Corona & Employees survey: an industry health check
This report provides you with valuable information on how the employees of the creative agencies experience the implications of the Corona crisis.
Overall, we can conclude that the glass is half full/half empty: employees in the creative industry mostly lack social interaction with colleagues and clients and they are fed up with online meetings; but at the same time, they applaud their increased autonomy, productivity and flexibility.
And although one out of two experiences anxiety and stress right now; nine out of ten employees feel trusted by their management and appreciate their employers’ care about their health and safety.
MANAGEMENT SUMMARY:
The Corona crisis from a professional perspective:
One out of three participating employees experiences the professional consequences of the Corona crisis from bad to very bad. What troubles them even more, are the lockdowns: one out of two participants is troubled professionally by the 2nd lockdown.
Employees’ experiences so far:
What bothers employees most is the lack of social interaction (70%) and the work/life balance (51%). The fact that 50% experiences anxiety and stress and 48% suffers from loneliness is troublesome and should be looked at on a case per case basis.
On the positive side, 85% are happy with the increased autonomy, 69% like their homework environment and 55% appreciate the increased efficiency at work. And child care does not seem to be a big issue for 76% among those who have kids at home.
Of course, this means still 15%, 31%, 45%, 24% are unhappy about the issues above.
Main concerns:
The main concern (72%) is again the interaction with colleagues and clients, followed by difficulties separating work from private life (66%), the increase of workload (55%), involvement in the company (49%), worries in general (45%), stress from the household (32%) and the decrease of workload (21).
Comforting news is that ‘only’ 17% declare not to receive enough support from their company and that 61% still has faith in the performance of the company.
Attitude towards homeworking:
Although the motivation to (continue) working from home is dual (54% pos/46% neg), 70% are happy about the productivity and 69% are satisfied to work from home.
54% is more in favor to working from home compared to the pre-corona period and 68% would be happy to work 2 or even 3 days from home (43% + 25%).
Homeworking experiences:
84% appreciate the extra flexibility in working hours; 68% are glad they don’t have to commute to work anymore and 63% appreciate they can have more contact with their family members.
On the other hand, 55% experience more difficulties keeping focus and 70% is reluctant towards more online meetings with colleagues.
Resources for homeworking:
Although 1 out of 2 is not very happy with their workspace at home, 86% is happy with the help from colleagues, 78% is satisfied about video conferencing, 74% is happy about the hardware they have at their disposal and 72% is satisfied with the support from IT.
Returning back to the office:
People would feel safe to return to the office when sanitary rules are respected (78%), when a restricted number of people (following the m2 rules) would be applied (75%), in split teams (72%) and/or when everyone is vaccinated (71%).
After approval of an external expert would work for half the respondents (51%), whereas plexiglass between desks seems less convincing (43%).
Help from employer:
A large majority of 78% of the employees think their employer communicates sufficiently and even 89% think that their employer has taken appropriate actions, whereas only 12% think their employer is too strict.
The best news from this survey, however, is that 91% of all employees feel trusted by their employers and appreciate their employers’ care about their health and safety.
