PurposeNew ways of thinking are required to address gaps in managing student experiences at university within more digitally orientated approaches. The shift towards digitally orientated learning, accelerated by COVID-19, is transforming student experiences. Relations through and with technology are often intangible but important to user experiences. Technologies growing role raises concerns over the negative impact on student experiences with social connection (indicated by socialising, social support and a sense of belonging). The purpose of this study is to bring new ways of thinking through the concept of affective atmospheres to identify processual relations between students (people), the university (place) and hybrid learning (technology).Design/methodology/approachBased on people-place-technology relations, this paper explores how different users and experts interpret four proposed dimensions of affect: temporality, materiality, adjustability and cultural/social norms. Two online focus groups are conducted with lecturers, researchers, program leaders and decision-makers across universities in Switzerland, Finland and Norway. These sessions aim to categorise social connection in digitally orientated learning environments and integrate these insights within management solutions.FindingsThe results of this study indicate disconnect between the four dimensions of affect and their influence on supporting social connection. Whilst participants indicate the need for an atmosphere or culture of connection across multiple user levels in hybrid-style learning environments, the relationship between social connection and spatial aspects remains unclear. Hybrid-style space requires a different understanding, with online space acting as elastic extensions of the physical campus.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the value of affective atmospheres to acknowledge the intangible qualities of student experiences. This study offers a novel approach for universities to guide and curate atmospheres that shape student experiences for social connection.

Communication technologies offer new opportunities for building and maintaining social connections at university. However, these technologies need to be better understood for their influence on student experiences in hybrid-style classrooms and guided more effectively. This study identified qualities of social connection to understand how students built/maintained social connection. The study was conducted over two autumn semesters in three hybrid-style classes in Switzerland and Norway. Qualitative methods included observations, interviews, and auto-photography. Approximately 150 h of observational data were gained, including auto-photography of 17 students’ physical online learning spaces, and four interviews with class lecturers. The findings indicated that informal/private spaces, crucial for building/maintaining social connection, were hard to access in hybrid-style learning environments. Communication cultures and social structures offered limited support for accessing these spaces for building/maintaining social connection. Addressing this issue required a processual effort across user-levels to support social connection within a hybrid-style university culture. This effort involved opening access to informal/private spaces by applying the concept of affective atmospheres within placemaking and interaction-design theories. A dimensions of affect framework is developed to help curate learning environments towards social connection. For university campus development, addressing these people–place relations with communication technology could foster technology more effectively to support connection.

Social connection is hard to measure but significant in the learning process. With universities adopting digitally-orientated approaches, new approaches are required to manage student social connection in university campuses on-site and online. Employing placemaking theories to address people-place-technology relations, this article presents a multi-methods qualitative study of a hybrid-style master's class in Switzerland. It examines how students build or maintain social connections through three indicators: socialising, support, and belonging. Data from questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and interviews were collected over one semester. Findings indicate that informal and private spaces, both physical and virtual, influence social connections. While students preferred in-person interaction, technology helped sustain networks when face-to-face meetings were less feasible. This highlights the importance of integrating communication technologies in universities and offering informal and private spaces on physical and digital campuses. Through these findings, this research enhances understanding of digital university cultures for an increasingly online student population.

BackgroundDuring national lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, previously office-based workers who transitioned to home-based teleworking faced additional demands (e.g., childcare, inadequate homeworking spaces) likely resulting in poor work privacy fit. Previous office research suggests poor work privacy fit is associated with lower wellbeing and higher work fatigue. Emerging evidence suggests a relationship between childcare duties during pandemic teleworking and work fatigue. In addition to psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), which are acknowledged predictors of work fatigue, this poses a significant threat to occupational health during pandemic teleworking. However, the relative effects of aspects of the psychosocial environment (job demands and resources), the home office environment (including privacy fit), and the social environment (childcare) on work fatigue as well as their interactions are under-explored. ObjectiveThis study examined the relationships between the psychosocial, environmental, and social working conditions of teleworking during the first COVID-19 lockdown and work fatigue. Specifically, the study examined teleworkers' physical work environment (e.g., if and how home office space is shared, crowding, and noise perceptions) as predictors of privacy fit and the relationship between privacy fit, childcare, psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), and work fatigue. Work privacy fit was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between childcare and work fatigue. MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted with teleworkers (n = 300) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in April and May 2020; most participants were in Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. ResultsPath analysis was used to examine the hypothesized relationships. Privacy fit was lower for those reporting greater levels of noise in home-working spaces and those feeling crowded at home. Work fatigue was lower amongst those with greater privacy fit and higher amongst those with high levels of job demand. An indirect relationship was observed between childcare and work fatigue with privacy fit mediating this relationship. ConclusionThe influence of privacy fit has so far been largely neglected in research on teleworking, especially during the pandemic. However, its contribution to workers' wellbeing should be acknowledged in occupational health strategies.

Introduction: This study aims to analyze the role of co-presence against the background of COVID-19 pandemic to derive implications for an interdisciplinary, evidence-based workplace and human capital management. A theoretical framework is outlined that considers a range of topics from task performance to social and organizational contextual factors.Methods: In a single organization qualitative case study, five focus group interviews including a total of 20 employees of an IT consultancy were conducted to identify the effects of the mandatory remote working regimes imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic on task and contextual performance.Results: Findings show that individual performance was assessed to have increased while internal processes remained at similar levels compared to pre-pandemic levels. Organizational culture, social contact, and identity, however, were reported to have considerably deteriorated in the view of the participants.Discussion: The study shows that for a company that was very experienced with distributed working, the reduction of co-presence had important effects on performance and culture. Findings suggest that co-presence must be carefully managed in the future. This could become a new joint priority for workplace design, workplace management, and human capital management.

Student social connectedness is indicated to be changing with the increasing digitalisation of universities. This narrative literature review aims to bring new meanings to the hybrid university learning environment (HULE), and to develop a framework for the benefit of student social connectedness by using placemaking theories. It searches through the academic literature for evidence of experience with three attributes of social connectedness: socialising, social support, and sense of belonging, in relation to individuals’ sense of place, bringing a range of outcomes, such as identity development, which might contribute to improved social connectedness. This is then expanded in the HULE by looking at the physical and online spaces, with a focus on liminal space and co-design. The findings show that an overly rigid structure of the HULE can cause negative student social connectedness, with co-design being proposed as a way of creating a tailored and connected learning experience. However, this is underdeveloped for learning environment needs and could be enhanced by applying placemaking theories to map levels of student social connectedness in the physical location and in the more-than-real ‘non-places’. This provides an innovative perspective of the HULE based on student social connectedness, impacting the existing pedagogical approach for university courses.

Administrative non-patient workstations of medical staff are often rarely occupied, as physicians use various spaces in their daily routine. Occupancy data for administrative workplaces in hospitals are scarce but needed as a basis for planning for costly projects. Thus, the objective of this secondary data analysis was to compare the occupancy rate of traditional administrative offices to medical offices in hospitals. Additionally, the activities performed at the workstation are compared. Occupancy data resulting from Space Utilization Surveys in 14 offices were compared with data from for hospitals projects. The data results from multi-moment observations that were conducted twice per hour on three days while presence and activity patterns were collected. The office data and the hospital data were analyzed descriptively. Average occupancy and activities were studied and recognised that compared to offices, workstations in the hospitals have significantly lower occupancy rates. Activities at workstations in hospitals and activities in offices are significantly different. The results show more communication activities in hospitals and less computer work compared to offices. According to this analysis space efficiency poten-tials exist. The results indicate that the way workstations are used in hospitals is different from traditional offices. Medical staff spend a large part of the working day away from their backstage desks. However, the use of desks is less plannable as in offices and changes of room take place frequently. Therefore, it’s unclear whether the efficiency potentials can be realized in a way as for administrative offices.

Purpose A tendency that employees do not frequently switch between different activity settings was reported in previous studies, which are opposed to underlying assumptions of activity-based working (ABW) offices. Although ABW is increasingly becoming a standard office concept, employees’ switching behaviour has not been studied in depth. This study aims to understand employees’ switching behaviour by identifying reasons (not) to switch and various influencing factors of switching behaviour. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted across Switzerland and Belgium, and 124 respondents participated in the questionnaire. The mismatch model was developed to examine whether the misfit between either activity or preference and work environment leads to switching to another place in the office. Findings Results show that most of the respondents switch multiple times a day, which runs counter to the previous studies. Furthermore, this study presented clear evidence that mandatory switching frequency is independent of various factors presented in the study, indicating that the distinction between mandatory and voluntary switching is valid. Besides, results identified privacy, acoustics, distraction, proximity to team/colleagues as reasons to switch and as reasons not to switch, place preference/attachment, proximity to the team were determined. Originality/value This study contributed to better understanding switching behaviour by defining, distinguishing switching behaviour, identifying reasons (not) to switch and influencing factors of switching frequency. In addition, this study compared the misfit between activity and environment and the misfit between preference and environment as push factors leading to switching behaviour. These findings can provide more knowledge of switching behaviour to workplace or facility management practitioners.

Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) untersucht, wie Designmerkmale aktivitätsorientierter Arbeitsumgebungen (activity-based working, ABW) Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung von Clan-Organisationskulturen nehmen können. Bisherige Forschungsarbeiten haben Designmerkmale selten isoliert von anderen Eigenschaften der physischen Umgebung betrachtet und in Zusammenhang mit Organisationskulturen gestellt. Es wurden halbstrukturierte Interviews mit acht Teilnehmenden aus verschiedenen Organisationen geführt, die eine ABW-Umgestaltung mit Ziel einer hierarchisch flachen Clan-Kulturentwicklung miterlebt haben. Die Mehrheit zuvor berichteter funktionaler und assoziativer Einflüsse auf Clan-Kultur-Indikatoren wie Kommunikation, Zusammenarbeit, Beziehungen, Zugehörigkeit und kollegial-beratende Führungskultur wurden identifiziert. Besonders Unterthemen, wie z. B. dynamische Atmosphäre, fokussierter Austausch, Offenheit und Firmenidentifikation wurden bestätigt oder neu identifiziert. Querschnittsthemen, die funktionale und assoziative Einflussmechanismen vertiefen, waren Zugänglichkeit, Serendipität, psychologische Distanz und Territorialprinzipien . Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Bürogestaltungsmerkmale auf komplexe Weise mit der Organisationskultur zusammenhängen; die Bürogestaltung scheint die Organisationskultur unterstützen zu können.

Organisations have implemented intensive home-based teleworking in response to global COVID-19 lockdowns and other pandemic-related restrictions. Financial pressures are driving organisations to continue intensive teleworking after the pandemic. Understanding employees’ teleworking inclinations post COVID-19, and how these inclinations are influenced by different factors, is important to ensure any future, more permanent changes to teleworking policies are sustainable for both employees and organisations. This study, therefore, investigated the relationships between the context of home-based teleworking during the pandemic (pandemic-teleworking conditions), productivity perceptions during home-based teleworking, and employees’ future teleworking inclinations (FTI) beyond the pandemic. Specifically, the study examined whether pandemic-teleworking conditions related to the job, and the physical and social environments at home, influenced employees’ FTI, and if perceptions of improved or reduced productivity mediated these relationships. Data were collected during April and May 2020 with a cross-sectional online survey of teleworkers (n = 184) in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and other countries during the first COVID-19 lockdowns. Reported FTI were mixed. Most participants (61%) reported wanting to telework more post-pandemic compared to before the pandemic; however, 18% wanted to telework less. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that some teleworking conditions (job demands and work privacy fit) were positively associated with FTI. Other teleworking conditions (specifically, job change, job control, home office adequacy, and childcare) were not associated with FTI. Perceived changes in productivity mediated the relationship between work privacy fit and FTI. Findings highlight the role of work privacy fit and job demands in influencing pandemic productivity perceptions and teleworking inclinations post-pandemic. Results raise questions about the suitability and sustainability of home-based teleworking for all staff. As organisations plan to increase the proportion of teleworking post-pandemic, this study suggests there is a need to support employees who perceived their productivity to be poor while home-working during the pandemic.

An extensive literature consistently identifies a lack of privacy as the key source of dissatisfaction among workers, particularly for those occupying open office structures. However, theoretical perspectives on work privacy vary greatly, and there is little agreement on what work privacy constitutes. As a result, the available evidence lacks comparability and undermines the ability to draw conclusions that could serve as a guide to workplace design and management. This chapter gives an overview on different conceptualisations of work privacy, highlighting inconsistencies, and introduces a new multidimensional conceptualisation and corresponding measure of work privacy fit. To highlight the relevance of the work privacy theory and its applicability to workplace research, the chapter discusses environmental and social predictors of privacy fit and privacy desires as well as health- and work-related consequences of poor privacy fit. Further, the chapter gives an overview on quantitative and qualitative methods to study work privacy, such as the new measure of privacy fit (PAW). Theoretical and methodological limitations are pointed out, and avenues of future research are suggested. The relevance of work privacy theory to practice is discussed.

Usability theory has its roots in ICT. It has been adapted and applied in the workplace. Usability marks a shift from a functional-technical perspective on workplaces to a focus on user experience and the interaction between users and their work environments. Usability of workplace theory describes these interactions in terms of culture, context, and situation and relates them to core components of usability: effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The usability perspective can be applied in strategic, developmental, operational, and evaluative phases of workplace projects as well as in workplace-related processes and continuous improvement. Usability of workplaces is discussed as a theoretical approach and regarding the application in usability briefing, usability evaluations, and usability management.

There is a growing interest in research dealing with energy performance gaps of buildings. Energy performance gaps are usually defined as the difference between energy demand as predicted during the planning phase and energy demand as measured during operation. It is assumed that the research strand, by reducing such gaps, contributes to the United Nations SDGs 7 (clean energy), 11 (sustainable cities) and 13 (climate action). However, in this conceptual article based on literature review we argue that blind spots in the current definition of energy performance gap research (embodied energy, gap between optimal and planned energy performance, greenhouse gas emissions, dynamic character) and weaknesses of frequently used scientific paradigms (techno-economic, psychological) may lead to the fact that the measures identified to eliminate energy-wasting and climate-damaging practices are of limited value. In fact, it is quite possible that conventional energy performance gap research even contributes to perpetuating such practices. The authors therefore call for a definition and paradigm shift in energy performance gap research, suggesting two broader definitions of the research subject (called life cycle energy performance gaps and climate performance gaps) and a promising alternative scientific paradigm (practice theory).