Rethinking happiness in the hybrid workplace

"Have you ever misinterpreted a colleague's tone on a Teams chat? Or wondered what Mike meant by his face-without-a-mouth emoji in response to your carefully worded idea? A new book by University of Auckland Business School Associate Professor Barbara Plester explores how communication, fun, humor and happiness are evolving in the age of hybrid work. "Hybrid Happiness: Fun and Freedom in Flexible Work" investigates the social and emotional effects of flexible work."

"Her first study was within a technology company she calls "Gecko," and the second was conducted at a food manufacturing organization (code-named Firefly). This research underpins much of the book. "I took a grounded theory approach to my research; I didn't start with any specific hypothesis of what I would find, rather I let the findings emerge organically as the study progressed," she says. "This is how my research on fun and humor developed into a book about happiness, because participants conflated these ideas and constantly linked them.""

Hybrid models, where people split time between home and office, alter workplace behaviors and increase the prominence of social and emotional dynamics. Flexibility brings both freedom and frustration, producing tension and anxiety for some workers. Reading and comprehending message chats, emoticons, GIFs and other digital cues has become more challenging and central to daily interactions. Research involved four full-immersion weeks in two businesses, observing, collecting data, and interviewing workers at all levels across a technology firm and a food manufacturer. A grounded theory approach allowed findings to emerge organically, linking fun, humor and happiness through participants' conflation of those concepts.

Read at Phys