Common Good HRM Framework for Hybrid Work: An International Comparative Study

Hybrid Work Matters

Hybrid working is now central to UK knowledge-intensive industries such as academia, finance, health, and technology. While often promoted as flexible, it can leave marginalised employees such as carers, ethnic minorities, and disabled or neurodivergent staff, isolated, less visible, and limited in career progression.

Our goal: Help organisations design hybrid workplaces that are fair, accessible, and productive, ensuring hybrid work benefits everyone, not just a few.

Why New Zealand?

New Zealand has pioneered a values-based approach to work design, embedding well-being and inclusion into public policy and organisational practice. New Zealand demonstrates how hybrid work can empower marginalised employees. Mothers, carers, and other groups report greater control, trust, and support.

Their success is guided by Māori values:

  • Whanaungatanga – relationships
  • Manaakitanga – care
  • Kotahitanga – collective unity

We draw lessons from this values-based approach to build inclusive hybrid work systems in the UK.

Our Vision

We aim to transform hybrid work in knowledge-intensive industries by integrating social justice, inclusion, and sustainability into HR practices.

The Common Good GHRM (CGHRM) framework focuses on:

  • Decent work
  • Workplace democracy
  • Societal fairness
  • Environmental protection

Research and Objectives

We compare hybrid work in the UK and New Zealand to inform policy and practice.

Objectives:

  • Identify barriers and enablers to equitable hybrid work.
  • Understand marginalised employees’ experiences of inclusion and well-being.
  • Develop a CGHRM framework with tools for UK organisations and policymakers.

Methods & Outputs

Multi-method Approach: Policy analysis, interviews, photography, observations and participatory co-design workshops.

Outputs include:

  • Open-access CGHRM toolkit
  • Policy briefings for HR professionals and government
  • Comparative report on UK–NZ hybrid work lessons
  • Academic publications and practitioner guides

Impact

The CGHRM Project will help reshape hybrid work in the UK, making it inclusive, sustainable, and socially just. By embedding equity and collective well-being into HR practices, hybrid work can become a force for transformative inclusion, organisational effectiveness, and social progress.

Project Team

  • Dr Olga Andrianova, Lecturer in Management, The Open University
  • Professor Fiona Edgar, University of Otago, New Zealand
  • Dr Nataliya Podgorodnichenko, University of Otago, New Zealand
  • Dr Brian Matthews, WU-Vienna, Austria
  • Dr Isidora Kourti, The Open University

Mentorship 

  • Professor Jacqueline Baxter, The Open University 

Advisory Board

  • Professor Mark Fenton O’Creevy, The Open University
  • Professor Caroline Clarke, The Open University
  • Professor Cinzia Priola, The Open University

Partners

  • The Open University’s People Services
  • University of Otago Human Resources

For more details, please visit the Common Good HRM Research sub-cluster page.