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Two in five employees are experiencing frequent stress according to laya healthcare research.
The Laya findings show that people who are working from home have put in 300 million hours overtime since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research shows that two thirds of employees working from home feel pressure to stay connected after normal hours, with an average of 22 hours put in of overtime per month over the last year.
Some of the key findings are as follows:
44% of employees are working longer hours at home compared to the workplace.
65% of workers feel pressure to stay connected after normal work hours.
43% of employees are now experiencing frequent stress, up from 31% in July 2020.
69% of HR leaders say managing mental wellbeing is now their biggest challenge.
76% of organisations offer wellbeing supports.
79% of employees would get the Covid-19 vaccine if available.
Over 70% believe employees should be vaccinated before returning to work.
Commenting on the research, Sinéad Proos, Head of Health and Wellbeing at laya healthcare said: “We are seeing worrying signs of deteriorating morale among employees, due in part to less social interaction with colleagues, the struggle to self-motivate, and having to be ‘always-on’. Our latest barometer shows that employee motivation and maintaining organisational culture are becoming more notable issues compared to six months ago, with a greater number of employees now citing the loss of workplace bonding as their top challenge of working from home.”
Ms Proos added: “There is an overwhelming feeling of being stuck in stasis — some say the hopeful start to 2021 has failed to materialise while almost half of workers feel stuck in their current employment, wanting to change jobs but held back because of lack of opportunities. Employers also indicated that effective communication is a challenge, and this has a real knock-on effect — if workers aren’t feeling communicated to, and supported, this can lend itself to the feeling of stagnation.”
