The widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work due to COVID-19 calls for studies that explore the ramifications of these scenarios for office workers from an occupational health and wellbeing perspective. This paper aims to identify the needs and challenges in remote and hybrid work and the potential for a sustainable future work environment. Data collection involved two qualitative studies with a total of 53 participants, who represented employees, staff managers, and service/facility providers at three Swedish public service organisations (primarily healthcare and infrastructure administration). The results describe opportunities and challenges with the adoption of remote and hybrid work from individual, group, and leadership perspectives. The main benefits of remote work were increased flexibility, autonomy, work-life balance and individual performance, while major challenges were social aspects such as lost comradery and isolation. Hybrid work was perceived to provide the best of both worlds of remote and office work, given that employees and managers develop new skills and competencies to adjust to new ways of working. To achieve the expected individual and organisational benefits of hybrid work, employers are expected to provide support and flexibility and re-design the physical and digital workplaces to fit the new and diverse needs of employees.

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This two-wave study (time lag of six months and two years post-relocation) investigated ways in which employees' perceptions of the office environment relate to their perceived health in the long term, drawing on the salutogenic approach to health and the sense of coherence theory (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness). A mixed-method approach was adopted. The data collection involved semi-structured interviews with employees, plus structured observations. The findings indicate that employees found the office environment less comprehensible and meaningful in Wave 2, while (somewhat) equally manageable. Comprehensibility was influenced by a lack of clear behavioural rules; manageability was influenced by a lack of control over the environment; and meaningfulness was influenced by social environment and lack of personalization. The contextual aspects of the office, including tasks, flexible working culture and the change processes were critical to these findings. This study has demonstrated that negative influences caused by poor design choices do not resolve themselves over time. When there is limited support for one component of sense of coherence, the initial observed benefits wear off and negative influences may spill over into other components. Therefore, office design should be approached with balanced attention to comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness.