Six months since remote working was adopted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, many workers in the UK are still unsure as to what their employer expects of them.
Research commissioned by Wrike - a versatile collaborative work management platform - and conducted by Survey Monkey, surveyed 500 UK employees and those with jobs not allowing them to work from home were not part of the study.
The findings of the global remote work survey from Wrike show that 47 per cent of UK office workers still do not feel as though they have had clear, formal communications regarding their working hours, availability and productivity.
Due to a lack of communication, 54 per cent surveyed admit that they do not understand the current state of the business – as well as their employer’s overall plan to survive the economic toll of the pandemic.
The survey also reveals that in 42 per cent of cases it is only the management who are being directly briefed on plans to survive the economic toll of the pandemic and many organisations have not yet taken any steps to tackle the problem.
Only 35 per cent of HR teams have put in place centralised projects and initiatives to support communication within the company, with 60 per cent failing to share instances of best practices between teams – leaving a negative impact on overall productivity and development.
In addition, the workers feel that as well as not being communicated with by their managers and HR teams, they are also feeling not listened to. The Wrike survey found that 49 per cent of workers feel that their feedback is not being used to improve processes whilst working remotely. A further 41 per cent of those surveyed feel that they do not have all infrastructure i.e. hardware, data and platforms – as well as broadband internet, monitors, VPN access and desk set up.
David McGeough - Director of International Marketing at Wrike – said:
“For many UK organisations, ensuring continuity and survival was understandably the first concern when the pandemic struck. However, as the months go by, and many employees continue to work remotely, leadership teams will need to find new ways to set expectations and be more transparent around how they plan to survive any resulting economic downturn. It’s really important for businesses to be able to communicate effectively, regardless of where their employees are working from. As well as modern technologies that enable this, centralised projects and initiatives will be essential in order to nurture a working environment in which everyone feels both fully informed and listened to. It is only then that businesses can future-proof their remote working business model and can achieve the same or greater levels of productivity that they would have before the pandemic.”
