To add to workplace woes about the state of 2020, a recent survey has uncovered workers' gripes about how workers felt about safety, psychological security, and job security, and how the pandemic[1] has affected their career plans.
In June 2020, Lowell, MA-based Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated[2] surveyed 3,903 employees and business leaders in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
It wanted to discover how they felt about their employer's initial COVID-19 response and explores the top needs and concerns of the workforce through 2021.
The survey questions explored leadership and employee attitudes around trust in the workplace, digital transformation[3] and crisis response/management.
The "Hindsight 2020: COVID Concerns into 2021" survey found that only one in five (20%) felt that their organization met their needs during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Work does seem to have increased. Half of the employees globally say they have been working either the same or more hours regularly since the start of the pandemic, which helps to explain why over two in five (43%) call their organization's ability to balance workloads to prevent fatigue and burnout a priority.
Burnout and fatigue are equally concerning for employees working remotely (43%) and those in a physical workplace (43%).
Overall, three in five (59%) employees and business leaders say their organization has taken at least some measures to guard against burnout, though, overall, 29% of employees wish organizations would act with more empathy.
Over a third of employees and business leaders (36%) are concerned about future layoffs and furloughs due to economic instability created by COVID-19. Workers are most concerned in China (44%), followed by Mexico (41%), Canada (40%), and