Working from home during the pandemic has led to increased happiness among employees according to a new survey from CNBC and SurveyMonkey.
To conduct their new survey titled “CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Happiness Index: May 2020”, the two companies polled over 9,000 workers in the US at the beginning of May to measure the impact Covid-19 has had on their job satisfaction.
According to the survey, nearly half (48%) of respondents are now during their jobs remotely. Among employees working from home and even those who are not, there was an uptick in employee happiness and the survey’s Workforce Happiness Index was up by two points to 73 out of 100 when compared to 71 points during the same period last year.
At the same time though, CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s survey also found that 54 percent of all respondents say it has gotten “somewhat harder” or “much harder” to do their jobs now than before the pandemic began. Additionally, workers in positions of greater responsibility (VP and higher) are more likely to say their work has gotten “much harder” when trying to work from home.
Job satisfaction
Of the survey participants who are currently working remotely, 44 percent said they are happier to have their job now than they were before the outbreak began. Remote work could be here to stay as 38 percent of workers say they would like to work from home more often than they did before once the pandemic has subsided. Additionally, 19 percent want to continue working from all the time.
Even non-remote workers are happier with 32 percent saying they are happier to have their job now than they were before the outbreak. Safety is quite important to those still leaving their homes to go to work and 75 percent of respondents said the have felt safe going to work during the pandemic while 80 percent are satisfied with the measures put in place by their organizations to keep them safe at work.
Chief research officer at SurveyMonkey, John Cohen provided further insight on the survey’s findings in a press release, saying:
“Job satisfaction is up but there is also widespread anxiety among those with jobs today. Fully 44 percent of workers report being worried that they’ll lose a job or have their hours cut in the weeks ahead, with concern spiking to about six in 10 among Hispanic and Asian workers.”
Via CNBC