What Is Left Unsaid: Ongoing Tacit Knowledge Loss from the Pandemic

ABSTRACT Remote work and its challenges have been around for decades, yet the COVID19 pandemic brought these challenges to the fore and prompted organisations to address them. One of the challenges is the potential loss of tacit knowledge (knowledge that resides in the heads of “knowers”) among knowledge workers by shifting from in‐person to remote work. This paper reports on the initial findings of a pilot study that interviewed knowledge workers about the interruption of information sharing, the importance of technology to resemble in‐person working, and organization adaptability. The findings highlight the importance of in‐person interactions to exchanging tacit information but indicates that for organisations that are resilient, technology can mimic in‐person sharing.