The impact of remote work on team and risk management

In the 21st century, the competitive advantage of many successful companies is great employees who work remotely. However, so far this has not been a common practice in companies in Latvia. Today, remote collaboration is a reality and often an economic asset provided by the World Wide Web. However, business leaders often are indecisive between remote and onsite teams to performing a given task. The events that started in the beginning of 2020 showed an extraordinary transition from onsite work to working remotely, consequently, also changed the basic principles of team management. The purpose of this paper is to explore aspects of influencing habits and the risks that organizations in Latvia faced while working in an unforeseen remote-working emergency. Tasks of the study were to be explored on the basis of the review of scientific sources and study tendencies on team leadership and related risks in Latvian organizations in emergency remote work mode. For this particular study, the focus group is selected as the most appropriate data collection method for high-quality research. To find out individuals' opinions and attitudes two focus group discussions were carried out. Members from various industries and with different employment periods were included in discussion groups. In aggregate, opinions of the employees from 17 different companies were summarized regarding the aspects affecting the work of the organization and team management in emergency remote work mode. The research showed that the biggest problem in managing employees who work remotely is the reduction of communication channels and the resulting risks.