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The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote work out of necessity, leading many organizations to reevaluate their traditional office-centric work models. As a result, businesses and employees alike became more comfortable with remote work arrangements, paving the way for the widespread acceptance of the hybrid work model even after the pandemic subsides. While the hybrid model offers numerous advantages by blending both office and remote work, its drawbacks and challenges remain largelyunexplored.Especially managers are facing challenges as their traditional approaches to lead and influence their employees may prove less effective in this new dynamic environment. Consequently, there is a pressing new for managers to comprehend these challenges, equipping themselves with new skills sets to thrive. Additionally, they must innovate new methods to inspire and motivate employees within their team, ensuring the organizations attains its objectives in this evolving environment.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain insights on how leader behavior affects employees in the hybrid work environment as well as contributing to the limited existing research in this field. To fulfil the purpose, the following research question has been developed: What impact do different leadership styles have on the motivation of employees in a hybrid work environment? By investigating this research question, we will delve into the impacts of autocratic, democratic and laissez faire leadership on employee motivation in the hybrid model.

To explore the relationships between leadership styles and employee motivation in this work environment a survey has been conducted that aims to provide data required to answer the stated research question. Through the analysis of collected data, we have been able to conclude that leadership styles indeed do have an impact on employee motivation in a hybrid work environment. Furthermore, the empirical findings indicate that some leadership styles correlate with positive motivational outcomes while others exhibit negative motivational outcomes. These findings offer valuable practical implications for managers operating within hybrid work environments as well as for the broader organizational context.