Don't hesitate to communicate! - A mixed-method study on communication around the future way of working and its effects on communication-, employee satisfaction and commitment in post-Covid Sweden.

Sammanfattning

The Covid-19 pandemic caused many companies across the world to adopt a telework system with little or no preparation. The new way of working and the new method of communication between employees and organizations resulted in a high level of uncertainty. Even though the pandemic is coming to an end, it still poses some challenges for managers to decide on how the future working policy should look like and companies have adopted different levels of clarity in their communication to employees around such policy. This research aims to increase the understanding on how the policy around the future way of working has been communicated to white-collar employees in Sweden-based companies in such an uncertain period and how such communication affects their communication satisfaction, employee satisfaction as well as commitment to their employers. Specifically, the paper investigates how three levels of communication clarity were perceived by employees, what emotions it triggered and thereby how it affects their satisfaction and commitment. The research adopts a mixed-method approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed. 20 qualitative interviews and 140 quantitative survey responses were conducted for the analysis. The findings show that there are positive relationships between the clarity levels of communication and communication satisfaction, employee satisfaction and commitment. It also reveals the importance of adopting a clear communication as no or vague communication have no significant difference on some of the variables studied. This study contributes to literature regarding effective communication during organizational changes specifically in the post Covid-19 setting. It also opens a similar line of research on this matter in other countries which are reaching an end of the pandemic. The practical and managerial contribution includes providing understanding and suggestions for decision makers in Sweden-based organizations as well as consultants working closely with change management.