Multilocational work has rapidly becoming more common, especially in IT and knowledge work, that is no longer tied to a physical workplace. In 2023, already one in six employees worked mainly from home, and almost one third worked remotely at least part of the time (Statistics Finland, 2024). Even though common nowadays, little research has yet been done on how leadership and management are impacted by multilocational work. This project will deepen our understanding of what leading multilocational work is like: What kind of challenges it raises and how these are tackled.
The LEAD Intervention Study (2024–2025) explores the everyday challenges of leading multilocational workforce and develops solutions together with local leaders and managers. The City of Hämeenlinna, the City of Tampere, and Ramboll Finland are participating in the study. Five groups participated in the training during 2024, which included meetings six times over a six-month period. The facilitators were PGL researchers Eija Lehtonen and Ilmari Puhakka. In addition to longitudinal surveying of the training participants, an extensive cross-sectional survey was carried out in the organisations to examine leaders’ well-being and abilities and preparedness for leading multilocational work.
The study data includes:
- Longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys
- 30 training sessions
- Challenges and solutions provided by the participating leaders
- Videoed focus group interviews at the end of the intervention
This research project is funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (grant nro 230369) and is carried out by Tampere University and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.