The7thFold Employee Wellbeing Survey(India)

MSN dt  1st Oct 2020

A recent survey revealed that in India, 50% employees are worried about an uncertain future due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey by The7thFold showed that this was the top stress factor, followed by by personal finances (40%) and career growth (40%).

The high levels of stress that have emerged and continue to amongst India Inc employees during the ongoing lockdown is a huge area of concern. Stress is the biggest trigger factor which impacts mental and physical wellbeing. the lesser or the more managed the stress levels, the better the overall wellbeing.

"It is a well-known fact that physical and mental wellbeing are correlated, and one cannot be managed at the expense of the other. The work from home concept due to Covid-19 was literally adopted overnight by employers creating a whole new set of challenges for all stakeholders," said Hamsaz Wadhwani, Founder and Chief Executive, The7thFold.

Other sources of stress faced by Indian employees

Here are a few other sources of stress employees are facing:

• Self/Family Physical Health (32%)
• Work task and deadlines (31%)
• Self / Family Mental Health (25%)
• Performance Appraisal (22%)
• Social distancing / isolation (18%)
• Relationship issues (17%)
• Being laid off (16%)
• Children's Education (13%)

About the survey on Indian employees

The7thFold's Employee Wellbeing Survey, 2020 highlights the impact of the current pandemic on the mental and physical wellbeing of employees in India.

The survey conducted in July and August with 509 respondents across metros cities and diverse sectors aimed to recognise the distress faced by employees during these uncertain times and understand the role of organisation support and benefits in the new normal.

Other employee well-being trends noted in survey

Age:

• Age had a positive correlation with mental wellbeing; those above 50 years of age (12%) outdid those who were below 40 years - 37% (30-40) 24% (less than 30 years).
• Employees below the salary of INR 5 lakhs were more vulnerable and reported personal finances (55%) and career prospects (53%) as their biggest sources of stress.

Salary:

• 35% of employees with an annual salary of INR 21 30 lakhs p.a. reported burnout and poorest mental wellbeing scores.

Self-employed vs employed by others:

• Self-employed category is slightly better placed when it came to overall wellbeing as compared to others.
• 45% of employees working for an employer complained of Anxiety or Depression against 30% of those who were self-employed.
• 44% of employees working full-time from home reported feelings of anxiety.
• Boredom was least reported by those who worked fulltime from their workplace (26%).
• 28% of work-from-home employees reported burnout with 48% feeling stressed due to task deadlines. 35% of employees working from home were worried about self/ family's mental health.
• Mental Health of the unemployed was the worst. 47% of unemployed reported anxiety with 61% of them feeling stressed and 42% felt anger. 60% of unemployed showed stress regarding uncertainty of future and 61% for career growth.
• The blended model of working from home and workplace showed higher benefits than those employees who were full-time working from either home or workplace.

Work-life balance:

• Work life balance was positively correlated with Mental Wellbeing. Higher the satisfaction about their work-life-balance, higher the Mental Wellbeing.
• Work Life Balance for employees who were in a blended model was better than employees working full-time from workplace.
• Employees working full-time from home reported worst work-life-balance.
• The age group below 30 yrs. reported a poorer work-life-balance than the other age groups.
• Wellbeing of employees who worked for 13 hrs and more (including house chores, children schooling and office work) was much poorer than those who worked for less hours.

Coping mechanisms:

• Overall Wellbeing includes physical health and mental health scores. Wellbeing of employees who used positive coping mechanisms like exercise, meditation and yoga was much healthier than the rest.
• At the same time, those who used negative coping mechanisms like avoiding and suppressing emotions, social media and isolating self from family and friends showed a much worse wellbeing score.
• The mental wellbeing of those who had a pre-existing illness is poorer than the healthy participants.

Employee benefits:

• Employees seemed happy with the support shown by their employers. 87% of employees have reported that their employer provides benefits for their Well-being.
• The biggest expectation versus reality gap is seen for 'Increased insurance to cover COVID'. 47% of employees consider it a Top Benefit, however only 18% of employers offer it.
• Employees provided with 'Safe travel arrangements to work' show a significantly better mental wellbeing score over others.
• The wellbeing of employees who received an Increment and Bonus is significantly higher than others.
• There were no significant differences in wellbeing seen between those who received a pay-cut and those who received an increment (no bonus).
• Interestingly, data suggests that offering employees a bonus and no increment was better for their wellbeing than offering an increment and no bonus.