Social Capital and Hybrid Work
Session Leaders: Jennifer Deal and Alec Levenson
Tuesday September 28
3:00pm – 4:45pm GMT / 11:00am – 12:45pm ET / 8:00am – 9:45am PT

During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden shift to remote work, productivity was maintained on a strong foundation of social capital that had been established by previous long-term collaboration and in-person interactions. Established social capital made it relatively easy to shift to remote work without losing a sense of the larger organizational context. But over time those originally strong social capital networks have weakened, making it hard for people to maintain the same level of productivity.

This session the group will discuss three key areas companies need to address in return-to-work and hybrid work plans to maintain and increase productivity: (a) developing the “weak ties” that facilitate collaboration, (b) online team formation, and (c) supporting new employees.