Change in work after the coronavirus pandemic – research project on remote work and work at the offices among Finnish knowledge employees

This project examines the changes in how work is being performed after the coronavirus pandemic as remote work recommendations were lifted at workplaces that transitioned to combining remote work with work at the office premises in 2022. The aim of the project is to increase understanding of how remote work and work at the office premises are combined and how they impact working hours, sickness absences and wellbeing at work. An additional aim is to examine the impacts of office premises and possible changes to them, management and the guiding practices of the work place.

The research involves examining working methods (i.e. remote work, work at the offices, and combination of them, i.e., hybrid work) in expert work before, during and after the coronavirus pandemic, and the impacts on working hours, wellbeing at work and sickness absences.

Research objectives:

In addition to the initial remote work analysis conducted at the turn of 2021–2022, starting from 2022, we will be studying remote work and work at the offices with a focus on working hours, wellbeing at work and short (1–5-day) sickness absences (i.e., self-certified sickness absences).

Development objectives:

Development objective 1:
We will develop recommendations for considering working methods in the participating organisations.

Development objective 2:
We will strive to form an understanding to support the development of office work premises in the participating organisations. Additionally, we will provide the organisations with an infrastructure for developing working hours and wellbeing at work by utilising information accumulated through the project and other employee information available in the relevant systems.