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Bangladesh is the world's seven most populous country and its population with the average of 1000 people per square kilometer throughout the country. More than anything the country is facing unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19 pandemic. As of facing this unprepared challenge, the Government had to lockdown the country and the employees had to start working from home considering the situation and safety concerns. However, unlike the developed countries, the working from home scenario in Bangladesh is far more difficult as the concept is completely new. The difficulties are particularly seen in the advertising agency where the working culture needs to be collaborative. In addition to that, lack of preparation, shortage of right tools and support and overall, the new teleworking condition have turned the process overwhelming and complicated for the advertising agency employees. The purpose of this research is to explore the adaptation process of Advertising agencies during Covid-19 in Bangladesh. The research was qualitative in nature with an interpretivist perspective. As a deductive approach the concept of virtual work and its critical components were researched and later as an inductive approach email interviews with advertising agencies were conducted to discover and develop empirical understanding around the research topic. Through research it was discovered that the current work from home adaptation process has several shortcomings, without providing the required and special conditions for employees’ wellbeing and motivational factors. In addition to that, there is no adoption of any new collaborative tools that were found for the creative teams apart from the general communicative tools.

Bakgrund: Stillasittande under längre perioder associeras med smärta i bland annat ländrygg. Med covid-19 pandemin blev hemarbete ett faktum och all kommunikation var tvungen att ske via en dator. Detta bidrog till att stillasittandet ökade drastiskt och forskning har visat på att detta var en bidragande faktor till uppkomsten av muskuloskeletala smärtor. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att kartlägga muskuloskeletal smärta vid hemarbete under covid-19 pandemin avseende kön, ålder och antal suttna timmar. Metod: En enkät utformades i Google Forms som därefter publicerades på författarnas facebookprofiler samt skickades ut till ett företag. Respondenterna var 46 stycken fördelat på 31 kvinnor, 14 män och 1 “annat”. Enkäten var öppen i 4 veckor. Efter avslutad svarstid sammanställdes och analyserades datan i ett valt analysprogram. Resultat: Kvinnor och mäns medelvärde på Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) skilde sig ytterst lite. Det framkom att det inte var någon skillnad mellan antalet suttna timmar på en arbetsdag hos män och kvinnor. 14 deltagare hade tidigare skador som påverkade dem. Personer mellan 18-40 år hade högre medelvärde på NRS än personerna i åldersgruppen 41-64 år. Konklusion: Resultatet gav en indikation på att personer upplevt smärta vid hemarbetet på grund av covid-19. Dock finns ett behov av att utföra fler studier kring korrelationen mellan kön och smärta samt hur hemarbete påverkar de olika åldersgrupperna. Dessa studier bör ha ett större deltagarantal.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how employees at a mid-sized public university in the South experienced working from home during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021. Most employees in higher education settings were affected in some way by the coronavirus pandemic that hit the United States in the spring of 2020. Administrative, and clerical and support staff had to determine how to continue to provide the university with services while coordinating working from home. Now that we have experienced working from home, will that experience change the future of how staff work in higher education? For many, this was a first-time experience working from home, and it created a new set of challenges to completing everyday work tasks. Most participants found that working from home did not increase their overall productivity or job satisfaction, and few participants felt lonely or isolated when working from home. Overall, the negative aspects and benefits seemed to balance out in a series of trade-offs. The majority of participants would want to work from home again or at least be given the option to work from home part-time or on a hybrid schedule. Recommendations for further research include (1) performing quantitative research to develop scales of productivity and employee satisfaction when working from home, (2) determining how participants’ responses would have been different if they had not been dealing with a pandemic, (3) interviewing the same participants from this study who were still working from home in the future to determine if their feelings about the experience changed, (4) asking more in-depth questions on whether the supervisors’ style changed to accommodate the circumstances of working from home, (5) pursuing questions on worker engagement that were not asked in this study, (6) interviewing more males for the study to see if their responses showed a trend that was different from the female responses

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.

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Abstract  Background: With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has become one of the new implementations within organizations and businesses. The ability to work from home gives individuals the freedom to work from any location they want. Also, the fact that it is financially beneficial for organizations and businesses since they can reduce office expenses. However, working from home brings new challenges that influence the way of working and managing. These challenges can be for example communication breakdown, trust, and lack of collaboration among employees.  Purpose:  The purpose of this research is to investigate and see what changes have been implemented by the management at Husqvarna AB to adapt to this digital transition. Also, see how the employees have been affected by this drastic digital transition. This research findings will contribute to potential improvements when it comes to digital management and organizational structure in a digital environment.  Method: The interpretivism paradigm is applied to this research together with an inductive approach. The research is based on a single case study at Husqvarna AB where primary data was acquired through six in-depth interviews with the semi-structured question approach. The participants we interviewed consisted of two engineers, one certification coordinator and three managers. Furthermore, the thematic analysis approach was applied when analyzing the data in order to draw applicable conclusions.  Results: The empirical findings shows that the main change that have been implemented by the management to adapt to this digital transition is the increase of meetings. Further, the outcome of this has led to some employees being used more inefficiently, the time they spend in these meetings could be spent more efficiently. When it comes to how the employees have been affected by this transition and perform their daily tasks, there is relations towards the self-efficacy theory.

Work from home: A qualitative study of an altered working life in early 2020, takes the global spread of coronavirus and its impact on Sweden in early 2020, as its starting point. Restrictions limiting crowds, the closing of workplaces and universities are some among the many ways in which people and societal institutions are facing the pandemic. The purpose of this essay is to examine the participating individuals’ experiences of an altered working life, in regards of them working from home, using technology in order to do so. Research questions asked are: How do the participants experience working from home? In what ways have their everyday practices and routines changed? Based on the climate crisis being part of my research area of concern, an extending question is: What can be learnt from the experiences that are made during this time? The essay is based on questionnaires responded to by eight people, whereof six participated in in qualitative interviews. Analyses show how participants negotiate ideas of home and work as the two categories become integrated in one and the same place. Drawing on theory that emphasizes the agency of materiality and its entanglement with social practices, sociomaterial aspects of working from home are discussed. The participants partake in learning processes where they acquire knowledge that is useful when working from home. Basic digital skills become practical necessities when coping with technical difficulties during virtual meetings. Besides affecting individuals’ everyday experiences, to work remotely seems to have implications at an organizational level as well. Social and material relations are highlighted as constitutive of organizations and effected by the distancing of employees and workplaces. The concluding discussion reconnects to the initial attempt at bringing together individuals’ experiences of working from home with the need of transformation towards sustainable ways of life.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 generated challenges for both employers andemployees over a broad spectrum of industries. People were recommended to observe socialdistancing and lockdowns and/or curfews for non-essential businesses were implemented. Thisglobal situation catalyzed process innovation and a transition from traditional work settings,specifically on-site work, to a remote work setting where employees use online communicationrequiring homes with computers and high-speed internet. Purpose: This thesis explores how work settings changed due to the pandemic, how differentwork settings affect work-related collaborations which is a cornerstone in the innovationprocess, but also to investigate differences amongst personality traits in various work settings. Methodology: The research presented herein is based on a quantitative survey of 156respondents from a multitude of industries including several countries. The survey wasdesigned using the Likert scale to capture how respondents perceived various aspects ofcollaboration before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to respondent’sperceptions, relevant demographic information was collected. The survey results were analyzedusing descriptive statistics, CFA, SEM analysis, and statistical tests. Results and Analysis: Differences between work settings were found regarding certain aspectsof collaboration. The most notable was that informal collaboration was limited when workingfrom home. The most important aspects of collaboration are to be able to trust collaborativepartners and feel mutual respect. Conclusions: Employers need to develop digital communication tools and collaborationpractices when adopting a hybrid workplace. Informal interactions are an important aspect ofcollaboration, and these interactions are limited when working from home. Management needsto nurture an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect for successful collaboration. Recommendations for future research: Studies are recommended to focus on a specificindustry or any other demographic aspect. A more diversified sample would enable explorationof how work settings affect individuals possessing different personality traits.

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