The role of remote working
What are the conditions for remote working in different work organisations, and how is the organisational and social work environment affected, when some people work on site and others remotely? How can a sustainable and gender equal working environment for employees be ensured?
Remote working can play an important role in meeting challenges related to skills supply, but its effects on the working environment, gender equality and organisational processes have not yet been sufficiently explored in the Swedish context.
This research project investigates the significance of remote working for the organisational and social working environment, linked to the skills supply challenges that result from the ongoing social transformation in northern Sweden. The region's geographical conditions and the need for rapid skills development make remote working a potentially important solution.
One starting point is that remote work can entail both opportunities and risks: increased flexibility and productivity for some, but also reduced knowledge transfer, poorer career and skills development opportunities for others. Previous research has shown that both remote working and skills provision are conditioned by perceptions and norms about sex and gender, which in various ways affect both the individual's work situation and health as well as the organisational working environment.
Objectives
The project has two main objectives:
- To generate new knowledge about how remote working affects the organisational and social work environment, and
- To develop a research-based model, to support companies and public organisations in creating sustainable and gender-equal work environments, when parts of the workforce work entirely or partly remotely.
The research project is funded by Afa Insurance and is being carried out by Ulrika Jansson, PhD in Work Science and analyst at the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research, University of Gothenburg, and Lena Grip, Associate Professor in Human Geography, Karlstad University.
Time period: January 2026 – January 2029
Target groups Managers and employees in municipalities and regions as well as in the private sector
We collaborate with: public and private organisations in northern Sweden
The research project is part of the secretariat's area of activity ‘A fair working life’.
