The new normal for Swedish Municipalities : Assessing the impact of working from home

Sammanfattning: The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on public and private life. As organizations are forced to transition to remote work to reduce the spread of the virus, there is a need for researching how employees are affected. This study explores how municipal workers have experienced the transition, by conducting a survey involving five different Swedish municipalities. This study shows that, while overall productivity has generally either increased or remained at pre-transition levels, some aspects have suffered as a result of working from home. Social interactions among co-workers, information sharing, and community building are examples of where the employees felt that something has been lost. This study contributes to research being done on this phenomenon, and gives suggestions for practitioners.