Harriet Shortt and Charlotte Von Bülow have recently written the paper: Curating salutogenic spaces in post-pandemic hybrid work environments: A photo-elicitation qualitative study with colleagues Stuart Mclean and Gemma Pike in a cross-school collaboration. The below gives an overview their paper and it’s findings.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid working models have become the new norm for many organizations. With employees splitting their time between the office and remote setups, it’s crucial to understand how these evolving workspaces impact their psychosocial health and well-being as well as considering the individual need when planning these spaces.
Using researchers at the University of the West of England as a case study the research team took a deep dive into this very issue, investigating the lived experiences of hybrid working among knowledge workers. Drawing from Salutogenesis, (A model which focuses on factors that promote health and well-being) the study employed a unique participatory visual approach.
University staff members were asked to capture their hybrid working practices through photographs, offering an intimate glimpse into their daily realities. The visual data revealed fascinating insights into the paradoxical nature of workspace curation.
On one hand, personalizing workspaces allowed employees to anchor their self-identity and foster a sense of belonging. Decorating a home office or displaying personal items at work helped create comfort and connection. However, the research also discovered that excessive personalization could lead to a sense of depersonalization and spaces became too closely aligned with specific professional identities.
The study highlighted the tension between territorial and nomadic approaches to workspace curation. Some participants embraced their home offices as sanctuaries, curating them as deeply personal havens. Others adopted a more fluid, nomadic mindset, tidying away their work belongings and embracing the fluidity of their professional identities across
Through this lens, the research revealed three significant contributions:
- It highlighted the importance of giving individuals control over shaping their environments to promote personal well-being in hybrid setups. This autonomy plays a crucial role in navigating the complexities of hybrid work.
- It demonstrated how visual methods can reveal the nuanced ways individuals mobilize resources within their workspaces for self-care and health responsibility. The photographs provided a powerful window into these often-unseen practices.
- It underlined the need for organizations to recognize individual circumstances when developing hybrid work policies. A one-size-fits-all approach fails to account for the diverse needs and workspace curation practices that impact employee well-being.
In a world where the boundaries between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, organisations need to take a timely reminder of the importance of curating healthy hybrid workspaces. By empowering individuals to shape their environments in ways that foster comfort, connection, and well-being, organizations can unlock the full potential of the people within them.
As we continue to navigate the uncharted waters of hybrid work, embracing the art of individual workspace curation may well be the key to thriving in this new reality.
For more information on this study and it’s findings you can find the paper here: Curating salutogenic spaces in post-pandemic hybrid work environments: A photo-elicitation qualitative study