75% professionals work extra hours during lockdown: Survey

Over 74.8 per cent of corporate professionals agree that they are working extended hours with the work from home routine during the lockdown, said a survey.

According to study conducted by ZingHR, a global HR software solution platform, approximately 50 per cent of respondents conceded that they are unable to take strategic breaks during work from home and 34.5 per cent said that it has taken a toll on their physical and mental health.

The objective of the survey was to assess how corporate professionals are coping with the challenges of remote working globally.

About 42.8 per cent of women said they are facing challenges in absence of domestic help due to lockdown; while 54.6 per cent of the working professionals mentioned that they are not able to manage time at all to pursue their hobbies while working from home.

Though COVID-19 pandemic is a tough time for the entire family, 53.3 per cent of people are getting help from their spouse/ partner in the daily household chores. About 76.3 per cent of the working professionals acknowledged the support of their superiors and teammates during this critical time.

On being asked if they are able to follow a clock-out ritual to compartmentalise their brain while working from home, only 27.3 per cent of them admitted it was sometimes, while 27.3 per cent said not really sure and 22 per cent said `No`.

About 70 per cent of respondents demanded that there should be personalised guidelines by the company in the work from home model for each individual. These guidelines should be gender-neutral, giving an equal opportunity to men to help in household chores irrespective of whether they have working or non-working wives.

The guidelines need to be general for overall wellness or can be personalised for each employee, agreed by respective managers to boost employee engagement.

The survey was conducted among 300 working professionals. It enlists certain guidelines for employees during work from home by incorporating learnings of respondents.

Some of them are as follows-

The work-life balance must be practised and encouraged

Manage work timings, automate workflow processes that are manual.

Keep motivating your employees and appreciate them.

Open communication between the manager and employee should be there.

Plan your schedule and try sticking to it. Also, take momentary rests / activities which can reduce stress instead of working continuously.

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Discover your own peak productivity period and plan your work schedule around it. Make a task list and try sticking to it.

Prasad Rajappan, CEO, ZingHR, said, "Work from home comes with its set of challenges. The survey aimed to gauge the sentiment of corporate professionals towards work- from-home models to enable firms to draw strategic insights about the way forward amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that there is a need for firms to put in place comprehensive guidelines for the work from home model to ensure worklife balance and overall wellness of employees."