Around 93% of employees are stressed about returning to office post-lockdown, finds survey; 85% want safety guidelines enforced

In the post-coronavirus, lockdown world, employees have a slew of expectations from their employers as they prepare to return to work. With the coronavirus having irrevocably changed the nature of work and the state of mind of employees, FYI, a health-tech community product, undertook a survey conducted by MindMap Advance Research. The survey found: An overwhelming 93 percent of employees are anxious to return to office as they fear their health being compromised. Employees expect their employers to take responsibility to ensure a healthy and safe environment for them as they prepare to return to work post-coronavirus and lockdown. An overwhelming 99 percent said that they would like to see a system of Corporate Health Responsibility (CHR) made mandatory for employers, just like there is in force a system of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Nearly 85 percent expect their employers to sanitise the office space, implement and enforce safety guidelines and advisories and seek out new and innovative ways to protect their health while they are in the office. These expectations are balanced by a recognition among employees that it would require them to participate in efforts that employers take to make their health a priority. [caption id=“attachment_6485481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Around 82 percent said that they would agree to participate in measures that require them to be monitored, while 18 percent said that they would comply if the privacy of their data was assured. A high sense of solidarity and doing the right thing by their co-workers emerges strongly among employees, with 96 percent confirming that they would embrace and comply with health monitoring initiatives, despite the inconvenience. Employees expect the new-normal to bring changes and are cognizant of what these could be. Around 81 percent said that employees would resume work only in batches, while 73 percent expect employers to enforce work from home as an ongoing process. A post-pandemic world offers employers an opportunity to win the hearts of their employees and customers by deploying stronger solutions for the overall wellbeing of their workforce, said a majority of the respondents. While 81 percent of employees strongly feel this will be the case, 16 percent said that this has always been an expectation, regardless of recent events. While a majority–59 percent are concerned about their health, 25 percent said they are anxious about their financial situation, while 16 percent fear that the crisis will be a prolonged one and this uncertainty lends to high anxiety. “Our survey informs India Inc. of the new priorities they would need to juggle when it comes to the health and safety of their employees. Employees are clearly stressed on account of their health and that needs to be managed on priority”, said Yeishan Goel, Co-founder, FYI. FYI undertook this survey in the last week of April 2020. The survey was conducted by MindMap Advance Research with 560 employees across small, medium and large enterprises in major metro cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Of these employees, 85 percent were male and 15 percent were female.