Impact Of Flexible and Hybrid Work Practices on Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from the Indian It Sector

Abstract

The transformation of the traditional workplaces has led to faster adoption of flexible and hybrid working practices, particularly in the knowledge-intensive Indian IT sector. However, the current research has been conducted on flexible, remote, and hybrid work separately, with limited integrated evidence on their influence on employee engagement and job satisfaction. Thus, the present study explores the impact of FWP and HWP on EE and JS with the mediating role of employee engagement. A cross-sectional and explanatory research design was used. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire on a five point Likert scale from 400 employees of Indian IT/ITeS organisations. The suggested relationships were tested using reliability and validity assessment, confirmatory factor analysis, structural model analysis and mediation analysis. The results indicate that FWP has a significant positive effect on EE (β = 0.393) and JS (β = 0.259), while HWP has a significant positive effect on EE (β = 0.268) and JS (β = 0.293). EE also has a significant positive effect on JS (β= 0.451). The results of mediation also confirm that EE significantly mediates the relationships of FWP and JS (β = 0.086, p = 0.018) and HWP and JS (β = 0.095, p = 0.003). The findings contribute to the Job Demands–Resources perspective theoretically by showing how flexibility, autonomy and work–life integration operate as job resources that foster engagement and satisfaction. Practically, the study suggests Indian IT organisations to develop employee-centred, role-based flexible and hybrid work policies. The present study is novel in the sense that it integrates FWP, HWP, EE and JS within a single empirical framework with specific reference to Indian IT sector.