Pandemic Drives Employees To Invest More In Jobs: Report

For the previous six years, the annual State of Work report provides leaders compelling insights into how the digital workforce views and values work. But the 2021 report came together a little bit differently.

The research team conducted a survey in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, just prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the near overnight shift of employees working in an office to most working from home. Researchers fielded the same questions again in the fourth quarter (Q4) and compared the two data sets. These findings, mined from the surveys of 1,000 remote employees’ at large companies in the U.S., reveal profound opportunity and risk for employers looking to lead in this age of digital transformation.

The State of Work research surfaced the four themes below:
Discovery #1: Digital workers are resilient amid the personal and professional challenges of the pandemic, workers’ confidence in key areas of work ranging from managing time, to learning new skills, to communicating ideas saw an uptick. Especially interesting is that digital workers gained capacity in two of the most difficult aspects of work: collaborating with colleagues across geographies, which rose by 4 points and dealing with work related conflict and hard conversations, which rose by 5-points. Deprived of the energy and inspiration of in person brainstorming and collaboration, remote workers turned to technology to support a variety of creative activities. The report shows a 9-point rise in reliance on technology to support creativity and innovation and an 8-point rise in workers relying on technology to develop new ideas.

Discovery #2: Digital workers are even more engaged. The number of employees who reported feeling invested in their jobs grew from 79% to 81%. During this same period, the number who said doing their best work was more important than pay jumped by nearly 10 percentage points. While undoubtedly good news for employers, these findings come with a word of warning: Paired with this desire to make a difference at work is a need that employees have to feel valued. The number of those feeling unappreciated rose by 8 points, and in both the Q1 & Q4 studies, feeling unappreciated was the top barrier to employees feeling invested in their work.

Discovery #3: Digital workers have new expectations. While remote employees are more engaged and invested in their jobs, they also have higher standards. One big reason: Digital employees know what a good customer experience feels like and they bring those expectations to work. So, when technology makes their jobs harder or limits their success, they are willing to walk away. In fact, 49% of respondents said they will quit a job if the technology is out of date or hard to use.

Discovery #4: Generations are being impacted differently. Remote workers are not all the same and are responding differently to the changes and challenges that have emerged over the past year and into the future. This is particularly true when comparing millennials, between the ages of 25 and 40, and Gen Xers, who range in age from 41 to 56. According to the data, Gen Xers showed major gains in confidence around communication, including conflict resolution and their ability to build and reinforce trust in a new environment. Millennials, meanwhile, appear to be adapting at a slower pace, particularly with regard to trust. On that issue, millennials reported a 3-point drop compared to the Gen Xers’ 4-point rise. These trends suggest employers need to address both the technological needs and the life situation barriers impacting individuals and teams.

“We tend to assume that because younger workers grew up as ‘digital natives,’ they’re very comfortable with a technology enabled workplace and don’t need the extra support. But younger workers haven’t had the opportunity to build collective resilience through a national catastrophe, are still growing their professional networks and haven’t logged as many years absorbing all the nuances of corporate culture,” said Laura Butler, SVP of people & culture at Workfront.