Det Abrupta Distansarbetets Påverkan på Studenten

Sammanfattning: University-level students have made a sudden shift to working remotely to help society slow down the spread of COVID-19. The choice to work remotely was sudden and involuntarily. This study examines how students perceive the sudden and unexpected change to working remotely and how reduced physical interactions have affected work and work-life balance. A qualitative interview study, with an inductive approach, has been based on ten semi-structured interviews of full-time students from different study programs and study areas. The results of these interviews have been analyzed by comparing the students’ experiences to current literature, such as factors that affect distance work, social support and work-life balance. The results showed that students perceive the transition sudden but necessary. There were trends that implied that the switch had affected the students’ productivity and work-engagement, because of the lack of structure and social support. The results suggest that telework is better suited for some people more than others, due to personal skills and life situations. More preparation in terms av creating new structures for sudden switches to teleworking and improving ways of social interaction remotely, could be possible solutions to improving the transition of work arrangements.