With the unplanned rapid switch to Working from Home (WFH) arrangement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations and their employees were forced to adapt their processes and practices with a huge dependence on digital technologies. When such work reorganization is adopted, all everyday activities including social interactions with colleagues must therefore be taken into account. Existing literature indicates that social interaction with colleagues in the traditional workplace is considered a fundamental feature of employees’ social life and as it shapes their experience of work. Considering that lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative consequences which in turn affects the whole organization negatively. Currently, little is known about how remote workers engage and maintain social interactions with their colleagues via technology platforms when working remotely. This master’s thesis  study aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge  on remote working by highlighting remote workers’  experiences around digital social interaction with colleagues when working from home(WFH).  An interpretivist approach utilizing qualitative research was employed by the author of this master’s study. Data was collected using participant observation and semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of remote workers who started and are currently working remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study explored how participants of the study engage in social interactions with their colleagues via technology and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The empirical data generated from interviews and observations was subsequently subjected to a thematic analysis for interpretation. Five themes emerged from the thematic analysis method; these themes which constituted the empirical findings of this master’s thesis were then analyzed in connection to the research questions and discussed with the literature review as well as with the four constructs of the Normalization Process Theory(NPT) adopted in this master’s thesis. The results of this study show that social interaction via technology takes place before and after meetings and via chat functions as well. The findings of the study also highlight that most participants do not experience issues in relation to digital social interactions as reported in the previous literature. However, participants reported some negative factors that hinder their social interaction when WFH such as increased workload, overwhelming online social events and reduced support for the new team members. The contribution of this master’s thesis study is to highlight that different perceptions and feelings of how work arrangement has changed via technology exists while working remotely. It is suggested that organizations willing to implement the new work models(Hybrid work or WFH) need to be aware of the existence of these differences and act based on the insights provided by this master’s thesis study. Keywords: Remote Working, Working from home, digital Social interaction, Social support, Social isolation, ICT,  Normalization Process Theory

During the Covid-19 pandemic, employees all over the world were forced to work from home, meaning that consultants no longer could work physically present with their clients. As the consultant-client relationship is incredibly important for management consulting firms, it is interesting to investigate how these relationships have been impacted by the change and what the implications are for collaboration and performance. A qualitative method was used, where the authors conducted interviews with management consultants at an international management consulting firm in Stockholm, Sweden. The study found that remote working with already existing clients was functioning well. However, collaboration with new relations proved to be more challenging, which was mainly perceived to depend on the difficulty to create a personal trust and connection remotely, since digital communication made it difficult to understand the client’s needs. The digital way of working also revealed challenges with creativity, invisibility, onboarding, knowledge development and sales. Thus, the study concluded that collaborations and relationships will benefit greatly from a physical meeting early on. Nevertheless, the most beneficial working method would be to continuously balance the advantages of both remote and office working. / Under Covid-19-pandemin tvingades anställda över hela världen att arbeta hemifrån, vilket innebar att konsulter inte längre kunde arbeta på plats hos sina kunder. Då kundrelationer är extremt viktiga för konsultföretag är det intressant att undersöka hur dessa relationer har påverkats av distansarbetet och vilka konsekvenser det har fört med sig för samarbetet och arbetskvalitet. För att undersöka detta användes en kvalitativ metod där författarna genomförde intervjuer med managementkonsulter på ett internationellt konsultföretag i Stockholm, Sverige. Studien visade att distansarbete med redan existerande kunder i allmänhet fungerade bra. Däremot visade sig samarbetet med nya kontakter vara mer utmanande. Detta ansågs främst bero på svårigheten att skapa ett personligt förtroende och en personlig relation på distans, då digital kommunikation försvårade möjligheterna att förstå sig på kunden och dess behov. Det digitala arbetssättet skapade också nya utmaningar vad gäller kreativitet, osynlighet, integrering av nyanställda, kunskapsutveckling samt försäljning. Slutligen, studien visade att samarbeten och relationer skulle främjas av att parterna träffas fysiskt i ett tidigt skede av projektet. Dock skulle den mest fördelaktiga arbetsmetoden vara att framöver balansera fördelarna av både distans- och kontorsarbete.

With the tendency of agile work space and remote working, the importance of communication tools, especially the computer-mediated ones, is highlighted in increasing employees’ overall work-performance. Car, as a place where people spend most of time, is somewhere business-related communication could be conducted. However, the method of finding important communication tools from the perspective of software development and the method to design a business-communication application (BCA) in a car machine are still in exploration. The purpose of this master thesis is to design a function structure of businesscommunication application and its prototype in a car machine, to help employees increase their work performance. This thesis has two results: A method of finding the importance order of communication tools A method to design a function structure of BCA and a prototype of BCA on a car machine, based on the importance order of communication tools / Med en ökad tendens till flexibelt arbetsutrymme och fjärrarbete får kommunikationsverktygens betydelse för att öka den totala arbetsprestandan ökad uppmärksamhet. Bilen, som är en plats där människor tillbringar mycket tid, skulle kunna användas för arbetsrelaterad kommunikation. Men metoderna för att hitta viktiga kommunikationsverktyg ur perspektivet av mjukvaruutveckling och metoderna för att utforma en affärskommunikationsapplikation i en bil är fortfarande under utveckling.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utforma funktionsstrukturen och prototypen som svarar mot denna för arbetsrelaterad kommunikation i bilar för att hjälpa anställda att upprätthålla arbetskapaciteten. Denna avhandling har två resultat: En metod för att hitta prioriteten av betydelsen av de olika kommunikationsverktygen En metod för att designa en funktionsstruktur av arbetsrelaterad kommunikation och en prototyp av tillämpningen på denna funktionsstruktur applicerad i en bil.

Bakgrund: Företag blir alltmer beroende av sina medarbetare då organisationens värdeskapande process till stor del sker genom dem. Det är således viktigt att motivera, bibehålla och utveckla sina medarbetare. Tidigare studier om hur motivationen påverkas av distansarbete skiljer sig åt, där vissa menar att distansarbetet har en positiv inverkan på motivationen medan andra menar motsatsen. Innan Covid-19-pandemin har distansarbetet skett på en mer frivillig nivå men till följd av Covid-19-pandemin har många företag varit tvungna att införa det. Syfte och problemformulering: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för hur medarbetare upplever att motivationen påverkas av det påtvingade distansarbetet. Studiens problemformulering är “Hur upplever medarbetare som innan Covid-19-pandemin inte arbetade på distans samt medarbetare som innan Covid-19-pandemin arbetade deltid på distans att motivationen har påverkats av det påtvingade distansarbetet?” Litteraturgenomgång: I litteraturgenomgången presenteras teorier kring konceptet motivation där inre och yttre motivation samt amotivation behandlas. Även teorier kring distansarbetet presenteras där kommunikation och work life balance behandlas.  Metod: Vid genomförandet av studien har forskarna i föreliggande rapport använt sig av en kvalitativ metod. För att samla in det empiriska materialet har forskarna använt sig av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det har intervjuats fyra respondenter som innan Covid-19-pandemin inte arbetade på distans samt fyra respondenter som innan Covid-19-pandemin arbetade deltid på distans.  Slutsats: Det har framgått att det påtvingade distansarbetets påverkan på motivationen är oberoende av ifall medarbetaren har en vana av distansarbete eller inte. Det framgår snarare att det är hur väl medarbetarens individuella behov uppfylls som avgör hur motivationen påverkas av det påtvingade distansarbetet. / Background: Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on their employees, as the organization's value-creating process largely takes place through them. It is thus important to motivate, retain and develop the company's employees. Previous studies on how motivation is affected by teleworking differ, where some believe that telework has a positive effect on motivation while others believe the opposite. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, teleworking took place on a more voluntary level, but as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies have had to implement it. Purpose and research question: The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of how employees feel that motivation is affected by the forced distance work. The study's research question is "How do employees who before the Covid-19 pandemic did not work remotely and employees who before the Covid-19 pandemic worked part-time remotely feel that motivation has been affected by the forced telework?" Literature review: The literature review presents theories about the concept of motivation, where internal and external motivation as well as amotivation are treated. Theories about telework are also presented where communication and work life balance are treated. Method: The researchers in the present study have used a qualitative method. To collect the empirical material, the researchers used semi-structured interviews. Four respondents who before the Covid-19 pandemic did not work remotely and four respondents who before the Covid-19 pandemic worked part-time remotely were interviewed. Conclusion: It has emerged that the impact of forced telework on motivation is independent of whether the employee has a habit of telework or not. It is rather clear that it is how well the employee's individual needs are met that determines how motivation is affected by the forced distance work.

Physical inactivity is well known for its effects on increasing health risks contributing to mortality and morbidity. Restrictions imposed due to covid 19 pandemic have immobilized communities worldwide, resulting in remote working and distance learning. Literature evidence directs towards Covid-19 pandemic related physical inactivity and increased sedentary behavior (SB) in the general population, and very little research is carried out on the remote workers in communities that shifted from workplaces to homes. The aim of the study is to examine if working from home before and during Covid 19 - pandemic is associated with changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior among adults. The data was acquired from a cross-sectional Swedish population-based study (n= 1035). Physical Activity (PA) was reported in METs/w (metabolic equivalent minutes per week), and intensity was grouped as Vigorous, Moderate and Light PA. The amount of Work or Studied from home (WSFH) was reported in percentages. Light PA level was higher among the group >50% WSFH than the ≤ 50% group during pandemic and SB was higher among ≤ 50% WSFH group during pandemic. Demographical variations among the WSFH groups showed significant associations in the occupation and education level. In conclusion, the study showed that those who worked or studied more from homes have been physically active in walking (Light PA) and had a lower sedentary time than others. There were no significant difference in physical activity levels  due to the changes in the amount of pandemic-based work or study from home, during the pandemic.

With teleworking becoming an increasingly normalized work arrangement after the Covid-19 pandemic, it opens up possibilities for workers to be located elsewhere than their workplace. This indicates that work-related relocation may not be a necessity anymore for parts of the workforce, because they can choose to work remotely instead of relocating. The overall purpose of the thesis has been to investigate whether the normalization of telework as a part of the employee value proposition’s benefits will make people in the workforce less likely to relocate for work. The employee value proposition theory was used to understand the current role telework has as a part of the benefit component, and how telework may affect the employees' likelihood to relocate for work. Two research questions were used to answer the overall purpose:  Has telework resulted in the benefit component having a greater influence than other components for the workforce? Has telework offered as a benefit made people in the workforce less likely to relocate for work? The research purpose for the study was exploratory and the research approach was a deductive, qualitative study approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data and the sampling were selected by both the purposive and snowball sampling method. The sample for the interviews were employees who have a job where it is possible to do teleworking and were between 25-35 years old. After the interviews were conducted, the data was analyzed by using thematic analysis. The finding of the study indicates that the influence of the benefit component did not change compared to previous research and still had a mid-level of importance. It is not likely that telework has made the benefit component to have an overall greater influence compared to other components, but there were components such as affiliation that were very influential when making relocation decisions. It was also found that family members, especially partners and children, were a big influence on relocation decisions. The participants were more likely to consider teleworking instead of relocating when they had partners and children. Several of them could not see themselves only doing teleworking long-term though, because the connection with the colleagues and team at their workplace were also important. The findings of the study indicate that human connection and relationships have become increasingly important for the employees, and this affects both their teleworking and relocation decisions.