FROM ABRUPT CHANGE TO DAILY ROUTINES : The organizational effect of one year with COVID-19

Abstract: The way we work has changed rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. Remote work and telecommuting have become the new norm, a trend many of us have not asked or wished for. In this sense, this research is a reassessment of how IT companies in Sweden approached and managed the sudden transition to working remotely. With the support of previous literature on the topics of crisis management, organizational routine dynamics, and telecommuting, a set of seven semi-structured interviews were conducted to better understand the long-term challenges companies face during a crisis-induced shift into remote work. Our research reveals that organizations manage to quickly adapt the core business routines and operations, while social interactions and communication issues seem to be the biggest bottleneck when moving entirely remote. This leads to a perceived loss in overall productivity and the suffering of the work-life balance among all our respondents and their teams.