Nearly two thirds of employees said their most common feelings amidst the coronavirus pandemic are anxiety, stress or distraction, with job security being the dominant reason for the emotion.
That’s according to research from employee engagement survey specialistย Inpulse, which shows that of the negative and positive emotions employees could choose, just seven percent selected โfocusedโ as a top emotion, while โcommittedโ only represented 14% of emotions chosen.
Until this point, โcommittedโ represented 21% of all emotions chosen in engagement surveys undertaken by Inpulse clients in 2020 – the company says this highlights a 7% decrease since the coronavirus pandemic.
On top of this, โanxiousโ represented 5%, โstressedโ was at 5%, and โdistractedโ at less than 1%. These have now become dominant emotions, with โanxiousโ being 28%, โdistractedโ 22% and โstressedโ 11%.
The survey question asked employees to pick no more than two of their most dominant feelings at work, choosing between committed, stressed, focused, valued, curious, anxious, distracted, indifferent and enthusiastic.
On a positive note, 76% of respondents said they have confidence in their business leaders to make the right decisions, with 43% strongly agreeing and 33% agreeing.
Eighty-two percent of employees also said that coronavirus has had an impact on company priorities, with 51% saying itโs had a major impact and 32% saying a minor impact.
Just 9% didnโt know what the impact was. Seventy-four percent say events have been cancelled, 67% have had reduced face-to-face meetings and 56% have been requested to work from home (the survey was distributed before the Government announcement to avoid non-essential travel/social contact).
Employer advice fromย Inpulse:
- People respond to uncertain times in different ways. Some canโt focus, are distracted and overwhelmed, some go into survival mode while some excel in a new challenge. Itโs important for leaders and managers to understand how their people are feeling, stay in regular communication, know how people will react and be able to combat and cater for different responses. This requires employers to be agile and put their people first to benefit the company; people will be more productive and engaged if they arenโt anxious, stressed or distracted.
- Clear, transparent communications from senior leaders discussing the short-term future of the business are vital. If the senior leaders don’t know the answers, it is better to be honest. Good communications reduce anxiety.
- Enable line managers to support their people emotionally by helping them manage their mindsets and identify who needs particular attention or may be struggling. This can help reduce stress. Many are not used to remote working, working in isolation or working with distractions at home.
- Providing short, focused objectives to their people and setting clear expectations help teams stay focused and avoid being distracted – regular, small soundbite communications are best to help people digest information clearly.
The Inpulse Survey had 120 responses and took place between 13thย and 17thย of March 2020.
