Abstract
<p>Research on communication in hybrid work often focuses on individual channels or remote work intensity rather than the broader communication repertoires through which employees interact. This study examines whether the composition of these repertoires is associated with formal and informal collegial exchange beyond employees’ overall communication frequency. Using data from the 2024 DiWaBe 2.0 survey of 7,587 employees, we distinguish overall work-related communication frequency from its distribution across face-to-face interaction and four mediated channels: email, chat, telephone, and video conferencing. A joint five-mode model separates overall communication frequency from mode-specific deviations rela-tive to face-to-face interaction. Parallel measures enable a direct comparison of formal and informal exchange. The findings suggest that greater relative reliance on mediated channels is associated with lower reported formal and informal collegial exchange relative to face-to-face interaction. By contrast, voice/video and text-based channels do not differ significantly in their average associations with either outcome. The mediated-channel deviations also do not differ significantly between formal and informal exchange. Robustness analyses yield sub-stantively similar results across alternative samples, additional controls, and model specifications. The study demonstrates the analytical value of a communication-repertoire perspective on hybrid work. Overall communication frequency and communication-mode composition represent distinct dimensions of employees’ communication repertoires. The findings therefore shift attention from workplace location or individual channels alone to how communication is organised across co-present and mediated forms.</p>