New research highlights that almost half of staff surveyed believe the culture of their organisation has deteriorated since the pandemic.
According to a new study by Staffcircle, over two-fifths of employees (42 per cent) report their company culture deteriorating since the beginning of the pandemic.
This has caused many problems for employers including an increase in the number of people choosing to leave their job as well as a less engaged workforce overall.
Almost half of employees (43 per cent) reported a drop in their engagement levels – a problem which HR teams have also noted with 43 per cent similarly identifying this as a problem in their company.
However, a significant issue which HR teams may not be aware of is lack of communication.
When asked about this, less than half (46 per cent) of employees say they have been adequately communicated with during the pandemic. However, when HR leaders were questioned regarding this, the vast majority (97 per cent) believe they do this well.
This lack of communication also extended to companies and their mission statements – with close to four in five firms (79 per cent) failing to update their company mission statement since COVID-19 began.
All of these elements were shown to feed into the deterioration of company culture, according to employees.
This may be prompting staff churn – with almost half (42 per cent) of HR leaders saying that employee turnover has increased since the easing of restrictions.
Furthermore, three in 10 employees stated they were more likely to leave jobs post-pandemic, showing HR teams will need to do more in order to attract and crucially retain employees.
Mark Seemann, Founder and CEO of StaffCircle, emphasised the challenges which have been brought about by COVID-19 and what HR teams should focus on now:
Culture and communication are the backbone of an organisation, and this survey highlights the challenges that organisations are facing during the pandemic. Reed Recruitment recently announced that it has seen a 5x increase in remote roles advertised, which shows that remote and hybrid working is here to stay. The issues with culture, communication and churn will only be exacerbated unless they are addressed.
Communicating with employees has never been more important, with remote working, furlough and hybrid workplaces making it an essential part of the business landscape. Communicating your company mission and vision is key, yet this research has shown the disconnect between what employers believe their employees know and what they actually know. Having the right processes in place gives employers and HR leaders visibility and insight into the performance, engagement and communication with employees. This is essential not only for the pandemic, but in the new world of work we live in.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
