The Pandemic Workplace

by Angela Copeland | Aug 3, 2021 | Career Corner Column, Coronavirus, Newsletter

Just when we thought we were out of the woods, the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving. Every day, the news is talking about variants. We’re crossing our fingers, hoping that a full shutdown doesn’t happen again. In the meantime, businesses are trying to figure out how to get back to normal. And, employees are weighing their thoughts on it all.

Glassdoor.com recently released the results of another survey. Glassdoor focused on employee attitudes around going back to the office in the midst of a pandemic. They found that 96 percent of employees plan to return to the office in some capacity, and 66 percent of those surveyed are eager to go. 27 percent of employees said they felt less connected to their coworkers and 26 percent felt less connected to their company’s culture.

Employees also felt working from home might impact their future career path. 30 percent of those surveyed worried that working from home long term could impact their ability to get a promotion.

All of this said, 89 percent of employees surveyed have concerns about returning to the office. In particular, 35 percent of people said they are concerned about contracting COVID-19 if they go back in person. 70 percent of employees surveyed feel that employees should be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to work. And, 23 percent said they would consider quitting if they were required to return to the office before all employees were vaccinated.

17 percent also said they would consider quitting their job if they were required to go back to the office five days a week, regardless of COVID or the vaccine.

It’s hard to believe we’re still having to think about the pandemic, and this new world of work. By now, we would have assumed things would have been back to normal. When you think about the results shared, it would be interesting to talk to these employees in more detail. It’s unfortunate that 27 percent of people felt less connected to coworkers. But, how did the other 73 percent feel? It would also be interesting to know how many people felt disconnected from their company when we were still at work in person.

One thing we’ve learned is that not all work is really work. Work can be talk around the watercooler. It’s lunches together. It’s relationship building. The question I keep wondering is this. Will work evolve along with work from home? Will we find ways to connect around a virtual watercooler? We’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half.

It’s interesting that 17 percent of people said they would consider quitting if they have to go back in person – regardless of COVID. This shows a shift in work culture. At first, it sounds irresponsible, but employees have this opinion because remote work is now offered by more companies.

How do the Glassdoor findings compare to your opinions of returning to the workplace?

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

COVID-19 Vaccine and the Workplace

by Angela Copeland | Mar 17, 2021 | Career Corner Column, Coronavirus, Newsletter

Many of us are chomping at the bit for the COVID vaccine. It feels like a ticket to freedom. Glassdoor.com recently conducted a survey to understand where employees stand on the issue of the vaccine and returning to the workplace. Their results are quite interesting, and I wonder if you agree with their findings.

Glassdoor is a website where employees can leave reviews of their employers. Interestingly, Glassdoor found that over 58,000 reviews mention COVID-19 or the vaccine. This is definitely a big topic on everyone’s minds.

First and foremost, 7 in 10 people surveyed believe that employees should be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to the office. This makes sense. We’ve been isolating for a year. Getting the vaccine is an important next step in returning. Of those surveyed, 76 percent also said they intend to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them. This is good news, considering how dependent reopening is on the vaccine.

The part that truly surprised me about the survey is this. 69 percent of people surveyed by Glassdoor agreed that employers should offer financial incentives for employees to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for financial incentives at work. But, this seems a little out of the ordinary. We can’t wait to get back into the world. We want everyone at work to be vaccinated. We plan to be vaccinated. Yet, we want to be compensated to receive a COVID vaccine?

I don’t mean to be the negative person here, but it seems a little like if we’re going to get on board, we should do it because it’s the right thing to do. No compensation should be necessary. And, aren’t we just happy to have a job at this point?

Also of note in this survey was remote work. Many employees like working from home and would like to keep it up, regardless of what’s happening with the pandemic. Of those surveyed, nearly 9 in 10 (86 percent) said they would prefer to continue working from home at least part of the time after offices reopen. This comes as no surprise as companies have had a year to test drive working from home.

In fact, 17 percent of those surveyed said they would consider quitting their job if they were required to return to the office five days a week, regardless of vaccinations. This is an interesting point. It’s one thing to quit a job completely. It’s a completely different thing to find another job to replace your current job.

The job market has shifted in the last year. Employers will have to think hard about what the future of work looks like. It’s time to start again. But, this time, we know what’s possible with remote work. So, it’s time to decide what we want work to look like in a post COVID, post vaccinated world.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

Unique Pandemic Experiences

by Angela Copeland | Feb 23, 2021 | Career Corner Column, Coronavirus, Newsletter

We’ve now been living in a pandemic for almost one year. It felt like things couldn’t get any stranger. Then, the last two weeks happened. A massive winter storm blanketed much of the country. States struggled to get the impact of the storms under control. Texas was one of the most extreme examples, with many, many people completely losing power. In other areas of the country, there were other issues, including a lack of water or other resources.

With many people working remotely, some employees have moved to another city temporarily. This has had many advantages. Employees have been able to spend more time with aging parents. They’ve been able to spend more time at their weekend homes.

But, the last two weeks revealed a challenge. With employees distributed around the country, our experiences are no longer universal. Not everyone is going through the same weather. Not everyone is struggling through the same issues. With different family situations, this was already true. But, the storms highlighted it again.

On Zoom, everyone appears the same. Unless coworkers share, it’s easy to remain unaware. We assume everything is fine. But, this invisible difference has been a theme throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We are each having our own unique experience.

Some employees have small children at home they are trying to care for when no one is looking. Some have extra family members living with them who are out of work due to the pandemic. Some are trying to manage aging parents from a distance.

We are all going through the normal phases of life, including birth, celebrations, and loss. But, on camera, we are more disconnected from one another at work. We are less likely to realize when a coworker is struggling. We are less aware of what a hard time they may be having.

And, to a certain degree, it makes sense. Our businesses are struggling to stay in business. How do we find the time to care about basic day to day problems? We’re fighting just to make it through the pandemic. We’re doing our best to stay employed.

It feels important to recognize that we’re each having a unique experience. Frankly, the impact of the pandemic has been harder on some people at your company than others. That’s the nature of this separation and isolation from one another. We have removed many of the normal social supports that are in place. We’re left to get by on what we can do solo.

At work, try to remember that we’re all in this together. Try to be patient with one another. Try to check in on each other.

Ask your coworkers real questions beyond what you’re meeting about. Video meetings have made it harder to have personal interactions. Ask about children. Ask about pets. Ask about parents. To know what is really going on beyond the Zoom meetings, we must ask one another.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

Commuting to a Zoom Meeting

by Angela Copeland | Nov 3, 2020 | Career Corner Column, Coronavirus, Newsletter

Has your work changed as a result of the pandemic? If you have a corporate desk job, the answer may very well be no. While where you do your work has changed, the nature of your work has not. You are still focused on the same projects. You’re meeting with the same people. Work is moving ahead.

But, doesn’t that seem strange? Isn’t it odd that work is moving forward, despite the current situation? Many people haven’t seen their coworkers in person since mid-March.

With that in mind, what would change if we all went back to the office tomorrow? We’d pack a bag with our laptop. We would put on more formal clothing. We would spend a lot of time in traffic. Then, we would sit in our tiny offices on Zoom calls with our same colleagues.

What have we all been doing? In some cases, people have in person meetings. But it is increasingly common to communicate via video meetings, phone, and email.

Think back to your pre-pandemic work life. If you were to group your day into categories, how much was truly spent in person with your coworkers? For many people, it was very little.

Are we driving to work to sit by ourselves and to send email to each other? Are we sitting in a cubicle so that we can video chat with our colleagues from across the building?

Don’t get me wrong. There are advantages to in person work. For example, you may have a tiny apartment. Or, you might have children at home. In cases like these, an office can be very helpful.

But, office buildings are very expensive. They’re expensive to build, and to maintain. Does your office building have one of those ping pong rooms? They’re created to get us talking to each other. I’ve seen many of those rooms, but I’ve never seen anyone actually play ping pong at work.

This pandemic is truly the worst. It’s painful on many levels every day. But, it is making us question why we’ve been doing things the way we are.

Why commute thirty minutes or an hour each way just to sit at a desk to email the person in the next office? We can all do that from anywhere.

Getting back to work would offer many perks on the mental health front. But, would those perks be as important if everyday activities were open? For example, if you could do your normal personal social activities, would it matter whether or not you went to an office?

If we let go of the office, what else would happen? Would our quality of life change? Would we spend less time commuting? What if we could move out of the crowded city to a home that was more suited for us? What if we had a little more time each day for our loved ones?

Should we commute for Zoom meetings?

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach