This year has been a bit of a rollercoaster considering how COVID-19 has turned everything on its head – particularly, the way we live, work, and socialise. At Mintivo, we believe that the best way forward would be to embrace this change. That is why our friends at Investors in People helped us to understand how our organisation and its people are coping with “the new normal” – under lockdown restrictions.
Working from home – 50% of staff say it improves work/life balance
One thing that the lockdown has taught us is that we have many tools at our disposal to work from home without the typical interruptions such as waking up early in the morning to prepare for work or the commute. With these daily activities gone, what fills the gap? Do staff take that time to relax/recharge? Or do they increase their work time?
The survey results indicate that 75% of the participants are more productive since the outbreak, and that should make us wonder what has changed since moving out of the company office to their home offices. According to the responses, 83% found that removing the commute is the biggest contributing factor to their productivity. While that may be the case for some, 83% also said that they now have more time to focus and 67% said that flexible work times have made them more productive and as a result, more than 50% have noticed an improvement in their work/life balance.
Listen and learn – have internal communications faltered?
With more time for family and less commuting, there are certain stresses that come with not being in close proximity to colleagues and teammates that may affect the mental wellbeing of our team members. This is why we, at Mintivo, are constantly finding creative ways to recreate the day-to-day workplace social experiences that have been taken away by the COVID outbreak.
More than 50% of the survey participants have found that communications among different teams in the organisation is better than usual while 33% feel that it is unchanged and therefore, does not seem to have been affected by the new remote working circumstances.
The results were significantly different when the participants were asked to comment on the leadership communication during lockdown. While 67% felt that communications are good, they feel that it can be even better with more frequent communications. That said, there is a fair and almost even spread of participants who want more information, transparency and details that are relevant to their current needs and concerns.
Life after lockdown – everyone misses the personal interactions with colleagues
We’ve already passed the halfway mark of 2020 and most of our time has been spent working remotely and adapting to new social situations.
A total of 67% of the participants have noted that neither they nor their close circle of friends or family have been affected by the coronavirus but continued to receive ongoing support for flexible work timings, good tools and processes in place, but most important, a total of 89% have shown preference towards regular social check-ins rather than work-related notices.
Change is never easy but for most people, and according to 78% of the survey participants, adapting to flexible working during this time is preferred.
Additionally, a large percentage of people prefer to have the option to work from home and/or the office moving forward. A total of 75% of the participants have indicated that there is no need to go back to the workplace, while others feel safer at home.
All of the participants agreed that they long for interactions with people at the office, not just as a sentiment but also as a mental exercise because working from home tends to make them feel isolated.
In the end, 89% look forward to returning to some kind of normal post-lockdown and generally have a positive feeling about what’s to come – so do we.
