Benefits and challenges of remote work

While remote work has inspired research for decades, it has never been as important as today to understand the opportunities and challenges related to it. In the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced most of the major companies to offer remote work options to their employees. This was certainly not an ideal situation, and while there were some success stories, it is important that employers learn more about the benefits and challenges of remote work, and how to successfully implement these policies in the future. The main objectives of this thesis were to find out the most significant benefits and challenges of remote work and find management strategies on how to minimize the risks associated with it, while utilizing the benefits as well as possible. The most important potential benefits for organizations, according to the findings are increase in productivity, and reduced costs related to real estates, absenteeism, and staff turnover. Challenges are related to data security, corporate culture, teamwork, and the difficulty to supervise remote workers. A significant moderator regarding all the risks associated with remote work, is the intensity of it. The thesis presents some recommendations as to how to most effectively implement and manage remote work, based on literature and success stories of practitioners. It also gives direction for future studies