Cultural probes for job crafting – The use of cultural probes in the context of hybrid work arrangements

Post-pandemic hybrid work arrangements are increasingly emphasizing the need for individual workers to organize their own work. In this paper, I explore how I applied cultural probes to explore the hybrid work practices and experiences of six Finnish knowledge workers. The study aims to both understand hybrid work practices and experiences as well as test cultural probes as a methodological approach in the context of hybrid work. A set of tailored cultural probes was designed, consisting of a diary, a log book, a one-time-use camera, two maps, postcards and letters. The participants of this study had four weeks to use the cultural probes independently. A follow-up interview was conducted with each participant, which allowed them to share their hybrid work practices and experiences as well as discuss the cultural probes as an approach. The data was analyzed using a directed content analysis. The findings provide insights into the hybrid work practices and experiences of knowledge workers in different job positions and organizations and demonstrate that workers’ hybrid work practices and experiences extend to spatial, temporal, social, cognitive and task-related dimensions. The study contributes to the job-crafting literature by providing empirical material that demonstrates that hybrid work arrangements require individual workers to increasingly shape and organize their own work, i.e. crafting their jobs. Moreover, the study indicates that cultural probes can be an effective approach to nurture job crafting practices, because they not only enable the documentation of working practices but offer workers to critically reflect and assess their working practices in light of the current hybrid work arrangements