Covid-19 has taken the world upside down. With the employees switching to Work-From-Home, or a shift to blended mode with some workers going to the office and others working remotely, has brought a disruption in the workspace.
Edelman Data x Intelligence, a research firm, conducted The 2021 Work Trend Index survey on the sample size containing more than 30 thousands employees (full-time and self-employed) across 31 countries, between January 12 to January, 25 2021.
The research indicates that the hybrid working mode will be the call for a post-pandemic workstyle. The survey shows that over 70 per cent of workers desire that flexible remote work options should continue, while over 65 per cent want to go back to in-person meetings with their teams.
66% of the leaders are planning to redesign the office spaces to accommodate the new-hybrid work culture.
Keeping in view the challenges, it is essential to note down that even after working remotely at home for about one year, 42 per cent of employees responded that they lack essential office supplies at home, and one in 10 find poor internet connectivity as a hindrance in their work.
Over 46 per cent said that their employer does not incur the remote work expenses.
The worst-hit at work due to pandemic is Gen Z. This generation is at the budding stage of their careers, and with a lack of financial means, they find it difficult to create proper workplaces at home.
The Work Trend Index survey reveals that Gen Z struggles to balance work with life and feels exhausted after a typical day of work as compared to older generations. The people from this age group also reported that they face difficulties in feeling engaged or excited about work, and finds it challenging to bring new ideas to the table.
“Networking as someone early in their career has gotten so much more daunting since the move to fully remote work — especially since switching to a different team during the pandemic. Without hallway conversations, chance encounters, and small talk over coffee, it’s hard to feel connected even to my immediate team, much less build meaningful connections across the company,” said Hannah McConnaughey, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft.
The report put forth that with lockdowns at place, remote work increased and strengthen the interaction between the closer teams or networks, leaving aside the distant networks or teams, which observed a diminish.
Such a trend spiked in New Zealand and Korea. When the lockdowns were imposed, the interactions amongst outer networks diminish, while when the lockdowns were lifted off, communication with the outer network improved. Thus, with shrinking networks innovation is at risk. Failing to collaborate with different teams, employees find it difficult to strategise, brainstorm and propose new ideas.
“When you lose connections, you stop innovating. It’s harder for new ideas to get in and groupthink becomes a serious possibility,” opined Dr Nancy Baym, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft.
The report says that the productivity amongst employees improved, they found themselves authentic and true-self at work and the personal relationship amongst workers developed. But, there were many workers with a view that they feel embarrassed when their personal lives are shown up in their work.
The report shows that in co-working trend, 1 in 7 6 or 17% of the respondents have cried Coworkers with their coworkers. It includes especially those in healthcare (23 per cent), travel and tourism (21 per cent), and education (20 percent).
On this, Jared Spataro, CVP at Microsoft 365 said, “Before the pandemic, we encouraged people to ‘bring their whole self to work,’ but it was tough to truly empower them to do that. The shared vulnerability of this time has given us a huge opportunity to bring real authenticity to company culture and transform work for the better.”
The survey reported that employees are thinking about their next move in their careers. 41% of employees are planning of leaving their current employer this year, while 46% say supposed to make a career transition.
The report also found out that business leaders are performing better in coping with the pandemic than their employees. Around 61% of leaders believed that they were thriving, while nearly 40% of employees felt their employers “are asking too much of them at a time like this”.
To mitigate the new challenges, the 2021 Work Trend Index report recommended some way forwards in the form of providing flexibility to employees, combating digital exhaustion from the top, rethinking employee experience to compete for the best and most diverse talent, and investing in space and technology to bridge the physical and digital worlds. Such steps would promote better workspace culture and inculcate in better coworking trends in organizations.