Following Monday night’s announcement, Connexus Recruit conducted a snap Employee Sentiment Survey on Tuesday. The survey asked questions related to the current restrictions, remote working and job security. The following are some of our main findings:
74.4% of respondents stated that the current 6-week lockdown will have little no effect on their business
Almost ¾ respondents claimed that their business will be mostly unaffected by the recent restrictions and they will continue to trade. This is a clear indication of the resilience of businesses who have now adapted to the new normal of fluctuating restrictions. This is also a clear contrast to how the market reacted when restrictions were imposed back in March.
Of course, not all businesses remain unscathed with 8.54% of respondents stating that this lockdown will have a major impact on their business and will result in closure, job losses or reduced hours.
How secure do you feel in your current role?
60.72% said that they feel secure or highly secure in their current role however, 7.14% said they did not and 9.52% feel that their job is at risk. The remaining 22.62% felt relatively safe.
If we could delve deeper into the results of this question, I believe that we would find industry to be the defining factor.
The Future of Remote working Post-COVID.
In line with the general consensus, it would appear that remote working is here to stay. Of those asked, 63.10% said that their companies are planning on offering some further work from home options once working full time back in the office is an option. Only 7.14% said their organsiation is not planning on offering any flexibility while the remaining 30% are undecided.
A convincing 0% of people said they believe it will be back to the office 5 days a week as it was in the past.
What challenges have you faced while working from home?
We found that many people faced a number of common challenged when working from home. The two most common challenges being loss of motivation due to lack of human interaction with colleagues (44.04%) and distractions caused by family/housemates (42.86%).
As well as these, 20% said that they were distracted by social media and 30% found it more difficult to manage their time effectively. 15% claimed to have faced no challenges while working from home.
Other answers included:
- Too many Zoom/Teams calls.
- Lack of face to face interaction.
- Internet connection.
- Ergonomics of home-office.
- Separating work and home life.
- Difficulty communicating and receiving feedback from colleagues.
- Too many snacks in the fridge.
_____
Is your Company currently hiring?
40% are currently growing and actively hiring while 44% are remaining the same. Only 16% said they are having to make redundancies.
This is encouraging for anyone who is currently on the job market looking for their next role that companies are showing their resilience and despite external factors, they will continue to grow.
Our Opinion on the Findings
From what we have seen over the past two months, the market does seem to have stabilised and many of the companies that we speak with are continuing to grow and have adapted to the new way of working.
It seems remote working is here to stay, in what capacity only time will tell but it doesn’t seem likely that the world will be returning to the 5-day commute to the office as it was before.
Remote working has it benefits however, it also has a number of negatives as seen by the challenges people face. We need the human interaction and social aspect of working face to face and the opportunity to return to the office to see colleagues and friends will be met with open arms.
Link to Full Results
Here is a link to the complete results from our recent survey: COMPLETE RESULTS
If you have any questions feel free to get in touch.
