Employee motivation during remote work

This thesis focuses on employee motivation during remote work. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, many companies have switched to remote working, which led to challenges in communication and the separation of privacy and work. The objective of this thesis is to show how remote work influences the motivation of employees. The purpose of the thesis is to find out how leaders can maintain and strengthen the motivation of employees and what employees can do them-selves. In addition, the question which leadership style is most suitable for moti-vating employees is elaborated. The thesis includes a theoretical part carried out as literature research which introduces motivational theories and leadership styles. Based on these findings, qualitative interviews were conducted to get a further perspective and opinions from employees and employers. The findings show that the unfulfilled need for social relatedness and interaction in remote work has an impact on employees’ motivation. Excessive control or a lack thereof can also have a demotivating effect. As each employee possesses different needs, employers are advised to identify these and apply them to the remote work situation. The need for social involvement, which was found in all findings of the theoretical part and the evaluations of the qualitative interviews, can be met through regular, informal meetings of the team in which wishes and ideas as well as topics that are not work-related are discussed which can in-crease motivation. The transformational and authoritative leadership style was found to be most appropriate for leaders that wish to motivate employees work-ing from home