Reconfiguring the modern workplace through flex-office and teleworking: examining isolation, and work-life conflict
Juliette Vassallo, Domenico Sanseverino, Valentina Dolce, Emilie VayrePurpose
With the rise of hybrid work, organisations increasingly combine home-based teleworking with flexible workplace models such as on-site flex-office. While both arrangements have been widely studied separately, their combination remains underexplored. This study examines the associations between flex-office combined with home-based teleworking, perceived isolation, and work-life conflict. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources model (Bakker et al., 2023) and Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll et al., 2017), we also examine interpersonal tensions, virtual presenteeism and relative workload as potential explanatory mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses data from a French national survey conducted in June 2023 among 3,057 hybrid workers. Inferential analyses were conducted using SPSS, and path analysis was performed with Mplus.
Findings
The combination of flex-office and home-based teleworking was positively associated with perceived isolation and work-life conflict. Virtual presenteeism emerged as the only significant indirect pathway, whereas interpersonal tensions and relative workload were not significant.
Practical implications
Organisations should design hybrid work arrangements by considering how workspaces interact, while promoting managerial practices that support healthy boundary management and reduce virtual presenteeism.
Originality/value
This study conceptualises hybrid work as the interaction between home-based teleworking and on-site flex-office, identifying virtual presenteeism as a mechanism associated with employee outcomes.