October 2020
Featured in this insight: Medical & healthcare, Public health & wellbeing, International
90% of European employers have brought in measures to support mental health: A survey has found that nine out of ten employers have introduced measures to support staff with mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Littler European Employer COVID-19 Survey polled over 750 HR executives and in-house counsel across Europe to see how the pandemic has affected the workplace and how it may shape future ways of working.
Looking at employee wellbeing and how businesses have been supporting staff, the survey found that 57% have offered more flexible work schedules, while almost half (51%) said they have frequently communicated with employees and 'solicited feedback on the pandemic response'.
Almost a third of businesses (31%) have provided mental health services and Employee Assistance Programmes to help employees with personal or work-related problems that may be impacting their job performance, health, mental and emotional well-being, while a quarter (24%) said they have given their managers training so they are equipped to help employees who need additional support. One in ten said they had taken 'no action' to address employees' mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic.
The survey also looked at remote working, finding that 80% of employers are requiring more of their workers to operate from home.
More than two-fifths of the employers polled (41%) said that greater productivity of employees was a reason for encouraging more remote working, while 38% said that the difficulty and cost of new safety measures was a reason for requiring staff to work from home. A quarter of respondents (25%) said the closure of offices was a reason for their business requiring more remote working.
Looking at the longer term, the survey found that 41% of European employers plan to allow more remote working in the future, compared to just 30% of US employers.
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