Exploring Virtual Management and HRM in Thin Organizational Places During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The conditions for work from home (WFH) changed radically during the pandemic. WFH during this period comprised social, spatial, and identity-based issues that work at once on both the individual subjective-, and the organizational levels. The aim of this study is to investigate some of the consequences of WFH aspects of thickness and thinness in the work environment when work shifts from the workplace to home. The research questions are ‘How do managers in public and private organizations describe how aspects of thickness, in terms of physical proximity and social relations changed when their staff worked from home during the pandemic; and how can organizational thickness and thinness be further developed to understand the detachment of workers from their working places? The study shows that the organizations studied have been innovative by adjusting and developing strategies for coping with long periods of absence from offices, and that thick places can be created with the help of technology. Finally, the study shows that the pandemic may have future consequences in terms of how work is organized and how technology can be used to complement or substitute for work at working offices but also how large office spaces are needed and where these offices should be located.