As the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019 many businesses and institutions had to start pivoting to remote work and remote studying. Remote work and studying has the ability to significantly alter the way that people are used to carry out their work or studies and, in many cases, have done exactly that. Although the area of remote work and remote studying have been explored and researched on prior to this, the scale at which these changes have taken place and the number of people that are affected is unprecedented. This study aims to identify and understand the technological challenges that university students within computer science experience after having gone through this change of environment. This study also aims to understand and identify what the consequences of these challenges are and how they could be solved or mitigated. To find out what these challenges and their consequences are, this study uses a series of semi-structured interviews with students. Through this series of interviews this paper identifies a range of different challenges belonging to previously identified areas of technological challenges such as internet connectivity, communication software, VPN software, and hardware limitations. The interviews also brought forward technological challenges outside of these areas and allowed the participants to explain in detail what consequences these challenges have had on their remote education and to offer their personal opinions on how these challenges and consequences can be solved. A questionnaire was also sent out to students at Malmö University in order to gain further information regarding both social and technological challenges. The interviews and questionnaire carried out in this study and their results can serve as a foundation for further research and to be of help for individuals, institutions or businesses who are interested in the topic of remote education concerning computer science. Through the questionnaire and interviews carried out in this study it is clear that the majority of challenges that computer science students face are social in nature, although technological challenges still exist. The results of the questionnaire in particular also led to the troubling finding that a majority of students believe that the quality of their education has worsened as a result of remote education. The study also provides a number of recommendations and possible solutions to these challenges

Background: Firms need to innovate to remain competitive and innovation requires multiple stakeholders to collaborate to successfully identify new opportunities. When unable to meet an interact, we would like to understand how these stakeholders connect and what other impact on innovation performance should be considered when collaborating remotely.  Objectives: The thesis aims to identify underlying management theory and establish a model which will be used to interview employees of suitable firms. The study will then apply the model and strive to validate whether COVID-19 drives innovation and if it can be successfully performed during personal movement restrictions.  Methodology: This study is exploratory and qualitative with 4 propositions based on theoretical models tested against a selected panel of interviewees.  Results: The analysis surfaces that COVID-19 positively impacted employee commitment, competency and satisfaction while balancing employees working remotely. Both employees and firms found themselves more productive, relying on IT systems for incremental simplification of non-value-added activities. All firms did not however convert this momentum to innovation related performance to date. Overall, employees did find it advantageous being able to balance work and life, while firms enjoyed greater productivity.  Recommendations for future research: The link between greater productivity, staff satisfaction and realization of the same deserves additional attention as the scope of this study did not permit further review on an industry and past innovation performance level.  Keywords: performance, innovation, remote work, covid-19, management, productivity

Purpose - In order to capture the implications of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted in-depth interviews with 8 middle level managers employed at a Large Enterprise based in Sweden.  Problem - The influence of the middle managers on change management initiatives is prominent. We conducted this research regarding remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to understand the managerial perspective on the phenomenon.  Method - We have adopted a qualitative research method and utilized social constructivism for the analysis of the interviews. We applied the theories of change management and dynamic managerial capabilities to the empirical data that we collected through in-depth interviews.  Results - The results of the analysis include the middle management perspective on change management, in our case; the impact of switching to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research has provided us with their subjective perspective on remote work, as well as related issues regarding organizational changes in general. Conclusion - Finally, we reflect on the perspectives that we gained through the interviews and discuss the limitations of this thesis, as well as further research possibilities.

Yes / With the overnight growth in Working from Home (WFH) owing to the pandemic, organisations and their employees have had to adapt work-related processes and practices quickly with a huge reliance upon technology. Everyday activities such as social interactions with colleagues must therefore be reconsidered. Existing literature emphasises that social interactions, typically conducted in the traditional workplace, are a fundamental feature of social life and shape employees' experience of work. This experience is completely removed for many employees due to the pandemic and, presently, there is a lack of knowledge on how individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home. Given that a lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative repercussions, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of literature on remote working by highlighting employees' experiences and practices around social interaction with colleagues. This study takes an interpretivist and qualitative approach utilising the diary-keeping technique to collect data from twenty-nine individuals who had started to work from home on a full-time basis as a result of the pandemic. The study explores how participants conduct social interactions using different technology platforms and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The findings highlight the difficulty in maintaining social interactions via technology such as the absence of cues and emotional intelligence, as well as highlighting numerous other factors such as job uncertainty, increased workloads and heavy usage of technology that affect their work lives. The study also highlights that despite the negative experiences relating to working from home, some participants are apprehensive about returning to work in the traditional office place where social interactions may actually be perceived as a distraction. The main contribution of our study is to highlight that a variety of perceptions and feelings of how work has changed via an increased use of digital media while working from home exists and that organisations need to be aware of these differences so that they can be managed in a contextualised manner, thus increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of working from home.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of remote work on employees’ sense of belonging to the organization they work in. The study explores several aspects of remote work and organizational belonging to understand what lies beneath. To reach saturated findings we conducted a qualitative study. The method that this research applies, follows a grounded theory approach which is operated through a combination of an inductive and abductive method for developing theory. The research applicants were located in the Netherlands and Sweden with the context being given as post-COVID-19, with relation to COVID-19. The study has a total of 10 participants, all who were asked identical interview questions. The questions were designed for employees in organizations to capture their insights and recommendations on the effects of remote work on organizational belonging. Our key findings suggest that communication, managerial support, and organizational initiatives are significant in fostering organizational belonging for employees. The implications touch on managers’ responsibility and highlight their ability to promote unity, collaboration, and work-life balance for employees. The conclusion incorporates the findings to give a concise presentation of the importance of remote work dynamics, the effect of remote work on organizational belonging, and lastly, the participant’s recommendation of approaches to enhance employee sense of organizational belonging. The study contributes to understanding the complexities around remote work and its implications for organizational facility and practice, employee well-being and produced efficiency.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a massive shift to remote work, which proved to be beneficial to employees as it increased flexibility and well-being. Some organizations this post-pandemic are insisting on a return to the office, differing over preferences for work and revealing the absence of studies on how work arrangements impact employee motivation in the long run. This study aims to understand remote work implications from an individual employee's perspective. Gaining insight into employees' perspectives regarding remote work can yield valuable information concerning the possible opportunities and challenges associated with remote work in a post-pandemic era. In our research design, we used a qualitative research approach that incorporated semi-structured interviews. Ten participants in this study were recruited, and all ten participants worked in the financial industry and were between 31 and 65 years of age. The results have shown that early-career employees prefer the skill development and social benefits of working in the office, while mid-career employees prefer the autonomy of remote work. Remote work also comes with challenges, as some employees feel demotivated working at home. Employees resist return-to-office policies to preserve the flexibility and autonomy of remote work, favoring hybrid models. A large proportion of employees would seek other organizations that offer remote work.

Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi III, Organisation 15 hp, 2FE78E, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Kalmar. VT 2024. Titel: Distansarbete, en förmån eller en fälla för medarbetarnas hälsa. Författare: Johanna Eriksson och Ella Pettersson  Lärosäte: Linnéuniversitetet Ämne: Organisation Handledare: Anna Larsson Examinator: Mikael Lundgren Problemformulering: Vilka friskfaktorer upplever medarbetare är avgörande för ett hållbart distansarbete? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen och bidra med kunskap om vilka friskfaktorer som medarbetare anser vara mest avgörande för att distansarbete ska vara hållbart. Ett hållbart arbetsliv är av stor vikt i och med att alla människor ska klara av att arbeta utan att bli sjuka eller skadade, vilket stärker syftet för en studie likt denna. Metod: Studien följer en abduktiv ansats med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi som grund. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer, där det insamlade materialet analyserats, kategoriserats och tolkats. Studien har även använt en tvärsnittsdesign.  Slutsats: Studien visar att kännedomen om begreppet friskfaktorer är begränsad, särskilt på individnivå. Studien har identifierat tre centrala områden för hållbart distansarbete: ergonomi, kommunikation och autonomi, vilka konstruerats till friskfaktorer vid distansarbete. Historiskt sett har fokus legat på att identifiera riskfaktorer i arbetet, men det finns tecken på ett skifte där intresset för friskfaktorer ökar både på organisations- och samhällsnivå. Vidare visar studien att friskfaktorerna bör förstås i symbios med varandra och inte som fristående faktorer. Däremot framgår det att autonomi verkar ha en större betydelse än de andra friskfaktorerna vid distansarbete. / Bachelor thesis Business Administration III, Organization 15 credits, 2FE78E, School of Economics at Linnaeus University of Kalmar. Spring 2024. Titel: Remote work, a benefit or a trap for employees health. Authors: Johanna Eriksson and Ella Pettersson Institution: Linnaeus University Subject: Organization Advisior: Anna Larsson Examiner: Mikael Lundgren  Research questions: Which health-promoting factors do employees perceive as crucial for sustainable remote work? Purpuse: The purpose of this study is to increase understanding and contribute knowledge about which health-promoting factors employees consider most crucial for sustainable remote work. A sustainable working life is of great importance, as everyone should be able to work without becoming ill or injured, which reinforces the purpose of a study like this. Method: The study follows an abductive approach based on a qualitative research strategy. The empirical data was collected through eight semi-structured interviews, where the collected material was analyzed, categorized, and interpreted. The study also employed a cross-sectional design. Conclusion: The study shows that awareness of the concept of health-promoting factors is limited, especially at the individual level. The study has identified three central areas for sustainable remote work: ergonomics, communication, and autonomy, which have been constructed as health-promoting factors in remote work. Historically, the focus has been on identifying risk factors in the workplace, but there are signs of a shift where interest in health-promoting factors is increasing at both organizational and societal levels. Furthermore, the study shows that health-promoting factors should be understood in symbiosis with each other rather than as standalone factors. However, it appears that autonomy has greater significance than the other health-promoting factors in remote work.

<p dir="ltr">Author: Carrillo Siller, Karen Ivanna. MS</p><p dir="ltr">Institution: Purdue University</p><p dir="ltr">Degree Received: August 2024</p><p dir="ltr">Title: Unveiling Discrepancies- An Analysis of Women’s Current and Preferred Workplace</p><p dir="ltr">Committee Co-Chairs: Maria I. Marshall & Roberto Gallardo</p><p dir="ltr">This study investigates current and preferred workplace mismatches in the North Central Region, particularly the degree of mismatch in the female population. We hypothesize that asymmetric unemployment threats boosted by the COVID-19 economic shutdown, and caregiving or household increased burdens forced vulnerable groups (including women) of the workforce to work in locations that unequaled their real workplace preference. To test this hypothesis, we apply two multinomial logistic (MNL) regressions using secondary survey data to obtain likelihood and percentage point effects of individual attributes. We estimate that despite showing a 68% probability of working at the office, there exists only an 48% probability that individuals prefer such work location. Furthermore, we find that women have 3.3 percentage points (pp) higher probability of currently working remotely than men and show the greatest preference for this work arrangement; despite gender having no effect in current work site, women have 11.8pp lower probability of preferring in-person work than men, where younger women have no observed preference between work arrangements. Additionally, control variables showed that other greatly mismatched populations include rural residents, and low remote potential occupation workers. Main attributes such as gender and adult caregiving accessibility shape preferences, whereas educational attainment, household income, and occupation define current worksite. These results highlight the importance of flexible work arrangements in the American economy and their ever-greater inclination between members of the workforce, despite lack of greater opportunities, policies, and regulations.</p>

Remote work was already an ongoing trend amongst software developers, but the sudden and unexpected occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic made it normal due to the obligations for many people to stay and work from home.  To go from the safeness of the work office with an always-working Internet connection and colleagues around to exchange ideas with, to working from home can be a big change from one day to another. Without a good structure or adjustment from the organization, this would lead to a decrease in good work results, communication issues and difficulty for managers to keep track of what is done and by whom. To facilitate this, commonly used methods are the Agile Methodologies. Beck et al. (2001) make it significant in the 12 principles of Agile that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information is by face-to-face conversation for the best results. Investigating the work that was done face-to-face previous to the pandemic but is now done remotely from home within agile teams is therefore of much relevance today. This thesis was intended to investigate and learn how the use of agile methodologies has facilitated the sudden transition to remote work from home and affected the aspects of communication and work results within an agile development team. The study was conducted using the qualitative method with interviews consisting of seven open-response and two closed-response questions with respondents in agile teams from a software development company in Sweden. The analysis was made thematically in relation to Bridge’s Transition Model, and in relation to previous research. The study identified three themes to answer the research question based on the theoretical framework; The Change, Communication and Work Results. The results of the study show that the use of Agile Methodologies indeed has simplified the sudden transition to remote work from home, which was called The Change, as many of the agile practices already were done online previous to the pandemic. The study has also concluded that the use of Agile Methodologies has positively affected the aspects of communication and work results in an agile team, as it was found that forms of communication became more creative as they occurred more frequently while working from home, and it ultimately led to more valuable end-results. / Distansarbete var redan en pågående trend bland mjukvaruutvecklare, men den plötsliga och oväntade förekomsten av COVID-19-pandemin gjorde det normalt på grund av restriktionerna för många människor att arbeta hemifrån. Att gå från arbetskontorets säkerhet med en alltid fungerande internetuppkoppling och kollegor runt om för att diskutera idéer med, till att arbeta hemifrån kan vara en stor förändring från en dag till en annan. Utan en bra struktur eller anpassning från organisationen skulle detta leda till en minskning av goda arbetsresultat, dålig kommunikation och svårigheter för chefer att hålla reda på vad som görs och av vem. Vanliga metoder att använda för att underlätta detta är de agila metoderna. Beck et al. (2001) gör det tydligt i de 12 principerna för Agile att den mest effektiva metoden för att förmedla information i ett projekt är genom konversationer face to face, för bästa resultat. Att undersöka det arbete som innan pandemin gjordes face to face men nu görs på distans hemifrån inom agila team är därför av stor relevans idag. Denna studie var avsedd att undersöka och få kunskap om hur användningen av agila metoder har underlättat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån och påverkat aspekterna av kommunikation och arbetsresultat inom ett agilt utvecklingsteam. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av den kvalitativa metoden med intervjuer bestående av sju öppna frågor och två slutna svarfrågor med respondenter i agila team från ett mjukvaruutvecklingsföretag i Sverige. Analysen gjordes tematiskt i förhållande till Bridge’s Transition Model och i förhållande till tidigare forskning. Studien identifierade tre teman för att besvara forskningsfrågan utifrån det teoretiska ramverket; The Change, Communication och Work Results. Resultaten av studien visar att användningen av agila metoder har förenklat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån, eftersom många av de agila aktiviteterna redan gjordes online före pandemin. Studien har också dragit slutsatsen att användningen av agila metoder har påverkat aspekterna kommunikation och arbetsresultat positivt i ett agilt team, eftersom det visade sig att kommunikationsformer blev mer kreativa eftersom kommunikationen blev mer frekvent inträffande när de arbetade hemifrån, och det ledde slutligen till mer värdefulla slutresultat i projekt.

I ett ständigt föränderligt samhälle krävs det att organisationer arbetar för att upplevas attraktiva då det kan leda till konkurrenskraft på marknaden. Covid-19 ställer nya krav på arbetsgivaren som i vissa fall fått införa distansarbete för anställda.  Studien syftar till att beskriva anställdas upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19 och hur fortsatt distansarbete efter covid-19 är en faktor som de anställda upplever påverkar organisationens attraktivitet. Två forskningsfrågor utvecklas:  1. Vad har anställda för upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19?2. På vilket sätt är distansarbete efter covid-19 en faktor som anställda upplever påverkar  organisationens attraktivitet?  Tolkningsperspektivet präglar studiens syfte och tillvägagångssätt. Studien genomförs fallspecifikt i en global organisation och en induktiv ansats genomsyrar studien då syftet är utforskande. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där semistrukturerade intervjuer använts för insamling av empiri. Vidare används en tematisk analys som metodansats. I Forskningsfråga 1 utvecklas temana: Work life balance, Information, kommunikation och interaktion samt Effekten av distansarbetet. Forskningsfråga 2 består av temana: Flexibilitet efter covid-19 och Flexibilitetens indikationer. Förankring med tidigare forskning skapar en större förståelse för empirin. Slutsatsen är att upplevelserna av distansarbete under covid-19 i det specifika fallet varierar och är individuella. Det framkommer att flexibelt distansarbete efter covid-19 ökar organisationens attraktivitet eftersom det signalera på andra attraktiva faktorer däremot krävs vissa förutsättningar från organisationens sida. / In a constantly changing society, there is a demand for organizations to be seen as attractive as they may develop competitiveness on the market. Due to covid-19 newly formed demands are being established for the employer to follow such as working remotely.  The purpose of the study is to describe the employee's experiences of remote work during covid-19 and how organizations will be perceived as attractive by the employees when offering remote work post covid-19. Two research questions have been conducted:  What are the employee's experiences with remote work? In what way do remote work post covid-19 influence the attractiveness of the organization? Interpretivism is conducted as the paradigm of the study to further carve the purpose and approach. The study is developed through a single case study in a global organization with an inductive approach that permeates the investigation of the purpose. The study is qualitative where semi-structured interviews are used as a collection of empirics. Furthermore, a thematic analysis is used. In the first research question the following themes are developed: Work-life balance, Information, Communication and Interaction and The Effect of Remote work. The themes developed through the second research question follow: Flexibility after covid-19 and the Indications of Flexibility. The previous research creates a greater understanding of empirics. The conclusion reveals that the perception of remote work during covid-19 in the specific case varies and is individualistic. Flexibility in remote work post covid-19 emerges as increasing the attractiveness of the organization. This serves as an indication of other attractive elements however some conditions are required.