Covid, and working remotely - how does it work out?

Nine months have already passed since the SARS COV-2 virus has realistically affected the functioning of the labor market and our private lives. On the one hand, we are slowly getting used to the new state of reality around us, but on the other hand, we are increasingly feeling the psychological consequences of living under chronic stress due to the many restrictions or social isolation. New studies are emerging showing the negative impact of the epidemic on our mental health and well-being. In today's post, we would like to present the results of one of them, conducted by the Carrotspot LAB research team in cooperation with Hays Poland's substantive SWPS University.

Outline of the report

The survey was conducted on a group of 156 people who were surveyed in August and then in October 2020. 57% of women and 43% of men in the age group 18 - 55+ participated in the survey. The industries that were surveyed were:

• IT
• Finance and banking
• Human Recources
• Manufacturing
• Sales

Participants were asked whether their work mode had changed in the past two months. In more than half of the cases, the work mode did not change (60%), while the remaining participants changed from remote to mixed work mode (17%).

Weekly and daily schedule of remote work before and during the pandemic

More than half of the respondents said they did not work remotely before the pandemic (55%). As of now, a greater number of respondents (65% in August and 63% in October) say they work remotely five or more days a week. "Home office" five days a week does not at all mean spending all day in front of a computer, and involves a different range of hours. Comparing the number of days per week devoted to remote work before the epidemic (August, October), we can see the impact of the epidemic on our work mode. A larger number of respondents (64%) devoted between 1 and 4 hours a day to remote work before the epidemic. Currently, more than half of the respondents (57% in August and 53% in October) devote 5-8 hours a day to remote work. This shows that respondents are working full-time remotely. A third of people (34% in August, 37% in October) report working remotely more than 8 hours a day.

Remote work and its new challenges

Remote working poses many new challenges to the traditional, stationary form due to a multitude of external and internal factors. Maintaining a work-home balance was the biggest challenge for those working remotely in August (60%). In October, it was only 45% of people. This was followed by the lack of direct contact with work colleagues as a remote mode challenge in both August and October (August - 51%; October - 52%). High scores were also presented in the feeling of being constantly at work (August and October - 38%) and also the feeling of social isolation (August - 38%; October - 37%). Often, also as a challenge of working remotely, participants cited a "sense of meaningful work" (August - 4%; October - 7%) and lack of supervision (August - 3%; October - 6%). When comparing the answers given in August and October, the biggest differences are observed with questions about:

• Work-home balance (August - 60%; october - 45%),
• Motivation for work (August - 20%; October - 23%),
• Lack of a designated workplace (August - 23%; october - 19%),
• Sense of work (August - 4%; October - 7%)
• Lack of supervision (August - 3%; October - 6%)
• Motivation to work (August - 20%; October - 23%

These results show that some of the factors present with the remote work mode have changed slightly from month to month, or have remained at the same level. This is due to the natural human ability to adapt to certain environmental conditions. However, there are some problems that simply continue to bother us and, despite the passage of time, their intensity is increasing. Lack of sense of work, lack of commitment, lowered motivation or lack of direct contact with colleagues are elements that we increasingly treat as a challenge, and their "unfulfillment" becomes a real problem. It is important to lean into these challenges because they relate directly to the natural human need for contact with others. Our natural needs are among those that, regardless of the prevailing times, will "demand" to be taken care of. So under all conditions, let's take care of ourselves, let's take care of others, let's take care of our common contact!