Satisfaction index and work model forecasts

The sars Cov-2 virus pandemic has been going on around the world for more than a year, and now that the situation seems to be improving and the incidence curves are falling, we are looking at home office work trends. In earlier posts, keeping abreast of the employment market situation, we observed a marked increase in remote work. Now the situation seems to be reversing. More and more restrictions are being withdrawn, and life is slowly returning to normal. So what about remote work? Is the return to offices then a matter of time? Let's answer these questions for ourselves.

Happiness Index

• The Happiness Index, is a composite assessment of the resultant satisfaction of a given employee in the workplace.
  It consists of issues such as the work environment, among other questions, such as what makes them feel good at work, what gives them motivation and satisfaction with their tasks. Below we will stir a handful of the results we collected from surveys of organizations examining such trends.
• Hybrid workers are the happiest: their Happiness Index (HI) is 73 percent, while remote workers are 70 percent.
  The hybrid work mode positively influences the evaluation of colleagues and the atmosphere at work, although this may vary in some teams.
  Work-life balance of employees is equally high among remote and hybrid workers - as long as they can work remotely some of the time, they rate work-life balance well.
• For men and women, different factors influence the feeling of satisfaction at work. Among women, the most important are the atmosphere in which they perform tasks (82 percent), the management style of their supervisor (77 percent) and the sense of meaning from their work (75 percent). Among men, on the other hand, the people they work with (86 percent) and the degree of curiosity about the task (81 percent) are key.

Remote work is not just about the pros

Every company has its own organizational culture and organizational subcultures created by departments or teams of employees. Significant deviations in certain directions, e.g. Toward hierarchy, have a negative impact on effective remote work within these structures. Each ogranization has so-called "risk groups", i.e. groups of employees with a given characteristic, whose Happiness Index is significantly lower than other groups. These groups are at particular risk of experiencing symptoms of burnout or even quitting. Seniority is an important factor here - the Hapiness Index is lowest in employees with seniority of about 1.5-2 years - by up to 15 percentage points compared to other groups.

New employees

Onboarding, or onboarding done correctly in a remote or hybrid work environment, is quite a challenge. The first 3 to 6 months are the so-called "honeymoon period." The employee learns all aspects of his or her new responsibilities often under the supervision of a supervisor, or a designated experienced employee who provides advice. The Happiness Index is at a very high level at that time. This score decreases over time. The remote working of pandemic times has resulted in the engagement of new people in the company not being as high. Employees have no way to get to know each other, which affects not only the quick establishment of relationships in the team, but also the sense of work or familiarity with tasks. Superiors or so-called "buddies" are not as accessible by phone, email or even through available instant messaging. These impediments can (and do happen - we see it in the travel industry at the moment, for example) cause high employee turnover. People discouraged by such challenges simply resign from their positions more quickly.

The situation on the labor market is changing dynamically. Many companies, unfortunately, did not survive the crisis and ended their operations, while others (such as those engaged in the production of sanitary ware) recorded huge profits. Companies adapted to new conditions, such as those related to strictures, resulting in the introduction of the remote working model. At first, the efficiency of work in this solution was lame, but over time companies developed this model of operations. The question that arises in this connection is whether this model will settle for good in the work culture of an organization, making it the new normal? It is an undeniable fact that well-developed remote working and, above all, communication works, as shown by trends in the HR market. Therefore, in our opinion, this model will permanently settle in the organizational culture of many companies. If not a completely remote mode then certainly a hybrid one.