Preparing a Graduate Talent Pipeline for the Hybrid Workplace: Rethinking Digital Upskilling and Employability

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered major changes in labor markets and to working practices worldwide. Hybrid working has become mainstream, and today’s graduates are entering a substantially changed workplace to their pre-pandemic peers. While many of the challenges of hybrid working have been well-documented elsewhere, this paper considers the extent to which these trends create competency gaps for those entering a hybrid workplace early in their career, who are also new to the workforce, and the roles that business schools and employers can play in addressing this. Using a socio-technical systems lens, and adopting an abductive approach, the research explored the work experiences of management interns employed full-time, between 2020 and 2021. We examined reflective essays written by 170 interns, alongside in-depth interviews with 22 of these interns. Thematic analysis explored the challenges and opportunities experienced through hybrid working, and interns’ perceptions of how such experiences affected their development. Thematic analysis identified a series of socio-digital challenges that require attention by business schools, to adequately prepare management graduates for the contemporary hybrid workplace. Implications are considered for the advancement of socio-technical theory, and its application to digital upskilling, employability, and inclusivity in management education and the career ecosystem.