Companies “living off employee goodwill” in pandemic

International research from employee survey provider Inpulse shows that workers’ anxiety levels have increased from five percent in May 2019, to 12 percent in May this year.

Inpulse said its research of more than 11,000 employees, including about 8,000 workers from across Europe, showed that companies are “living off employee goodwill” during the pandemic.

The company said that a “dominant emotion” is at an extreme level and of concern to businesses when it rises above 10 percent, as this will impact atmosphere and culture. Therefore anxiety is currently a dominant emotion, as well as stress which currently stands at 10 percent.

The research found that such negative emotions are being driven by fears of job security (25 percent) and high workload (15 percent).

It also found that just seven percent of employees feel committed to their employer.

Matt Stephens, founder of Inpulse, explained: “People are adjusting to our emerging world, but analysis of the various elements shows people are running on extremely high negative emotions. This mix of high workload at both work and home plus worrying about jobs, could cause irreparable damage not only to individual’s own emotional health, but also to the employer relationship."

He continued: “I believe that employers need to work harder and faster to help their people negotiate the current situation, especially as it isn’t going away quickly. Trading on employees’ goodwill and their hope that the situation may balance, can only last so long and is likely to impact productivity, wellbeing and engagement.”