UK professionals claim lack of workplace communication during pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted workplace communication as the area leadership most needs to improve on, according to almost half (43 percent) of professionals in a nationwide survey conducted by Hays. This is well ahead of other areas including strategy and planning (23 percent) and remote staff management (13 percent). From over 16,000 respondents, two in five (40 percent) also say that communication is the aspect of their organisation that has undergone the most change since the coronavirus outbreak, ahead of people (24 percent) and processes (22 percent).

Over half (51 percent) of employees who took part in the study rate their leadership’s response to the coronavirus outbreak so far as excellent or good, whilst 49 percent said their leadership’s response has been OK to poor.  

Workplace communication is at low levels, the study claims, as around a third (33 percent) of employees claims that they currently have contact with their manager less than once a week. Only 29 percent say they have contact with their manager on a daily basis. This has dwindled in recent months according to over a third (34 percent), who say the amount of contact they now have with their manager is less than before the lockdown was enforced.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Clear, effective and timely communication from leaders to their staff is even more important in a crisis”[/perfectpullquote]

The impact of reduced communication is being felt in working relationships, as a fifth (20 percent) of employers report that relationships with their team have become more distant since lockdown began.

 This feeling is shared by employees, roughly two in five (39 percent) of whom say that their relationships with colleagues also feels more distant than it did prior to lockdown. Compounding this is the fact that 40 percent don’t have access to a work support network while working remotely.