WORKPL ACE ISSUES
Remote Work, Employee Well-Being and COVID-19 By STEPHAN SWINKELS
T
he COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for fundamental workplace change globally; but at least in the area of remote work, the long-term implications might be different in the United States than in Europe. That’s according to two surveys our firm recently conducted of in-house counsel and human resources executives in the United States (the COVID-19 Return to Work Survey, released in May 2020) and Europe (the European Employer COVID-19 Survey, released in September 2020). Both gauged employer sentiment around a host of pressing BACK TO CONTENTS
employment matters, including how employers view the shift to remote work and whether flexible work policies will change in the long term due to the pandemic. The European survey also addressed steps that companies have taken regarding employees’ mental health and well-being, which has become an increasingly important topic on both continents prior to — but certainly as a consequence of — the pandemic, to say nothing of the broader events of 2020.
Different Views in the United States And Europe Despite the abrupt shift to remote
work early this year, media reports in subsequent months showed European employers pleasantly surprised that a body doesn’t need to be behind a desk to produce quality work. That change in thinking came through in survey results too, as 61 percent of the more than 750 European executives we surveyed said a greater acceptance of remote work would be a positive long-term effect of COVID-19. Additionally, queried how their organizations are managing work-from-home requests, or plan to manage them when offices reopen, 41 percent replied that they are making or will make changes to their remote work
NOVEMBER 202 0 TODAYSGENERALCOUNSEL.COM
13
