Purpose This article explores how relational job crafting unfolded amid the organisational flux of the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines software test engineers (STEs) in a major Irish bank undergoing digital transformation as their work shifted to remote settings. Using a practice theory lens, it examines how relational job crafting enabled individuals and teams to sustain meaning, collaboration, and community through changing work practices, highlighting how STEs co-created belonging and purpose in hybrid environments. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts an insider ethnographic approach. Data were collected through participant observation, autoethnography, reflexive journalling, field notes and 25 semi-structured interviews with internal and external technology professionals. Findings Relational job crafting enabled STEs to reshape roles and relationships while working remotely. Through reflexive practices, communication and informal support, technical work was increasingly enacted through ongoing interactions and collaboration, fostering a sense of belonging and collective identity. The findings show how workers generate meaning and contribute strategically amid organisational change and physical distance. Research limitations/implications While insider research allow unprecedented access, challenges persist with being faithful and respectful to my colleagues while presenting robust findings. We have obtained ethical approval from both the university and the organisation under study. Practical implications Nonetheless, this study carries limitations. As an insider autoethnographic account, the findings are shaped by the lead author's relationships, role and organisational history within the Bank. While this embeddedness afforded depth unavailable to an external researcher, it also introduced risks of over-identification and familiarity. Reflexive techniques, co-author dialogue and the combination of interviews with observational data mitigated, but cannot eliminate, these risks. The focus on a single technology team within one financial institution in a specific national context constrains broad generalisation. However, the contextual specificity that limits generalisability is also a strength of the ethnographic approach, generating situated theoretical insight that invites examination across other organisational settings. Originality/value This study provides an insider view of relational job crafting, showing how it supports meaning and connection in remote, technology-mediated contexts. The pandemic created a unique setting to observe the organisational conditions that allow job crafting to emerge. Combining practice theory and autoethnography, the article highlights the overlooked contributions of technical teams in banking and advances understanding of how digital change can foster belonging, identity and strategic relevance at the organisational periphery.
Byrne et al. (Mon,) studied this question.