The Impact of Leadership in a Remote Work Environment: Retaining Employee Engagement
Edleston, Abigail (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202303113386
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202303113386
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is a research-based study, and the main topics of the thesis are leadership and employee engagement, and how leaders are retaining employing engagement in remote work. Remote work became a norm at the beginning of 2020 due to COVID-19 and even now, post-pandemic, it is still a current topic. Today in 2023, working on-site at the office is allowed. However, many have continued to work from home which has forced leaders to implement new leadership strategies and improve existing strategies.
Anyone has the potential to be an effective leader, but successful leadership requires a number of skills that complement one another. Employee engagement and remote work are closely connected to leadership – especially since the pandemic. Leadership strategies have had to be modified to correspond with the needs of remote employees and ensure the retention of employee engagement despite the location of the leader and employee.
The objective of the thesis is to examine the impact remote work has on leadership in Company X, if and how employee retention is being maintained as well as what implementation strategies for leadership are being determined to retain employee engagement in remote work. In addition, Company X wanted to investigate what factors would motivate the research participants, assistants, to work from the office more often. Company X allow hybrid working but encourage employees to work more on-site than from home.
The research was conducted in January 2023 through a semi-structured, electronic survey. A total of 20 assistants participated in the research. The findings of the study show that Company X assistants are mainly satisfied with Company X and its operations as well as the general work atmosphere. However, the research recognises that there is a lack of frequent feedback and communication from Company X leaders which has posed challenges during remote work. Communication is particularly crucial in remote work since leaders are not physically seeing their employees.
The recommended solutions for the research findings are for Company X to improve leadership and employee retention strategies. Every employee is different and should be seen as an individual to better comprehend their preferred ways of working and therefore, different approaches and strategies should be implemented to ensure maximum employee retention. For example, an underperformer requires different retention strategies compared to an average performer or top performer. Additionally, the proposed solutions provide information about how to motivate Company X employees to work more from the office instead of from home.
Anyone has the potential to be an effective leader, but successful leadership requires a number of skills that complement one another. Employee engagement and remote work are closely connected to leadership – especially since the pandemic. Leadership strategies have had to be modified to correspond with the needs of remote employees and ensure the retention of employee engagement despite the location of the leader and employee.
The objective of the thesis is to examine the impact remote work has on leadership in Company X, if and how employee retention is being maintained as well as what implementation strategies for leadership are being determined to retain employee engagement in remote work. In addition, Company X wanted to investigate what factors would motivate the research participants, assistants, to work from the office more often. Company X allow hybrid working but encourage employees to work more on-site than from home.
The research was conducted in January 2023 through a semi-structured, electronic survey. A total of 20 assistants participated in the research. The findings of the study show that Company X assistants are mainly satisfied with Company X and its operations as well as the general work atmosphere. However, the research recognises that there is a lack of frequent feedback and communication from Company X leaders which has posed challenges during remote work. Communication is particularly crucial in remote work since leaders are not physically seeing their employees.
The recommended solutions for the research findings are for Company X to improve leadership and employee retention strategies. Every employee is different and should be seen as an individual to better comprehend their preferred ways of working and therefore, different approaches and strategies should be implemented to ensure maximum employee retention. For example, an underperformer requires different retention strategies compared to an average performer or top performer. Additionally, the proposed solutions provide information about how to motivate Company X employees to work more from the office instead of from home.