Lessons learned from working from home during Covid-19

Ever since Covid-19 forced organisations to permanently work from home, our expectations for flexible working have changed dramatically. 

During Covid-19 lockdown, People Insight’s Covid-19 pulse surveys helped organisations understand their employees’ experience of working from home during lockdown. Our aim was to provide insight so leaders can adjust the support, communication, tools, resources and human compassion they provide to best meet peoples’ needs going forwards.

Survey results from over 8,000 UK employees uncovered a range of useful findings about flexible working. Below, we share insights about working from home during Covid-19 to inform and improve the employee experience now. 

What did organisations get right during Covid-19 lockdown?

It’s unsurprising perhaps that organisations who surveyed their staff during Covid-19 saw on the whole, very positive results. The very act of listening during difficult times is engaging itself. When anything changes, asking staff for their views makes them feel increasingly significant.

‘I appreciate the regular team catch ups and firm-wide training sessions. They make me feel like I am still involved and we are all still in this together. Thank you for putting together this survey as well. It is encouraging to see that the people who design and enact our internal policies and initiatives are listening.’ 

Our clients asked a variety of questions assessing the following themes:

1. Leadership – are leaders and managers visible and providing direction and support?
2. Communication – is the volume, quality and clarity of message right?
3. Resources – do people have the tools they need to work from home?
4. Wellbeing – do people feel their physical / mental health is receiving proper support?
5. Business continuity – can people collaborate and provide normal levels of customer service?

It’s common in employee engagement surveys to see questions that relate to the respondent’s personal behaviour and performance score better than those that relate to their teams. Also common is to see questions that relate to the behaviour and performance of line managers score much better than those that relate to senior leaders.

Highlights from Covid-19 pulse surveys

What stands out from the Covid-19 pulses are results that show more favourable scores than usual for leadership, communication and direction. At a time of crisis, survey data suggests leaders stepped up, providing ample and often novel comms to keep people engaged and motivated during Coronavirus.

Channels such as Yammer and Workplace provided regular updates from leaders. In addition, collaborative forums allowed employees across departments to join discussions and support each other.

‘The vlogs, daily updates from Exco and colleagues have been great. Really feel we are treated as one. Everyone has pulled together and its showing, our results and team spirit in our team are the highest ever.’ 

The results also show that the tone of more compassionate, less formal internal comms was so appreciated. And it had an impact on how employees felt about their organisation.

‘This company really has managed to make us employees feel well taken care of and important. I feel proud to be so attentively cared for by an employer who has so many employees!’ 

Working from home: What do our employees want now?

As we’ve got more experience of working from home, it’s become easier to evaluate the pros and cons. Almost all respondents across organisations want to continue some working from home after the end of lockdown.

78% of respondents feel they can work at home as effectively or more effectively than in the office. However, perhaps surprisingly, WFH is not the only way we’d like to work; 50% of survey respondents said their preference was 1-2 days working from home. 31% want 3-4 days per week, and less than a fifth of respondents want to work from home all the time.

So why is this? The lack of commute is a definite upside for most. Respondents appreciate more freedom to:

• choose their workspace;
• make lunch at home;
• fit in exercise, household tasks and deliveries

How can organisations improve flexible working?

It’s pretty unanimous across organisations that the greatest bugbear for desk-based employees is not having the resources that they are comfortable with in the office. For instance, proper desk chairs, larger or second monitors, or specific equipment to help overcome e.g. visual impairment. Using own devices at home is problematic because of compatibility problems and access to central systems. Also, the need to share devices and Wi-Fi bandwidth with other members of the household make this tricky. Some staff are particularly cross about providing equipment to do their jobs at their own cost.

Indeed, these problems do require investment to solve. But organisations who introduce tools, tech and IT support quickly, fare significantly better than those that don’t. Some might argue that it’s much easier to provide tangible goods, rather than influence culture and behaviour in this situation.

Some organisations provide each employee with a one-off payment to equip their home office. While this requires investment at a time of financial squeeze for many organisations, the gesture pays dividends in terms of demonstrating care, support, trust and empowers employees to solve their individual challenges.

‘The budget of up to £200 for WFH equipment was extremely generous and something a lot of other firms are NOT doing.’  

Learn how Nottingham Building Society and Brewin Dolphin equip their staff for effective flexible working.

Where do employees work best: At home or in the office? 

The results show that where we need to concentrate on focussed, creative or confidential tasks, working from home is preference.

Thanks to communications via video calls, Yammer or Workplace posts and good old email, satisfaction with being kept aware of what’s going on is pretty similar whether respondents are in the office or at home.

However, as the table below shows, some frustrations exist when it comes to the more human connections, where in–person conversations are preferred. Managing or coaching others or collaborating on a project is much easier – and perhaps quicker – when subtle body language and facial expressions can be communicated. We all experience the frustration of the video call where everyone is looking, but no one is able to make eye contact.

Of course, different roles require different behaviours. The results show that working from home is most popular with administrative roles, whereas consultants want more in office time.

The role of effective internal comms 

The pulse survey results show that, unanimously, people devoured multiple communications at the start of lockdown. Moreover, that they come away up-to-date and with good information; 86% of respondents felt that the level of comms in their organisation was about right.

They particularly enjoyed short informal videos from senior leaders, especially in rotation with different leadership team members. Frequent check–ins with line managers are also essential. Yammer and Workplace provide vital discussion opportunities, although it can be easy to miss things on the feed.

A universal request from respondents is to have all key communications in one place, on one channel and kept uncluttered. Going forward, consider how to reduce the frequency and length of messages and discussion groups, as situations settle and routines becomes a bit more established.

What can prevent effective home working?

Looking at the difference between men and women, our results echo findings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

‘In lockdown, mothers in two-parent households are only doing, on average, a third of the uninterrupted paid-work hours of fathers. This sharp reduction in the time that mothers are spending dedicated to paid work risks lasting harm to their careers when the lockdown is lifted.’

42% of female respondents reported that things other than IT and equipment are preventing them working effectively during the height of lockdown, vs 30% of men. Ten times as many open text comments from women reveal childcare and home schooling are preventing them working effectively compared to men.

Female parents and those who live alone experience particular challenges working from home 

Of course, our employees are far from a homogeneous group. Looking at our survey demographics in detail, we can reveal some significant differences between groups (although not all protected characteristics, e.g. race or sexual orientation, show up in this particular dataset.)

As we might expect, those who live alone reported greater ability to concentrate on their work, but unfortunately their results were more negative across the board. Isolation in lockdown is a key threat to wellbeing, and in turn engagement with work. People living with others – especially those with caring responsibilities feel more positive overall, despite the frustrations of constant interruptions and juggling caring, and home schooling.

A particular quote that rang true from someone who was home-alone is ‘I have to rely on myself for motivation and energy.’ Helping your people have enough meaningful contact with others inside and outside work is essential for good mental health.

Read Liana’s study on improving workplace isolation