Jun 29, 2026 · 38 min · 12 segments
If the pandemic years saw the office become a 'blank space', the hybrid era gradually witnessed that space fill up again through return-to-office mandates. In this week's episode of *The Mindtools…
Rob BakerGuestRoss GarnerHostRoss DickieHostYou kind of lose track of that period and all the ins and outs, the lockdowns, the lockups, all that kind of stuff.
So in November 2021, if you remember, the UK had come out of its lockdowns and was deep into figuring out what hybrid and remote work would look like.
And then weeks after we spoke, there was the COVID Omicron variant and we were all encouraged to work from home again.
But I think at that time, there was a lot of enthusiasm for job crafting and I think more like just work-life balance and taking more control of your life.
Was it all a dream? I think from a job crafting perspective, I think that level of agency and autonomy of people at home would be very different depending on everyone's kind of context, right, in terms of their own settings.
But I certainly, when we run workshops today in 2026 and we ask people to talk about, kind of think about when they've personalized their work or optimized their work in positive ways, often people will refer back to times during COVID where they've had to shift and change and personalise what they were doing, like when they were working, how they were doing, how they were juggling things.
And there wasn't necessarily the need to ask for permission or get sign-offs or have to argue the case.
So I don't think it was necessarily in the ideal circumstances, but certainly when people say...
when have you actively done this people are oh yeah we were doing it all the time in covid so it definitely was a thing there it definitely created opportunities for people
You kind of lose track of that period and all the ins and outs, the lockdowns, the lockups, all that kind of stuff.
So in November 2021, if you remember, the UK had come out of its lockdowns and was deep into figuring out what hybrid and remote work would look like.
And then weeks after we spoke, there was the COVID Omicron variant and we were all encouraged to work from home again.
But I think at that time, there was a lot of enthusiasm for job crafting and I think more like just work-life balance and taking more control of your life.
Was it all a dream? I think from a job crafting perspective, I think that level of agency and autonomy of people at home would be very different depending on everyone's kind of context, right, in terms of their own settings.
But I certainly, when we run workshops today in 2026 and we ask people to talk about, kind of think about when they've personalized their work or optimized their work in positive ways, often people will refer back to times during COVID where they've had to shift and change and personalise what they were doing, like when they were working, how they were doing, how they were juggling things.
And there wasn't necessarily the need to ask for permission or get sign-offs or have to argue the case.
So I don't think it was necessarily in the ideal circumstances, but certainly when people say...
when have you actively done this people are oh yeah we were doing it all the time in covid so it definitely was a thing there it definitely created opportunities for people
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