Seeing Is Belonging: Remote Working, Identity and Staying Connected

Abstract

This chapter examines how workers in a distributed environment use technologies to overcome the isolation and invisibility of virtual work. We examine the working lives of remote workers and show how they struggle with maintaining those ‘informal’ connections with the organisation that are typically associated with building a sense of belonging. Our findings identify new practices that engage technologies to maintain visual and social connections across the organisation. In this way, remote workers are establishing a sense of belonging and participation across the wider spectrum of organisational activities and opportunities. Insights into how technologies are used to build an identity and a presence in a largely virtual working environment are then used to generate a series of recommendations for the management of remote workers.