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Distansarbete som arbetsform har blivit alltmer vanligt det senaste decenniet. Arbetsformen har tidigare oftast varit frivillig och setts som en förmån som arbetsgivaren kan ge de anställda i sitt arbete. I mars 2020 förändrade covid-19 pandemin förutsättningarna för distansarbete, då detta gick från att vara valbart till att rekommenderas och mer eller mindre bli påtvingat för miljontals individer världen över. Distansarbete som arbetsform har i tidigare forsknings setts kunna bidra till en högre upplevd arbetstillfredsställelse och en lägre konflikt mellan arbete och privatliv, men sambanden under pandemin är mer oklara. Syftet med studien var därför att undersöka om distansarbete under pandemin har någon påverkan på upplevd arbetstillfredsställelse och Work Family Conflict (konflikt mellan arbete och privatliv), samt om tidigare erfarenhet av distansarbete modererar denna relation. Ett underliggande syfte var att titta på relationen mellan upplevd arbetstillfredsställelse och Work Family Conflict vid distansarbete under covid-19. Studien har en tvärsnittsdesign. Data är insamlade genom en enkätundersökning genomförd av forskningsprojektet Flexibelt arbete (Flex-A) på Högskolan i Gävle. Respondenterna består av 1041 tillsvidareanställda tjänstemän och arbetare från ett tiotal svenska organisationer som arbetat på distans i någon omfattning under covid-19.  Resultatet visade att det inte på några samband mellan distansarbete och upplevd Work Family Conflict eller arbetstillfredsställelse under covid-19. Däremot fanns effekter av kön och individer med små barn (yngre än 13 år) på Work Family Conflict. Resultatet visade även ett signifikant samband mellan Work Family Conflict och arbetstillfredsställelse där en lägre Work Family Conflict ger en högre arbetstillfredställse.  Då distansarbete troligtvis kommer att vara en mer förekommande arbetsform även när pandemin ebbat ut behövs dock mer forskning inom ämnet.

The Covid-19 pandemic broadly affected the world together with the phenomena of digitalization, which quickly accelerated during the pandemic. This led to people working more from home (also called WFH or telework) or in a hybrid mix, which has workers reporting different opinions on the preferences for working at home or the office (Alexander et al., 2020). This change meant that managers and companies needed to rethink the structure of the organization and the effect of WFH or hybrid work form, to fit the preferences of the personnel and its productivity. Previous research shows that household characteristics have a significant impact on workplace preference. As Hill et al. (2003) reported that there were blurred lines between work and home life when working from home. The main purpose of this study was to find the factors that lead employees to prefer working from home or the office. This was done through the research question ”What are the factors which lead people to prefer working from home or at the office,  and how do these factors differ between Generation X and millennials?”. This study was done with a deductive approach for the qualitative research and consists of a cross-sectional design with a restrictive time frame. Interviews were conducted with ten participants, including five participants from the generation of millennials born between 1981-1996 and the other five from Generation X born between 1965-1980 (Kagan, 2021). These interviews were semi-structured, followed by a thematic analysis method to analyze the collected qualitative primary data The coded data were analyzed relating to the research question. However, this study was conducted with participants from Svealand, Sweden and it can be disputed whether this sample is large enough and whether this region can represent the whole of Sweden.   Further, the results of this study found that the main factors behind workplace preference, common to both generations, were the organizational factor and job characteristics which includes the support from the organizations in form of equipment, training, digital tools together with the nature of the tasks and the possibility to do them at home. This is significant since earlier research predominately discusses household characteristics and accommodating working-home life balance, which was a weak factor in this study.

Vi lever idag i en osäker tid där pandemin Covid-19 har påverkat världen på många olika sätt. Fysiska möten har blivit begränsade och en större del av befolkningen arbetar idag hemifrån från distans. Det har aldrig varit viktigare än nu för företag att ha fungerande teknologi och digitalisering för att överleva på marknaden. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad möjliga samband kan vara mellan motivation, längre arbetsdagar och flexibilitet när det kommer till distansarbete. Samt att undersöka om förutsättningarna skiljer sig åt när de arbetar på distans kontra på kontor. Denna studie har begränsats till ett företag (som vill vara anonymt) och är ett dotterbolag till en stor koncern där de flesta arbetar från distans. För att besvara syftet med studien har det genomförts en mixed methods, både en kvantitativ och kvalitativ studie i form av enkäter och intervjuer då vi vill se eventuella samband samt hur individer uppfattar situationen med distansarbete. Resultatet visar på att majoriteten varken anser att motivationen ökar eller brister när de arbetar på distans och det framkommer inte heller något samband mellan motivation och förlängda arbetsdagar. Det finns ett samband mellan flexibilitet och motivationen när det kommer till distansarbete och att dessa två variabler är oberoende av varandra är väldigt osannolikt. De som saknar flexibilitet saknar även motivation och tvärtom. Förutsättningarna att arbeta på distans kontra att arbeta på kontor skiljer sig en del, det finns många olika faktorer som spelar in. Det finns stor saknad av den sociala kontakten med kollegor samtidigt som motivationen ökar genom att sitta ostört och arbeta hemma. Studien visar även på att majoriteten i framtiden vill kombinera att arbeta både på kontor och distans. Dessa resultat har en betydelse för företag och organisationer då vi lever i en oviss tid och ingen vet hur länge anställda kommer att tvingas arbeta från distans. Hur ska företag förhålla sig till situationen i framtiden och vad kan göras annorlunda. / We are living in an uncertain time where Covid-19, a pandemic, has affected the world in many different ways. Physical meetings have become limited and today a larger part of the population now works from distance. It has never been more important than now for companies to have functioning technology and digitalization in order to survive in the market. The purpose of the study is to examine what possible connections there can be between motivation, longer working days and flexibility when it comes to working from distance. And to examine whether the conditions differ when they work remotely versus in the office. This study have been limited to a company, which is a subsidiary of a large concern where most people work remotely. To answer the purpose of the study, a mixed methods have been carried out, both a quantitative and qualitative study. To come to a conclusion both questionnaires and interviews has been done as we want to find out how individuals perceive the difference of working remotely. The results show that the majority do not believe that motivation increases or lacks when they work remotely and there is no connection between motivation and extended working days. Though there is a connection between flexibility and motivation when it comes to distance working, we find it unlikely for these two variables to be independent of each other. Those who lack flexibility also lack motivation and vice versa. The conditions for working remotely versus working in the office differ somewhat, there are many different factors that come into play. There is a major lack of social contact with colleagues thus at the same time as motivation increases by sitting undisturbed and working at home. The study shows that a majority of the employees wish to combine working in the office and remotely in the future. These results are important for companies and organizations as we live in an uncertain time and no one knows how long employees will be forced to work remotely. How will companies handle the situation in the future and what can be done differently.

Covid-19 pandemin medförde världsomvälvande förändringar i många delar av livet, inte minst för arbetet. Vad som kom därtill var en investering i distansarbete, något som funnits länge men som blev pånyttfödd efter 2020. Denna studie utforskar vad distansarbete innebär för deltagare i distansarbetet i termer av arbetslivsbalans, mental hälsa och relationer. Syftet är att utforska vilka effekter distansarbetet har på arbetstagare samt att försöka förklara varför detta är fallet. Detta görs genom en kvalitativ fenomenologisk ansats med hjälp av intervjuer med fem informanter. Resultatet visar en positiv uppsving av autonomi och känslor av kompetens med en förlust av social samhörighet. Detta förklaras genom teorin Self-Determination Theory av Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008) som psykologiska behov. De behöver uppfyllas för en tillfredsställd tillvaro, och talar då till vad som behöver göras inom distansarbete för att arbetstagare ska kunna uppnå en tillfredsställd tillvaro samt hur det ska gå till och varför det är nödvändigt. / The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in profound changes in various aspects of life, particularly in the realm of work. In addition to these changes came a resurgence of interest in remote work, a concept that had long existed but gained renewed attention after 2020. This study explores the implications of remote work for participants in terms of work-life balance, mental health, and relationships. The objective is to investigate the effects of remote work on employees and to attempt an explanation for these outcomes. Employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, the study conducted interviews with five participants. The results reveal a positive surge in autonomy and feelings of competence coupled with a loss of social connectedness. This is elucidated through the lens of Self-Determination Theory by Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008), which emphasizes psychological needs essential for a satisfying existence. These needs must be met for a fulfilled life, addressing what needs to be done within the context of remote work for employees to achieve satisfaction, how it can be accomplished, and why it is imperative.

<p>This thesis project aims to create an animistic system for remote workers to promote a healthier work style and more interactions between remote workers and their colleagues. The Covid-19 pandemic since 2020 resulted in a significant increase in employees who started to work remotely, and with that came the benefits and challenges. Working from home allows remote workers to work with higher productivity and a more flexible schedule and improves the work and life balance of the remote workers. However, major communication issues were reported due to asynchronous working pace and less in-person interaction, which became a significant challenge for remote working. Other remote working challenges include difficulties setting up a home office, health concerns such as sedentariness and hydropenia, higher worker self-discipline requirements, etc. In this thesis, I took the approach of animistic design, focused on the context of a home office environment, and created an interactive system, Planto, a planter and mobile application system designed to improve the work-from-home experience. This thesis presents the Planto system’s research and design process, including literature review, peer product review, user research, ideation, the iterative process of a mobile application design and a product design, and a heuristic evaluation to assess the quality of the design outcome. Planto system seamlessly integrates product design, animistic design, and IoT design. More importantly, it aims to facilitate the complicated work-from-home experience, and the medium is a simple planter.</p>

The covid-19 pandemic plunged the world into an experiment in work-from-home without any collective experience in how to manage this situation. During a crisis characterised by social distancing and blurring lines between home and work, providing support to employees is important. Middle managers, being in-between upper management and subordinates, were in a special situation of having to balance new demands from both sides. In light of this, the purpose of our study was to investigate how middle managers handled the challenge of supporting their subordinates during the pandemic. To achieve the purpose of this study, a qualitative research methodology was applied. We investigated middle managers experiences of supporting their subordinates during the pandemic. The data was collected through 8 semi-structured interviews with middle managers working in Sweden. Our results show that during the pandemic middle managers had to adopt empathic behaviour as leaders and adapt their way of leading to each subordinates needs.

Background: COVID-19 is a dangerous contagious infection which was declared as a global pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO) in March 2020. It was rapidly spreading worldwide, forcing the world to move into isolation and the software developing companies to change their work settings into remote working. Quality of the software is a significant attribute that determines the success of a project. Code reviews are an essential software development practice and are the first step towards improving the quality of the software. Objectives: The main objective of this research study is to list the challenges that the developers are facing while working from home and investigate the impact of challenges on code review practices. Methods: A multiple case study has been conducted in 5 organizations to understand and analyze the effect of transition on the code review process. We achieved this by conducting semi-structured interviews and participant observation with developers involved in code review practices of each organization considered for the study and qualitatively analyzed the gathered data using thematic analysis. Results: The results indicated challenges concerning team collaboration, infrastructure, productivity and burnout in the early stages of the pandemic. However, later, organizations’ mitigating strategies have helped them cope with the situation, and no significant impact due to working from home were observed on the code review process. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that there is no considerable impact of the challenges factored in due to working from home on the code review process. The major reasons behind that was the modernization of the tools used for code reviews and timely implementation of mitigation strategies by organizations. Based on the mitigation strategies taken by the organisations we formulated guidelines, which can be taken into consideration by the organisations still suffering with the transition to work from home.

Covid-19 pandemin, en kris som varit aktuell sedan början av år 2020, förändrade den geografiska platsen för arbetets utförande till följd av restriktionen gällande hemarbete. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka vad som skiljt platsförlagt arbete och hemarbete åt med avseende på faktorerna motivation, kommunikation och sammanhållning. Dessa faktorer är centrala delar av arbetsmiljön och vi ville därför se om de påverkats när arbetsmiljön förändrat. För att kunna utreda valt problemområde nyttjades den kvalitativa datainsamlingsmetoden, med ansatsen semistrukturerad intervju. Under genomförande fanns ett flertal förutbestämda frågor med utrymme för respondenterna att tillägga information som var av värde för studien. Metoden valdes då vi ville få respondenters åsikter och erfarenheter kring hur faktorerna skiljt sig åt beroende på den geografiska platsen för arbetets utförande. I den teoretiska referensramen presenteras de valda faktorerna motivation, kommunikation och sammanhållning utförligt. I analysavsnittet kopplas teori och empiri samman, samt jämförs med tidigare studiers resultat. Studien visade på att Covid-19 haft störst påverkan gällande motivation vid hemarbete, men även förändrat vissa delar vid platsförlagt arbete. Kommunikationen påverkades positivt vid hemarbete men negativt vid platsförlagt arbete, slutligen påverkades sammanhållningen negativt enligt respondenterna. Avslutningsvis ges fyra rekommendationer för att förbättra arbetsmiljön. / The Covid-19 pandemic, a crisis that has been relevant since the beginning of 2020, changed the geographical location of the work performance as a result of the restriction which introduced work from home. The purpose of this inquiry was therefore to study how work from the original workplace and work from home differed regarding motivation, communication and cohesion. These factors are central parts of the work environment and therefore we wanted to see if they were affected by the change of work environment. In order to be able to investigate the selected problem area, the qualitative data collection method was used, with the semi-structured interview approach. During implementation, there were a number of predetermined questions with room for the respondents to add information that was of value to the study. The method was chosen because we wanted to obtain the respondents experiences and opinions regarding how the factors differed depending on the geographical location of the work performance. In the theoretical frame of reference, the selected factors motivation, communication and cohesion are presented. In the analysis section, theory and empiricism are contextualized with previous studies. The study showed that Covid-19 had the greatest impact on motivation regarding work from home, but also affected certain parts of work from the workplace. The communication had a positive effect on work from home but a negative effect on work from the workplace, and finally the respondents experienced a negative effect on cohesion. Finally, four recommendations were given to improve the work environment.

I samband med Covid-19 pandemin har antalet anställda som jobbar på distans ökat drastiskt. Den största ökningen har skett i arbeten som inte kräver fysiska arbetsplatser, där arbetet främst sker via digitala lösningar. Omväxlingen från att sitta på kontor till att jobba på distans, eller i de flesta fallen hemifrån, har föranlett många studier om hur de anställda påverkas i samband med detta. Den här studien fokuserar främst på att förklara förändringen i den inre motivationen i distansarbete, och att identifiera möjliga faktorer bakom detta. Studien utgår därför från job characteristics model för att förklara och identifiera olika karaktärsdrag i själva arbetet som har en påverkan på den inre motivationen hos anställda i distansarbetet. Vidare utgår studien från ett kvalitativt perspektiv, i form av intervjuer av 11 anställda som gått över till distansarbete. Den empiriska data visade att många anställda upplever en positiv förändring i sina dagliga vanor, vissa mindre undantag förekom. Den största fördelen med distansarbete var det mer flexibla arbetsschemat. Den största nackdelen var den sociala faktorn, där en minskad gemenskap bland kollegor var mest framträdande. I analysen kunde man dra paralleller mellan JCM-modellens dimension autonomi och den ökade grad av flexibilitet i arbetet, vilket enligt modellen bidrar till en ökad inre motivation i arbetet. Vidare kunde de övriga faktorerna, som exempelvis den sociala faktorn, tänkas påverka koordinering av arbetsuppgifter, främst inom teamarbete. Slutsatsen som kunde dras var att det i samband med distansarbete fanns en viss positiv förändring i den inre motivationen i arbetet, men att vidare studier krävs för att kunna generalisera slutsatsen. / This study will put focus on and try to explain the change in intrinsic motivation for teleworkers. For this the job characteristics model is used to explain and identify different characteristics in the work itself, that could impact the intrinsic motivation with the teleworking employees. The study will further be conducted through a qualitative perspective with interviews from these employees. Through the interviews, the empirical data showed that most of our respondents experienced a positive change in their daily routine. Where the biggest advantage with teleworker was the more flexible scheduling of the workdays. On the other hand, the negative side that was brought up by most of the respondents showed a decreased socialization between the employees. In the analysis where the empirical data was analyzed through the theoretical model, there was evidence that suggested that the increase of flexibility with telework, positively affected the model’s autonomy aspect, which then should increase the intrinsic motivation. There was also strong evidence in the empirical data for the social aspects which was not found as a part of the theoretical model itself.  As a conclusion it was found that there were some positive changes due to telework for the intrinsic motivation, but that the subject requires further studies to come to a generalizable conclusion.