ORIGINAL PAPER
Not so good hybrid work model? Resource losses and gains since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and job burnout among non-remote, hybrid, and remote employees
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University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland
(Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology)
Online publication date: 2023-05-10
Corresponding author
Marta Stasiła-Sieradzka
University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice,
Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(2):229-49
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic contributing to the dissemination of alternative work models such as fully remote or hybrid work models.
The present study focused on these 2 types of unplanned changes in the working environment. The conservation of resources theory, the first
aim of this study was to examine the predictive role of resource losses and gains since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in job burnout.
Moreover, the authors investigated how non-remote, remote, and hybrid employees differ in resource losses and gains and job burnout. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional online comparative study was conducted a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents
provided sociodemographic data, reported their current work model, and completed validated measures of resource losses and gains and
job burnout: the Conservation of Resources Evaluation and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Based on the data collected from 1000 working adults
from the Polish population, the authors tested the differences in losses and gains of different categories of resources and job burnout components
between the 3 groups of employees representing distinct working models, i.e., non-remote, hybrid, and remote. Results: In general, the associations
of losses and gains with job burnout subscales have been confirmed, regardless of the level of analysis of losses and gains. The authors’ findings
indicated that hybrid workers experienced significantly higher resource losses and gains (both in general and in different domains) in comparison
to non-remote and remote workers. In turn, non-remote employees scored significantly higher on disengagement, which is one of the job burnout
components. Conclusions: Hybrid workers experienced the highest levels of both resource losses and gains during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to non-remote and remote workers, suggesting that this form of working arrangement involves the greatest changes in different life domains, bringing both positive and negative consequences for the employee. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(2):229–49