Examining The Impact of Reduced Remote Work Opportunities on Employee Motivation & Job Satisfaction : A Comparative Study Between Sweden & Finland

Sammanfattning

Background: The COVID pandemic accelerated a shift to remote work across organizations worldwide, which became a preferred work arrangement for many employees due to greater flexibility and work-life balance. As the pandemic no longer poses a threat, organizations have started to reassess the long-term viability of remote work and have therefore introduced return-to-office policies because of concerns over supervision and organizational culture. Although remote work has been widely studied, there appears to be limited research on the impact of remote work restrictions on employee motivation and job satisfaction, particularly in Sweden and Finland, where institutional responses to remote work have differed. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how restrictions on remote work opportunities impact employee motivation and job satisfaction. The focus is to gain insights from both Swedish and Finnish employees within the corporate sector to understand the phenomenon from different perspectives and institutional contexts. By examining how restrictions on remote work impact employees, we aspire to provide organizations with knowledge on how to manage return-to-office arrangements in the post-COVID era. Method: This thesis applies a qualitative approach based on interpretivism. The study was performed as a combined cross-sectional case study, whereby participants working within the corporate sector in the context of Sweden and Finland were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. The study consists of 11 interviews of which 6 were with participants in Sweden and 5 in Finland. Self-determination theory, agency theory, and institutional theory were used to guide the analysis and interpret the findings. Conclusion: The findings indicate that employees value the sense of autonomy related to remote work opportunities. However, the needs for relatedness and competence are harder to satisfy while working remotely. Participants in Finland expressed what can be compared to controlled motivation, as return to office mandates were suggested to create a sense of feeling controlled. On the contrary, participants from Sweden emphasized appreciation for being in the office due to enhanced physical interaction and that it was easier to transfer competence, and therefore also showed a higher tendency of compliance towards return to office mandates. However, it was still emphasized that some extent of remote work opportunities was desired. The different institutional structures of Sweden and Finland, and whether the restriction to remote work is mandated or governed by normative organizational expectations, appear to have an impact on the type of motivation perceived. The participants, independent of context, preferred hybrid models since the arrangement allows for all three psychological needs to be satisfied, which is suggested to create a sense of well-being and satisfaction. Lastly, by offering some remote work opportunities and investing in the office work environment that fulfils the psychological needs, organizations may establish a sense of autonomous motivation among employees, securing employee satisfaction, motivation, and performance simultaneously.