Beyond Hallway Chats ? Negotiating Content Awareness in Hybrid Work Practices

Deciding where to work in hybrid environments involves various factors beyond work-life balance. Awareness of colleagues’ tasks arises from overheard conversations, screen glimpses, and other informal exchanges in the office. This knowledge sharing is crucial for effective work. However, knowledge workers navigate between the office, home, and mobile work, leading to constant re-negotiations of hybrid work environments. This article uses data from ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews to illustrate how knowledge workers outweigh decisions for work location and strategically use informal office interactions to advance tasks on-site. Although the body of research on awareness and knowledge work is by now substantial, the spontaneous knowledge exchange in everyday practices is under-explored. This study addresses two questions: (I) what factors influence decisions between mobile and office work, and (II) how on-site practices generate different types of awareness that support task progress.