study focuses on hybrid working in the university sector. The diversity of the roles performed in universities provides a unique opportunity to study how the ‘where and when’ of knowledge work is evolving in the post-pandemic era. Our research aims to understand how hybrid working is 1) planned and 2) practiced in a university context. Through an analysis of ten university policies, we find that the ambition for hybrid working reveals several contradictions. Further, technology is mostly backgrounded in discussions of this new way of working. These preliminary findings challenge us consider how the initiatives predicted in a hybrid working policy take place in practice, at a large Dutch university. Based on interviews and systematic observations, we aim to enrich discussions of hybrid working with an open stance towards how and what role technology plays in the new era of work in the university context.