Productivity in long-term remote work during the covid-19 pandemic
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2022
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Information and Service Management (ISM)
Language
en
Pages
54 + 2
Series
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies and employees around the world to move to remote work regardless of their preferences and abilities. In Finland, the recommendation to work remotely, issued by the Government, was in force with varying extent in various parts of Finland from March 2020 until the end of February 2022. Remote work is often considered more productive than office-based work. In this research, employees’ perceptions of their productivity level in long-term remote work are researched. The research gained information on whether employees evaluated that the level of their productivity, meaning how efficiently they have accomplished tasks, had changed during the remote work period that had lasted for over a year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The other goal is to determine which means could be used to improve employees’ productivity in long-term remote work. Seven office workers were interviewed for this research. The interview recordings were analyzed by thematic analysis. Themes of the factors that have an influence on productivity were named social contacts; support, with sub-themes of choice, and trust; the ability to concentrate and tolerate, with a sub-theme of time management; and technical issues. The results are compared against two previous theories: the social capital theory, and the three basic psychological needs identified by self-determination theory. The results contribute to these theories by offering compatible viewpoints. Upon the analysis, it was discovered that the long-term remote work during COVID-19 pandemic did not have a major impact on employees’ productivity. Most interviewees evaluated that it had stayed on the same level than before the pandemic. The significance of the disadvantages of remote work did not particularly increase during the year. In terms of ways to improve the employee productivity, various ways were found, such as focusing on team cohesion, the length of the working days, and ergonomics. In addition, it is beneficial to let employees themselves choose how often they work remotely.Description
Thesis advisor
Hekkala, RiittaKeywords
remote work, covid-19, productivity, efficiency, long-term