Companies dangerously ‘living off’ employee goodwill in pandemic, according to new research

New international research from 11,000 people shows that organisations may be ‘living off employee goodwill’, according to employee engagement and survey experts, Inpulse.

The research, which includes views of 3,441¹ UK employees, shows that Anxiety has risen 120% from the same period as last year – up from 5% to 12%. A dominant emotion is at an extreme level and of concern to businesses when it rises above 10% as this will impact atmosphere and culture. Stress is another high negative emotion for employees, at 10%, while Isolation rates at 7%.

On top of this, negative emotions are being driven by fears of job security (25%) and high workload (15%).

The research, taken through the month of May, also shows that employees are feeling hopeful (15%) and have high levels of commitment because of their personal values (24%). However, this has a marked difference to those who feel committed to their employer, at just 7%.

Matt Stephens, CEO and Founder of Inpulse and author of The Engagement Revolution, explained: “These figures are showing us that employees internationally, and especially in the UK, are feeling high levels of extreme negative emotion which isn’t sustainable for a long period of time.

“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.

“The data shows that employees have high levels of personal values and commitment, but they aren’t necessarily feeling committed to their employer. In short, this means they are doing the right thing to satisfy their own needs, potentially fuelled by job insecurity.

“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.”

¹Over 11,000 employees took part in the Inpulse Survey in May 2020. This included 3441 from the UK, 4805 from continental Europe, 235 from North America, 282 from Australia, 320 from China and 228 from Singapore.