The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted when, where, and how employees work. Drawing on a sample of 5452 Finnish employees, this study explores the factors associated with employees’ abrupt adjustment to remote work. Specifically, this study examines structural factors (i.e., work independence and the clarity of job criteria), relational factors (i.e., interpersonal trust and social isolation), contextual factors of work (i.e., change in work location and perceived disruption), and communication dynamics (i.e., organizational communication quality and communication technology use (CTU)) as mechanisms underlying adjustment to remote work. The findings demonstrate that structural and contextual factors are important predictors of adjustment and that these relationships are moderated by communication quality and CTU. Contrary to previous research, trust in peers and supervisors does not support adjustment to remote work. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice during and beyond times of crisis.

Introduction: This article reviews the discussion concerning hybrid work (HW) during and after the pandemic. We argue that understanding hybrid work as simply dividing working time between an office and another location limits the potential of organizing work sustainably based on organizations' goals and employee needs. Understanding the core nature of hybridity as a flexible and systemic entity and a “combination of two or more things” impacting work outcomes such as wellbeing and performance opens a much richer view of organizing work now and in the future. The critical questions are: What is the core nature of hybridity when two or more things are combined in work, and what factors influence configuring them? Moreover, what are their potential wellbeing and performance outcomes?Methods: To discover core elements, we reviewed how the HW concept was defined in consulting companies' publications, business journals, and international organizations' publications, mainly focusing on challenges and opportunities for hybrid work during COVID-19. We also analyzed how the concept was used in European questionnaire findings from 27 EU countries during the pandemic. The potential wellbeing and performance outcomes were studied using a sample of prior literature reviews on remote and telework. To identify “Two or more things” in the discussions, we broke down the HW concepts into the physical, virtual, social, and temporal work elements and their sub-elements and designable features.Results: We found that the concepts used in the discussions on hybrid work reflect traditional views of remote and telework as a combination of working at home and in the office.Discussion: We suggest configuring hybrid work as a flexible entity, which opens a perspective to design and implement diverse types of hybrid work that are much more prosperous and sustainable than just combining onsite and offsite work. The expected wellbeing and performance outcomes can be controversial due to the misfit of the hybrid work elements with the organizational purpose, employee needs and expectations, and non-observed contextual factors in implementations.

This study investigates how the transition to remote work during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is experienced by employees. We investigate to what extent perceived work stressors relate to psychological strain through perceptions of social support, work-life conflict, and adjustment to remote work. The findings expound the mechanisms underlying psychological strain in the context of sudden organizational change. Specifically, this study shows that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have negative impact on adjustment to remote work, whereas hindrance stressors are more strongly negatively related to social support. The study further demonstrates that there is hardly any buffering impact of job control, work structuring, and communication technology use on the implications of these work stressors. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding and provide actionable implications for organizational policies in facilitating employees' adaptation to remote work.

Previous research has reported lower cognitive test scores on baseline testing in athletes reporting multiple previous concussions or a history of learning disability (LD). Age also has an important influence on cognitive performance. While these factors have been considered individually in previous studies, the present study is the first to explore the interaction of age, self-reported LD, and history of concussion on baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT®) in a nationwide study of adolescent athletes. ImPACT® was administered to 1823 Finnish male ice hockey players (aged 12–21 years old) prior to the 2015–2016 or 2016–2017 playing seasons. Linear regressions and simple slopes analyses were used for clarifying the impact of LD and previous concussion history on maturational trajectories. In comparison to typically developing athletes, athletes with LD had lower neurocognitive scores in all composites and differing maturational trajectory in verbal memory and visual motor speed. The number of previous concussions did not impair neurocognitive performance at baseline assessment. Application of standard age-based norms to adolescent athletes with a history of LD has the potential to negatively skew clinical decision-making. Separate reference values for LD athletes are warranted due to their unique developmental cognitive trajectories. The reference values for the Finnish participants in this study are presented.

Purpose: The study aims to explore job demands experienced by employees and managers in micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the job demands framework, the study discusses the experienced demands from the perspective of challenges that create opportunities for learning and achievement and hindrances that create obstacles for work. The study builds on the idea that the same demand can be perceived both as a challenge and a hindrance. That approach opens a path to responding to challenges by reformulating working practices and removing hindrances by designing, developing and crafting jobs and tasks.Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyzed open-ended survey responses (N = 306) to study experienced job demands in 50 micro-enterprises and SMEs, how the perceived demands differ between employees and managers and whether they represent challenge or hindrance demands.Findings: The authors identified 17 job demand categories most including both challenge and hindrance demands. Time management and prioritization was the most central challenge and hindrance category for both employees and managers. For employees, sales and stakeholder relationships represented the second largest challenge category and communication and information flow was the second largest hindrance category. For managers, the second largest challenge and hindrance categories were organization and management of activities and the fragmentation of work, respectively.Originality/value: By focusing on employee experience, the achieve a more nuanced understanding of the SME context, which has been dominated by managerial evaluations. The study also advances the discussion on job demands by extending our knowledge of demands that may be experienced both as a challenge and a hindrance.

This article extends the discussion of the predictors of job crafting to include small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in an information and communication technologies (ICT)-based mobile and multilocational manner. Based on a survey ( N = 412) conducted in 43 Finnish SMEs, the job and personal resources-related predictors of approach and avoidance types of job crafting were analysed. From job resources, co-working, multilocality, the resources in the physical work environment, useful ICT and social support predicted the approach types of job crafting. Intrinsic motivation, relatedness and feeling competent as personal resources activated the approach types of job crafting. Drawing on background variables, being a younger firm activated job crafting. Avoidance type of job crafting was predicted positively by the resources in the physical work environment. This article suggests that knowledge about the predictors of job crafting encourages SMEs to activate this practice among its personnel.