How and when remote workdays impact employee daily social need fulfilment

Abstract Hybrid working, as a now‐common flexible work arrangement, transforms how employees connect with each other and requires updated theorizing to understand its social implications. Grounded in interaction ritual theory, we examined how and when remote (vs. onsite) workdays impact employees' social need fulfilment, namely, coworkers making employees feel that they belong and that their uniqueness is valued. We propose that remote (vs. onsite) workdays distance employees from basic, natural and potentially energizing interaction rituals such as coworker small talk, with negative consequences for employees' fulfilment of uniqueness and belongingness needs at work. We further argue that organizations and their members can mitigate the negative social effects of remote (vs. onsite) workdays by implementing social virtual meeting rituals that serve relevant psycho‐social functions for mutual attunement with coworkers. Two experience sampling studies found support for our theorizing. Remote (vs. onsite) workdays had negative indirect effects on employees' uniqueness and belongingness at work via coworker small talk and relational energy. The negative indirect effect was buffered by social virtual meeting rituals—a contextual feature of virtual communication. Our research adds a psycho‐social lens to hybrid work research and sheds light on how organizations can foster inclusion by fulfilling employees' social needs.