Remote Work’s Effect on Motivation : A study of how remote work during the covid-19 pandemic has affected employee motivation

Sammanfattning: The current pandemic infused by the covid-19 virus has changed the world we once knew. To prevent the spread of the disease, many countries have implemented restrictions involving social distancing, which has resulted in millions of employees that have started to work remotely from their homes. Previous studies highlight mainly the positive consequences of remote work due to the rising popularity of remote work before the virus hit. However, the pandemic has forced companies and employees to apply these new working methods, creating unfamiliar conditions. Therefore, it is of great interest to analyze how these changes have affected employees, mainly their motivation. This study aims to evaluate how working remotely, as a consequence of the pandemic, have affected the motivation among the employees of a Swedish company within the power industry. The authors did it by conducting a literature review to understand the definition of motivation and how certain needs affect motivation. By interviewing ten employees, the authors of this study were given insights regarding how the employees have experienced remote work during the pandemic, how it has affected their personal needs, and if it has had any implications on their motivation. The results show that the interviewees share several of the advantages mentioned in the literature, such as flexibility and autonomy, and disadvantages, such as fewer social interactions and relatedness. However, most interviewees had not experienced that their motivation has changed, which is partly due to increased autonomy—those who do experience a loss in motivation attribute it to lacking relatedness and fewer opportunities for self-development.