The Cost of Managerial Caring: Exploring Identity Work in the Hybrid Work Context

Abstract

The Covid crisis and the resulting enforced teleworking have significantly shaken up the manager's role, leading to increased identity work. This article draws on a longitudinal study of managers conducted over the course of a full year during the Covid crisis, from May 2020 to June 2021, using interviews and self‐administered diaries to reveal a distinct sequence of identity work. This sequence combines a reappropriation of the humane dimension inherent to the manager's role (expectations and practices of managerial caring) and a distancing from the team and the managerial role through disembodied management (cost of caring). We discuss these results by identifying a paradox of managerial caring which, translated in terms of identity, may help understanding the contemporary withdrawal tendencies among managers.