The Big Return: The post-COVID return to work and the hidden costs of the pandemic
We surveyed 2,000 of the UK’s working population who have worked from home during the pandemic to understand the impact of COVID on employees.
The insight is designed to be a point of departure for the development of clear strategies and tactics to support employees, not only over the coming months, but also the coming years, as we come out of a life-changing pandemic and begin to return to normal.
Key findings:
- Â 50.5% of employees say their employer has not provided any health and wellbeing support during the pandemic
- 48% of UK workers do not inform employers when suffering from mental health, physical health, grief, finance or drug or alcohol issues
- 45% described their feelings about the return to work negatively (36% are a little anxious, 9% are deeply concerned)
- 70% of employers agree that the seriousness with which my employer treats employee health and wellbeing, including work-life balance, is more important to me compared to a year ago.
- 66% feel the last 12 months have negatively impacted their career in some way
- 69% of furloughed staff feel anxious about returning to work
“The location, look and feel of workplaces and work patterns will continue to evolve far beyond these pandemic years, but the constant needs to be that employers put their workforce’s health and wellbeing centre stage.â€
Dr Rohit S. Prajapati, chief medical officer at BHSF