Research Digested: UK PLC and Covid-19: How the workforce is feeling, Karian and Box
A snapshot of useful research for L&D and workplace professionals.
About the research
Employee engagement agency Karian and Box surveyed 76,558 UK employees in medium to large organisations between 9 March and 6 May 2020 to understand their feelings about working through the Covid-19 lockdown.
Standout stats
This is useful research for finding out what employees feel about the way they are having to work through the Covid-19 lockdown.
Overall, most employees (68%) feel confident in the approach their leaders are taking in the crisis and 87% say that their organisation is keeping them informed. On the down side, 42 % are feeling anxious and 30% are feeling vulnerable. Employees are also concerned about redundancies, with 18% asking their leaders if redundancies will be made over the coming months. A quarter of employees are demotivated, which is likely to have knock-on effects as the lockdown continues. How can employers restore and maintain motivation levels?
Interestingly for the future, 24% of employees are asking their leaders if they can continue to work from home once the crisis subsides. If that were to happen this would have a huge impact on larger organisations and the office space they currently occupy.
The research also shows that employers have been more effective at providing the right equipment for colleagues (78%) and adapting to change (77%) than supporting health and well-being (73%) and work-life balance (71%).
Final word
This research looks at the responses of employees in larger firms and the story so far seems to be largely positive. Health and well-being are concerns with employees feeling anxious and vulnerable. Employers need to attend to this as a matter of urgency.
Employers also need to consider employees’ appetite for remote working. This desire will shape the future operating model for many organisations.
Report reading time: 7 minutes
Media: PDF
Read the report here: UK PLC and Covid-19: How the workforce is feeling
