Did People have a healthy work life balance?
Were people able to use the time they saved on commuting to an office? The answer usually is no. With the increased distractions of a home office, especially when kids and pets are involved, 49-56% of employees worked longer hours than they wanted to. The hours totaled to be around 45-50 hours a week instead of the standard 40 hour work week. This increase in work hours leads to burnout, which affected minority groups disproportionately. 67% of minority owned business leaders and 49% of women owned business leaders compared to the 38% of men owned business leaders shows this trend. This is mirrored in the data about how much stress bleeds into personal life. Because of this, resignations are on the rise. A work life balance is necessary for a healthy lifestyle, when it’s not being achieved, resignations rise. In April 2021, a record breaking 4 million people quit their jobs. 35% of employees plan to switch jobs in the next year and of those, 61% want to do it to gain more control over their schedule.
Gen Z
More than half of Gen Z workers want to switch jobs this year. Over half are not satisfied with their work life balance or their job overall. 62% say they feel pressure to work during “normal” office hours when 25% say they work better outside them.
Higher expectations
83% of people say that the speed of low effort tasks like managing files, forms, or contracts get in the way of them doing their jobs successfully. The expectations for technology to become faster and more efficient just keep growing.
free time
Free time is an important part of life. It is what allows people to invent, create, and solve problems effectively. Most people, if given more time, said they would use it to pursue their passions and personal growth. Time well worth spent if you ask me.
Googlegeist
Every year around the new year, Google sends their employees a survey called the Googlegeist. This year the results showed some interesting insight to life during the pandemic.
Working from home
70% found it favorable
15% did not enjoy it
15% were neutral
Why are most companies trying to bring all their employees back, then?
Work life balance
57% felt the had a good one
24% had bad one
19% were neutral
The people who felt they had a good work life balance fell 9 points from last year.
able to complete the work and stay happy
62% agreed
16% disagreed
22% were neutral
This followed the work life balance, with a 9 point drop from the people agreeing
How did the companies treat their employees
Data shows that employers started monitoring their employees more, by about 16%. That includes tracking work computer usage, virtual clocking in and own, and monitoring inner communications and chats. Some employers took the liberty to create safety nets for their employees, providing them with enhanced sick leave, financial assistance, child care provisions, and adjusted hours. The one trend that all companies showed is how much they value their employees. Google gave, along with other benefits, each employee an allowance of $1,000 to set up their home office. Not all companies can do that, but they can show they care in other ways.
Employees have gained an important advantage when applying to new jobs, because of the pandemic. They are able to clearly see how much a company supports and helps their employees in a crisis.
How can we communicate better?
Communication in uncertain times is important, but good communication is a learned skill. Because of that, people have been able to learn and practice this skill and have compiled some tips.
proactive and honest
Communication is crucial to reduce employee anxiety, but that means that it needs to be early, open, and frequent. Keep the communication open and reduce the transparency. Share what you know as you know it, don’t wait until the full story, just correct it as it comes.
Guide Employees
Have patience
Adapt
Show that you are devoted to communicating successfully by trying new ways to communicate and bringing fresh perspectives. Communication also helps create solid and unified external communication