Working and learning in a hybrid workplace: challenges and opportunities

Even after the lifting of lockdowns and other restrictions, many companies continue to offer remote working or hybrid working arrangements, usually to the satisfaction of their employees.For this reason, in Issue 1 of Volume 31, we explored the possibilities of working and learning in a hybrid workplace and highlighted the associated challenges and opportunities.In this special issue, Alves & Thiebaut (2024) have taken one such opportunity during the 2021 lockdowns in France and explored how both individuals and organizations contribute to creating a learning culture.The need to understand what kind of resources and support stimulate hybrid work and lead to positive outcomes for employees led Mishra & Bharti (2024) to further research in this area.They focused on whether social support from family and colleagues can help mitigate the psychological stress caused by hybrid work arrangements.When employees have a high level of affective commitment or emotional attachment to the organization, investing in high-performance work systems can increase employees' learning orientation.Yadav, Yadav, & Vihari (2024) found that this is even more pronounced in the hybrid workplace than in purely offline work.Oppong Peprah (2024) decided to investigate the prevalence of this form of work and employees' attitudes toward it in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.The study revealed several positive aspects of virtual/hybrid working for employees, but also disadvantages for employees and challenges for the organization, with a focus on team learning.Naqshbandi, Kabir, Ishak, & Islam (2024) studied the effects of teleworking on the work performance of college employees in Nigeria, while Suravi (2024) explored the possibilities for training and development in the hybrid workplace.Saini & Baba (2024) analyzed blended learning as technology-mediated teaching that combines face-to-face teaching and digital learning opportunities, with a focus on the role of multimedia. Challenges of developing a learning cultureMany organizations struggle to develop as learning organizations.If the development of a learning organization means that such organizations consist of people who have mastered the learning disciplines, according to Senge (1990), the problem seems even greater.The idea of the learning organization has also been criticized as too idealistic, romantic and elusive and, above all, difficult to implement (Rup ci c, 2017).However, the difference between these organizations and those that were not developed according to the principles of this philosophy could be felt.To make matters worse, the ideas of the learning organization paradigm are often implemented under different names, such as "agile and adaptive systems" or "collaborative partnerships" (Pedler & Burgoyne, 2017).