Transforming the Skies: Managing Remote Workforce at a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Aviation Company

Abstract

Remote work, also known as telecommuting, is a flexible working arrangement that allows employees to work from remote locations outside of corporate offices. Remote workforce management is the practice of effectively leading and managing remote employees and teams. While remote work has been steadily increasing, its demand, popularity, and usefulness have skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic. To be successful or even survive in this post-pandemic era, organizations cannot overemphasize the importance of effectively managing remote workforce. This chapter presents a case study explaining various issues of managing remote workforce based on a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) company (Company A, pseudonym) in the aviation industry. The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, it presents the challenges experienced by Company A when managing remote workforce and how the company supports its remote workers. Second, it explains how Company A is adjusting to this new mode of employment, which impacts fully remote, fully onsite, and hybrid employees. The chapter concludes by recommending companies managing remote workforce to adopt HR Hybrid Guidelines tailored to their needs. The chapter should be beneficial for readers interested in understanding the impact of remote employment and managing remote workforce in MRO aviation companies.

1. Introduction

As we are all aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted numerous companies to roll out remote work policies. Nevertheless, the notion of remote work is not novel; it has gained increased traction in recent years. This chapter presents a case study explaining the advantages and disadvantages of a remote workforce and how it affects operational efficiency, workforce management, and collaboration in a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) aviation company. The chapter also shares effective approaches to overseeing remote employees by describing various forms of remote work setups, including fully remote, entirely onsite, and hybrid personnel, while offering a hybrid on-call model as a recommendation. Lessons from this case study suggest that a remote workforce can have an influence on an organization’s productivity and on the employees’ collaborative efforts. In addition, the impact on the organization may happen in several ways depending on how the workforce chooses to accept remote work authorizations. By the conclusion of this chapter, readers should gain insightful perspectives on how remote work, if used correctly, could potentially enhance business results in the aviation sector.

According to Devara [1], “Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services are essential for any industry that uses machinery to run operations. In the aviation sector, the term MRO aviation refers to all the activities that are aimed at ensuring that the aircrafts remain ready to fly at all times” (para. 1). The subject of this case study is an MRO facility in Texas, USA that has about 3,000 employees. To maintain anonymity, this company will be referred to as “Company A” in this chapter. It operates in the aviation industry and consists of departments with classes of employees such as aircraft technicians, mechanics, sheet metal technicians, electricians, and non-destructive inspectors (NDI) technicians [2, 3]. Each department of Company A has about 500–700 employees, with the manufacturing department having the most employees onsite (around 1,300). These departments are known as Hands-On-Labor (HOL) because their workers physically work on the products and parts that Company A produces or manufactures.

According to the Department of Labor (DOL) [4, 5], the number of jobs for aircraft technicians is around 151,400, with a potential to increase by 6% over the next 10 years. The typical work Company A employees do depends on the type and model of the aircraft they are working on, and they may also be manufacturing parts for these aircraft. Sometimes Company A performs Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) in which an aircraft goes through several phases of induction, inspections, repair, reassembly, testing, painting, and delivery back to the customers [6]. These customers may be the United States government or its foreign allies, although there are a few commercial private-sector aircraft programs as well.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) dictates the maintenance schedule for different operations of MRO aviation companies like Company A per Section 14 CFR Part 43: Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Rebuilding, and Alteration, and Part 145: Repair Stations. In the legal framework established by the FAA through the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the guidelines that relate to the domain of Company A predominantly reside within Title 14 CFR, specifically in Part 43 and Part 145. These segments lay out the criteria and benchmarks governing aircraft maintenance and repair, along with the accreditation process for repair facilities engaged in MRO operations. Smaller repair stations may work on aircraft assemblies such as landing gear, flight control overhauls, or interior upholstery refurbishment per FAA Section Part 145 [7, 8].

Title 14 of CFR Part 43 commonly oversees the spectrum of aircraft maintenance, repairs, and overhauls. This section of the CFR lays out the parameters and standards governing the maintenance, repair, and overhaul procedures for aircraft. It encompasses a wide range of topics related to aircraft maintenance, such as inspections, repairs, modifications, and comprehensive overhauls, all designed to uphold the aircraft’s safety and airworthiness. Part 43 precisely delineates the necessary qualifications of individuals performing these functions and sets out the protocols for executing maintenance tasks while documenting procedures and their results [7]. Part 145 of the CFR focuses on the certification and supervision of aircraft repair stations. This rule outlines the conditions and yardsticks that repair facilities need to follow to gain certification from the FAA for conducting aircraft maintenance, repairs, and modifications. This section encompasses various aspects of repair station operations, encompassing staff qualifications, facility prerequisites, equipment, protocols, documentation, and quality assurance protocols. Adhering to the directives laid out in Part 145 guarantees that repair stations sustain the required norms to safeguard the security and flightworthiness of aircraft undergoing maintenance and repairs [8]. The following section presents the most critical challenges experienced by Company A when managing remote workers and how to best support them.

2. Research, method and analysis

The study used qualitative research method approach employing phenomenological research design and incorporated heuristic inquiry with a purposeful sampling technique. Using the qualitative research method and phenomenological research design was appropriate in this study due to its objective of exploring an understudied central phenomenon, namely the experience of the MRO aircraft technician workers. The utilization of a heuristic inquiry strategy was necessary because it emphasizes the significance of a researcher’s intimate first-hand experience, insight, and understanding of the phenomenon being studied [9]. A total of 50 employees participated in this study, and only seven of them were female. There were 15 participants with less than 5 years of experience, eight with 6–10 years, five with 11–15 years, 11 with 16–20 years, six with 21–25 years, and five with 26–40 years of experience. Table 1 summarizes the number of participants in this study and their work experience. Data were also gathered from physical artifacts such as employees’ weekly work schedules, FAA policy guidelines, and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requirements documents. Data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis and by identifying themes and patterns in the collected data. Data analysis in this study involved breaking down the data into its component parts and then looking for patterns and themes that emerged from the data.

Type of employees	Years of experience	Number of employees
Male technicians	0–5	12
	6–10	4
	11–15	5
	16–20	11
	21–25	6
	26–40	5
Female technicians	0–5	3
	6–10	4
	11–15	0
	16–20	0
	21–25	0
	26–40	0
Total		50

Table 1.

Summary of participants and work experience.

3. Challenges of managing a remote workforce and how to support remote workers

Managing a remote workforce within MRO aviation companies can pose certain challenges. With employees dispersed across various locations, ensuring everyone aligns and works toward shared goals can be quite demanding. However, with effective strategies in place, managing a remote workforce can be as, if not more, effective than managing an onsite one [10].

3.1 Lack of communication and collaboration

When most of the employees in Company A started working remotely, the PM noticed some frustration from the older team members who did not understand the new technologies imposed upon them for remote work and needed some training. This was something new to them since the older employees were used to using emails and desk phones to communicate and were communicating face-to-face with other team members by going to each other’s cubicles or offices. The older Program Management Office (PMO) workers adjusted quickly to using cell phones to make phone calls, instant messages (IMs), and text messages since they have been using smartphones for a while now. The younger PMO workers, who were already used to doing everything from their smartphones or tablets, quickly adjusted to the new remote work technology. A program manager from Company A decided to have the older and younger employees work as a unit because of the technological understanding gap and suggested pairing an older employee with a younger one so they could learn from each other. Creating a remote worker buddy system paired one team member who is tech-savvy to help another team member who is less experienced using technologies. Those employees were learning the ropes of being remote employees and needed guidance on how to correctly use the new technologies that they were not familiar with. This buddy system helped strengthen the camaraderie between the PMO remote workers at Company A because they worked together as a team and helped each other to overcome these technological obstacles [11].

While collaboration may present challenges within a remote workforce, it also offers distinctive opportunities. With suitable tools and communication strategies, remote teams can effectively collaborate to achieve their objectives [10, 12]. For instance, at Company A, the Program Manager (PM) made sure that the PMO maintained effective communication with each of its team members and customers using technology while making sure that each member of the team was able to use the technology easily by adjusting to IMs on cell phones, using video calls, using chat instead of emails while using the computer, and using video conference software such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and or WebEx. It did cause some frustration within the group when someone did not know how to connect to a meeting or how to use virtual conference etiquette because they were not used to working remotely [13, 14].

3.2 Lack of timely access to information

When remote work was authorized by the executive leaders of Company A for the PMO team members, there were some challenges at the beginning. One of the major challenges was receiving the information on time to meet several deadlines, which caused minor delays when the PMO team members were adjusting to their newly founded remote work status. The onsite workers have now started to rely on sending the information by email, uploading it to a secure server, using screen share, and/or video conference meetings to pass along the information [15, 16, 17]. They had to quickly adjust on how and where to send the information because, in comparison to the pre-COVID-19 era, the PMO support workers would usually go to the operational site, manufacturing, or production floor to retrieve the information by a handoff paper copy from the MRO worker. If a signature was required on a document, then now the MRO worker would have to sign and scan it to send it to the PMO worker. This involved extra steps that the MRO onsite worker had to complete. The DocuSign software was implemented later to speed up the process of signing documents [16, 17].

Another example of software that was implemented involved the utilization of project management software such as Microsoft Project, Jira, Power BI, Tableau, and Minitab, which allows team members to track progress and communicate updates in real-time. This not only fosters better teamwork but also guarantees alignment and a unified focus on common objectives. However, it is crucial to emphasize that successful collaboration within a remote workforce hinges on well-defined anticipations, a program manager that adapts to the remote work environment, transparent communication, and a robust foundation of trust among the team members. The PM at Company A incorporated a trust-based management style in which PMO team members were able to manage their time and tasks effectively while still meeting all their goals, which helped keep their productivity at a high level because they were not being micromanaged [14, 16, 17].

3.3 Lack of face-to-face supervision

One of the fundamental practices for handling a remote workforce involves establishing transparent communication channels since face-to-face interaction is limited to video conferences and not in-person. In this effort, the program manager needed to set forth a communication management plan for the remote workers. According to this plan, the PM needed to do regular check-ins with remote employees utilizing collaboration tools like video conferencing and instant messaging and set explicit expectations for deadlines and deliverables. Moreover, it is crucial to trust the employees and empower them to independently manage their workloads. By fostering a culture of trust and communication, a robust and productive remote workforce can be nurtured [18].

The PM at Company A encouraged every PMO remote team member to maintain a detailed record of their work through proper documentation using memos, record their video conferences, enable read receipts option on their emails, and properly archive documents. This is valuable information during any lessons learned phase of the program. The PM conveyed to the PMO support remote workforce the importance of security and data privacy. A lot of information is going to be transmitted electronically since face-to-face interaction is very limited, and some of the information may be company-sensitive information. The Information Technology (IT) department established the use of email and document tags that can be assigned to sensitive information before the COVID-19 era, and the PM made the PMO remote workforce aware of this function and to use it. These email and document tags had a banner that stated: Sensitive, Internal Use Only, and/or Proprietary Information [14, 17].

3.4 Employee expectation of work productivity

While the operational, production, and manufacturing workforce took care of the HOL at Company A, they were supported by the Program Management Office (PMO), which usually consists of a program manager, contract manager, scheduler, planner, finance manager, and procurement specialist. The engineering workforce was also involved as a mix of HOL and PMO support depending on what needed to be done on the aircraft or on one of its components. The PMO efforts do not require the personnel to be near an aircraft, equipment, products, or parts. It is an advanced administrative duty that requires input from software, flow charts, process monitoring, and schedules. They establish timelines, assign resources to the schedule, set up Zoom call meetings with the HOL sector or customers, and procure and order parts just like they would do if they were at the organization sitting in a cubicle [19].

The Program Manager (PM) at Company A set forth certain requirements for each of the PMO team members if they decided to work remotely because the managing dynamic changed from an onsite workforce to a remote workforce. In this instance, everyone in the PMO department decided to work remotely, which helped the program manager easily adjust the management style. The PM needed to make sure that everyone on the team understood that they were going to be evaluated on the quality of their work, the timeliness of their deliverables, and their availability to other team members. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) were enhanced so the PM could successfully monitor the team’s progress and provide up-to-date feedback to keep the PMO aligned with their set goals [20].

3.5 Technological issues

There are certain MRO workers at Company A who could work remotely because they did not need to be at the facility or near the aircraft. These types of workers were branded as non-essential during the COVID-19 era and could work out of the Program Management Office (PMO). Though very important to the organization, they can perform their work at any location if they have a work-issued cell phone and a work-issued laptop. Technology and the ability to connect to the worksite or its onsite servers or cloud servers is a very important aspect of working remotely [21]. Let us take, for example, those employees from Company A who must travel to work at different work sites but still need access to Company A’s servers. None of this is new to Company A because the business development department has personnel who travel and connect remotely from any part of the country. Company A’s technology during the pre-COVID-19 era was prepared to handle only around 30 personnel who may be on travel at the same time. The issue is that after the pandemic, a larger majority of the workforce is connecting remotely, and the organization’s Information Technology (IT) department had to upgrade its servers and technology to be capable of handling all these remote workers’ requests for connection to the servers [22].

Company A also had to issue everyone in the PMO department a company cell phone and laptop for remote work. In some cases, several PMO employees requested monitors and docking stations to take to their homes. However, the IT department had to acquire these monitors, cell phone plans, and laptops, which was an expense to Company A. This extra cost was provided by their budgeted capital funds for that financial quarter. A SharePoint site was also incorporated into the program so file transfers can happen easily among PMO support team members. The SharePoint site was used as a secure In/Out drop box in which files or documents were uploaded to respective folders and downloaded by team members who needed that information. The PMO team members communicated with each other by a quick IM or text message that the documents were uploaded so the other team members could download them. The SharePoint site was very useful because documents that could not be uploaded to emails due to their file size were easily uploaded and downloaded at the SharePoint site securely [23]. It is important to understand that the pandemic affected not only those employees who became fully remote but also those who had no choice but to remain fully onsite and who opted to be hybrid—two or three days working onsite and the rest of the week working from home. The following section elaborates on the impact of remote work on different types of employees at Company A—a fully remote, fully onsite, hybrid, and our proposed hybrid on-call schedule.

4. Impact of remote work on fully remote, fully onsite, and hybrid employees

4.1 Fully remote employees

Upon careful examination of various divisions within Company A, a noticeable trend emerges regarding the suitability of remote work arrangements. Specifically, the Information Technology (IT) department emerges as a prime candidate for a fully remote workforce structure. This conclusion is grounded in IT tasks, such as software development and troubleshooting, which are inherently conducive to remote execution. Moreover, remote IT personnel enjoy equitable access to tools and resources, fostering seamless collaboration [14, 17]. Conversely, a different perspective emerges for the maintenance department, indicating a more favorable alignment with an onsite workforce model. This determination is underpinned by the inherent physical nature of maintenance responsibilities, which encompass activities like aircraft inspections and repairs. This type of work cannot be done remotely because it requires HOL tasks to be performed. The localized presence of maintenance employees also facilitates effective coordination with other vital departments, including logistics and engineering [24].

Individuals working at Company A and enjoying the privilege of full-time remote work often shared their experiences of enhanced autonomy and flexibility. They expressed contentment in tailoring their work schedules according to their personal preferences, a practice that fosters a more harmonious equilibrium between their professional and personal spheres. This adaptability is of particular significance to those employees juggling personal commitments or those who thrive during unconventional working hours [25]. Remote employees of Company A also articulated the benefits of eliminating commuting stress and its financial implications. According to a group of remote workers, the absence of their daily commutes translated into more time available for work tasks or personal pursuits, contributing to their overall well-being.

The absence of interruptions and distractions that come with working in an office environment was mentioned by a few other employees. Working remotely makes them feel more focused and productive. They added, however, that working from home can make it challenging to keep business and personal lives distinct [20, 22]. These workers typically exhibit a high degree of focus and diligence in their work. As they have ready access to one another and can fix problems as they emerge, they frequently work efficiently with their coworkers and pass along on-the-spot experiences to one another. This is the same type of work environment that is happening within remote workers. Many of them are more readily available when called upon, even though they are working remotely. With the use of video conference calls and screen sharing, they can also pass along the experience from one employee to another with the use of technology [26].

Some managers at Company A, in the past, expressed confusion when they could not find a worker who was at the worksite but away from the cubicle or office because they were in another section of the building or in a meeting. The same goes for the onsite workers trying to find a manager or a director who is always busy in a meeting or with the door closed. Company A remote workers overcame such confusion because they can send a quick IM chat or look to see their online status if it is in the Available (Green), Busy (Red), or Away (Yellow) status. This is one of the adjustments that Company A had to make while working remotely. The issue may be the availability of the worker or manager, no matter if they are working remotely or onsite, which seems to be frustrating to the workforce [20].

4.2 Fully onsite employees

The case study revealed that the maintenance, repair, and overhaul departments of Company A achieve optimal performance with a fully onsite workforce. The rationale behind this lies in the intricate technical skills and hands-on responsibilities intrinsic to these departments, which are not amenable to effective remote execution. Conversely, departments such as human resources and marketing of Company A reaped benefits from a remote workforce, capitalizing on diminished requirements for physical presence and the potential of virtual communication tools to enhance management efficiency [23].

Several employees working onsite at Company A expressed a deep connection to their workplace, highlighting that the physical environment significantly contributes to their sense of belonging and self-identity. For these individuals, the workplace holds a central role in fostering social interactions and acting as a wellspring of motivation. Direct interactions with coworkers and managers enable instant communication, aiding in swift issue resolution and teamwork. The advantage of being physically present lies in the ability to engage in spontaneous conversations, exchange expertise, and receive guidance—factors particularly vital in the intricate field of aviation [21, 23]. It is worth considering that viewpoints can differ, and the appropriateness of exclusively onsite work hinges on variables like job responsibilities, individual situations, and inclinations. These observations underscore the intricate connection between being physically present, collaborative efforts, and the individual welfare of Company A employees.

The majority of Company A onsite employees found comfort in the regularity of commuting to a physical office, as it aided in setting clear distinctions between their professional and personal lives. A particularly notable challenge raised by those employees was the potential strain caused by lengthy commutes, both physically and mentally. Additionally, the fixed nature of the workplace restricts the flexibility to work from different locations, which can be a matter of concern for those who value varied environments to enhance their creativity and concentration [1, 2, 21]. The dedicated, fully onsite individuals of Company A exhibited a remarkable degree of concentration and conscientiousness in their tasks. Their adeptness at collaborating seamlessly within the team is facilitated by their ready proximity, enabling swift resolution of any challenges that may arise. However, fully onsite employees of Company A sometimes found it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Being physically close to their place of employment made it challenging for them to entirely disengage from work. Over time, this could result in burnout and decreased productivity [21].

Company A employees’ perspective illuminated the merits of a fully onsite work environment in the MRO aviation domain, emphasizing the cultivation of camaraderie and collaborative dynamics since a lot of the employees are military veterans. They continue to hold certain core values from their military days, which they integrate into their work when they are onsite. Company A military veteran employees hold in high regard face-to-face interactions with peers and the sense of belonging to a closely-knit community. Nevertheless, certain employees voiced concerns regarding work-life equilibrium within the fully onsite paradigm. One individual brought attention to the challenge of mentally disconnecting from work due to its omnipresence, while another flagged the toll of extended commutes on personal time [3, 5, 27].

4.3 Hybrid employees

Hybrid workers at Company A facilities often expressed enthusiasm for the flexibility this setup offers. They emphasized the equilibrium between onsite and remote work as a notable advantage, affording them improved control over the interplay of their professional and personal lives. This adaptability also empowered them to navigate fluctuating project requirements while preserving a degree of independence over their schedules. These employees held in high regard the chance to harness the advantages from both realms. They found value in the face-to-face interactions and collaborative dynamics inherent to onsite presence, as well as the conducive environment remote work creates for tasks demanding deep focus. This fusion enabled them to effectively leverage their skill sets, fostering heightened job contentment and a genuine sense of accomplishment [26].

After examining several departments at Company A, the case study suggested that the hybrid workforce model functions best in departments that need a high level of collaboration and communication. This includes the engineering, maintenance, and quality control divisions. The idea of hybrid personnel has drawn a lot of interest and attention in today’s dynamic workforce. Companies A has embraced the hybrid workforce model because of the rise of remote work requests and the demand for flexibility.

It is clear from past research that departments that largely rely on collaboration and communication are the ones where the hybrid workforce model works best. One staff member shared her appreciation for the flexibility afforded by the hybrid work arrangement, underscoring the improved work-life balance it creates. Company A hybrid employees also highlighted the economic savings from reduced transportation costs and a rejuvenating absence of commutes. Furthermore, the hybrid model contributed to a reduced carbon footprint, avoiding coworkers who go to the workplace while having the seasonal cold or flu and mitigating disruptions from impromptu cubicle or office interactions that could otherwise hinder or slow down productivity [26].

Yet other hybrid employees in Company A acknowledged the advantages of remote work but voiced a sense of disconnection from their team due to the absence of in-person interactions. Hybrid is a mix of both and may help those employees who need to be around people and then need to retreat for work-life balance. Personality may also play a role if someone is an extrovert. Extroverts would usually lean toward going to work and being among coworkers, while introverts would rather work from home [28]. Few Company A program managers and hybrid employees did note, however, that virtual meetings and team-building activities have effectively bridged this gap, facilitated by robust communication tools and technology literacy. Notably, those encountering difficulties with remote work were predominantly individuals less familiar with current technology that would help them stay connected no matter where they work [14, 17, 18].

The case study suggested that hybrid employees in Company A manifested remarkable adaptability and versatility compared to their counterparts who are exclusively onsite or exclusively remote. These individuals seamlessly oscillate between onsite and remote work modes seamlessly accommodating the organization’s requisites and their individual preferences. As such, hybrid employees often attained a more gratifying equilibrium between work and personal life than those solely onsite or remote. This stems from their ability to embrace remote work when suitable. To optimize their efficacy and contributions toward the team’s objectives, it is imperative for organizations to establish well-defined expectations and guidelines for hybrid work arrangements. According to [27], hybrid workers claim to be more productive when working hybrid than when working fully onsite or fully remote. Moreover, hybrid workers are even willing to take a small amount of a pay cut since they are not commuting to and from the office.

5. Lessons learned: adopting HR hybrid guidelines tailored to company needs

A key lesson from this case study suggests that within these departments, a blend of onsite and remote team members ushers in enhanced flexibility and quicker decision-making. Consider, for instance, an engineer working remotely collaborating seamlessly with an onsite technician, enabling real-time troubleshooting and expeditious issue resolution, thereby minimizing downtime. Moreover, adopting a hybrid workforce model in these domains can yield cost efficiencies by diminishing the demand for physical office space, curtailing operational expenditures, and optimizing equipment utilization. By adopting a hybrid schedule, Company A can benefit by having PMO remote employees in the workplace for several days during the week. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) [29], hybrid schedules vary between organizations and are typically 2 days of remote work and 3 days at the workplace. By following the OPM guidelines, Company A must be aware that creating a hybrid work schedule program that combines the flexible work schedule and compressed work schedule establishments with the intention of providing unauthorized advantages to employees or agencies is not allowed [5, 12, 30].

This chapter recommends that Company A adopt a hybrid workforce on-call schedule, which can be beneficial to the company. This model proposes that the HOL workforce of Company A will have to be present at the MRO facility. The support team, which Company A has already deemed a non-essential workforce during the COVID-19 era, can take care of the administrative duties from home and come to the facility as needed. While a regular hybrid schedule consists of having to be at the facility at least 3 days a week, the hybrid on-call schedule would consist of going to the facility when necessary. The PMO support employee can be at the facility one day a week when there is not too much to do or up to four days a week if there is an uptick in work to be performed onsite. The increase in workload may be due to in-person meetings with a customer or end-user, Program Management Reviews (PMR), and Gemba walks—“a workplace walkthrough which aims to observe employees, ask about their tasks, and identify productivity gains” [31 para what is Gemba walk, 32]. Even Gemba walks are now transitioning to virtual observation using technology [32].

When Company A gives the option to PMO support workforce who can work at a facility, on the road while traveling, or at home, those PMO support employees may be more satisfied working for that organization. They would feel a sense that they are not obligated to come back to the facility forcefully just because a director or manager wants to “keep eyes on them.” They understand that their productivity is being monitored and tracked but not micromanaged or accusatory. A trust compromise must be in effect between the Company A program manager and the Company A PMO support employees in which the program manager trusts them to do the work and that the PMO support employees trust that their work productivity will be monitored accordingly [33, 34].

Additionally, Company A PMO support workers fully understand that their type of work can be done remotely without the need to be tethered to a desk. Questioning the motive of why the organization wants them back onsite when they are just as productive working remotely. Company A is faced with having an empty infrastructure and having to pay minor costs to keep it as opposed to having it filled with workers and paying for the operational costs for electricity, air conditioners, or heat flow. Some of those costs are passed to the PMO remote and hybrid workers who had to upgrade their internet connection to comply with the Virtual Private Network (VPN) of the organization and pay more for electricity since they are working from home with more electronics such as laptop and monitors consuming more energy [12, 30]. Company A PMO support hybrid workers will have a mix of the decreased energy consumption benefits when they are onsite working and an increase of energy consumption when they are at home working. When considering the prospect of initiating trials with hybrid employees, it becomes crucial to factor in the potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities [14, 17]. The majority of risks mirror those impacting typical software or client-server architectures, encompassing concerns like buffer overflow, denial of service, spoofing, and similar issues. Protective measures entail the use of current operating systems, contemporary cryptographic solutions, permission frameworks, and cutting-edge authentication technologies [14, 16, 17, 18].

6. Conclusion

With the tug-of-war play that an organization is doing to bring back all the remote workers and the remote workers calling for working from home, the hybrid schedule seems to be a compromise between the two. A hybrid on-call schedule will better fit the needs of those employees who can go into the workplace because they are needed and not because they are forced to by the organization. Organizations will need to adjust to the hybrid workforce because it may start increasing job postings because it is what the employee is looking for. Hybrid on-call provides the proper work-life balance that the workforce has been looking for, and because of COVID-19, the organizations were forced to use it or would lose profit/revenue in their line of business. The MRO organization has already divided and selected who should be onsite employees and who should be remote/hybrid employees by classifying them as essential and non-essential. Essential personnel are basically their HOL workers who were required to be onsite employees during the COVID-19 era. The non-essential would be the remote/hybrid workers who had to stay and work from home. Hybrid On-Call is the best choice, which gives the freedom of selection to the employee to be onsite unless it is necessary.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all the participants from Company A in this case study, especially the HOL aircraft maintenance workers and their PMO support group. This study could not have been completed without their time, attention, and willingness to talk to us.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.