For the last few years, vast amounts of research and academic reports have gone into analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on persisting economic issues, like the ongoing labor crisis and the Great Resignation Era.
There are multiple ways of going about analyzing these issues depending on what the researcher’s or reporter’s overall goals are.
BusinessWorld, an international newspaper of business topics and news, published in September 2021 a review on the company O.C. Tanner’s unveiling of its Global Culture Report 2022; “As Companies Continue To Navigate ‘Great Resignation’ Era.”
O.C. Tanner is widely considered to be a global leader in employee recognition and workplace culture, and has been producing their Global Culture Report for over four years. Its reports provide an in-depth perspective on ongoing workplace culture and news, as well as employee experience issues based on data gathered from “over 38,000 employees, leaders, HR practitioners, and executives from 21 countries worldwide” (BW Online Bureau 2021).
The report
The 2022 report from O.C. Tanner reveals that one in three employees feel disconnected from their leader (employer or manager), furthering their feelings of isolation and loneliness from being in “lockdown” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. When employees feel less connected to their workplace, culture, and purpose, the likelihood of great work – or productivity, as I explain it further in my blog ‘How the Great Resignation Era Has Affected Productivity’ – falls over 90%, and the probability of burnout increases drastically across various industries.
Image ‘Productivity in a Pandemic’ by Andrew Walsh CC BY-SA 3.0.
The report also found the following workplace trends and statistics that:
* The average employee engagement score is down 18% from last year’s report.
* Crucial elements of successful hybrid employee experiences:
* Career development program: 68%
* Flexibility to choose the number of days worked remotely: 65%
* Clear expectations for availability when working remotely: 65%
* Opportunities for in-person social connection with coworkers: 58%
* When employees have schedule and location flexibility at work, the probability of cultural outcomes increase:
* Engagement: 41%
* Retention: 77%
* Likelihood to be a Promoter on the eNPS scale: 41%
- Employer Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is a scoring system designed to help employers measure employee satisfaction and loyalty within their organizations.
* 61% of employees say the workplace is where they form most of their new friendships and that their social group at work inspires them to do their best work.
* 45% of employees say the number of individuals they regularly interact with at work has decreased significantly over the past year, and 57% say they engage in fewer social activities.
* In addition, 1 in 3 employees feel disconnected from their leader, furthering feelings of isolation and loneliness.
* When employees feel less connected to their workplace, culture, and purpose, the likelihood of great work falls 90%, the probability of burnout increases 11x, and the odds that employees will leave within three years surge 6x.
* Five distinct employee personas emerged and were defined, each with their own general focus, work style and self-esteem: Socializer, Tasker, Builder, Coaster, and Achiever.
Global Culture Report 2022
The review
BusinessWorld found that the report highlights some of companies’ greatest challenges for the years to come, those being creating meaningful employee experiences and connecting people across the organization. As they explain, “Generic, top-down programs for collaboration, recognition, and growth will no longer be effective. Because the pandemic has affected employees in extremely different ways, personalizing the employee experience will be crucial to building inclusive cultures.”
Agreeing with the report from O.C. Tanner, BusinessWorld urges current business leaders to come up with innovative methods that will inspire great, productive work in their people regardless of where it’s done – whether that is remotely from home or in the office or out in the field. “As they look to reimagine the workplace, organizations today have the opportunity to refresh their cultures–to exceed the best of their old normal, evolve their employee experiences, and focus on what will truly drive business results.”
What it means for readers
O.C. Tanner’s 2022 report, coupled with the review by BusinessWorld and its Online Bureau, should indicate to employee readers, who may very likely be working unfulfilling jobs or careers, that the current business world is going through some significant changes that are more suited to their needs and wants.
Image by Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0.
Employees are beginning to shift the current philosophy of work that has been fueling corporate agenda and the capitalistic interpretation of work prioritization over life, family time, R&R and more. As Dr. Alexander Lovell, the Director of Research and Data Science at the O.C. Tanner Institute stated in the report:
Demonstrating a causal relationship between employee recognition and the strength of connection between employees, this year’s landmark study supports over a decade of research to show that recognition is a critical tool for organizations, particularly in an era rife with disconnection and social fragmentation… Additionally, our research makes clear that the recent ‘Great Resignation’ phenomenon is only the beginning. Repairing the damaged aspects of workplace cultures is imperative, but will not be easy. It will take time to thoroughly rethink long-held beliefs about the employee experience and approaches to building workplace culture, and we hope this report will act as a guide for those company leaders looking to do so.
For more, or if you may want to spark up a discussion over this report, feel free to reach out with the Contact Me tab up above.
Business Wellness 
