According to a new survey by Glassdoor, employees are
reporting feeling more burnt out during COVID-19 this pandemic than
ever before, those respondents add that their mental health
were also a factor, despite all of that,
the survey notes that a number of industries that appear
to provide a better work life balance, like tech
and retail real estate here. However retail though that
space topped as the worst industry for that work life
balance. Joining us now to discuss more senior economist
at Glassdoor, Daniel Zhao Daniel, thank you so
much for being here, interestingly, the survey here
breaks down. Can you break it down for us
? Some of the other key findings um that you
guys found in regard to that work life balance?
Yeah, I think one of the most interesting things
that we found is that discussions of mental health and
burnout in the workplace have more than doubled over the
course of the pandemic and that's really a reflection of
the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has been going on
for almost two years now and it's really dragged on
. And so workers are increasingly feeling like the lines
between their work life and their home life are blurred
and they don't feel like they can get that same
balance that they might have been able to get before
the pandemic. You guys also noted that some industries
were either rated as we know that their best and
worst when it comes to work life balance. What
factors were involved in this rating? Well, the
ratings are all submitted by employees who can rate their
companies on Glassdoor. And so this is all self
reported by the workers themselves, it's straight from the
employee voice. What we found is that the best
industries tend to be industries like tech or finance or
real estate. These are industries that are more office
based and especially in the age of Covid, That's
important because actually many office based workers are able to
get access to hybrid or remote work arrangements which allow
them more flexibility when you look at some of the
industry's on the bottom, like retail or transportation and
warehousing food services. Those are industries where there's much
less flexibility, there's less control over your workspace and
your hours. And so that's why work life balance
is generally lower for those workers. How are some
of these industries who were rated as the best leading
in providing workers with flexibility? The flexibility they're looking
for? Well, right now, flexibility really is
the name of the game, because workers are increasingly
facing disruptions, not just to their work, but
also to their life as well. So, when
we think about childcare disruptions that might arise if there's
an outbreak at at your Children's schools or other other
challenges that might arise just from the fact that Covid
is still circulating in the community. So the fact
, but the fact of the matter is that flexibility
is one of the most important things that employers can
provide to their employees right now, and that's something
that's just easier to do when you're in an industry
like tech where there's more flexibility around where you're actually
working? Do you think all of this and kind
of the insight you glean from the survey gives us
a clearer picture on, on what we're seeing in
the labor market in terms of um, you know
, the factors, the sector's, excuse me there
that are seeing a struggle to get workers to come
back. Obviously those being retail, hospitality and restaurants
. Yes, I think that this is intimately tied
with the great resignation. We saw a record number
of workers quit their jobs in august and part of
that is a reflection of the fact that workers feel
burned out right now. That's especially true in industries
like retail, food services, transportation. Not only
are these industries that have been particularly hard hit by
the pandemic, but it's also very difficult right now
on the workers who are still there not just because
staffing shortages make it difficult for them to have,
you know, easier working conditions, but it also
means that there is an increased risk of catching covid
because we know what the delta variant, There's elevated
levels of cases and many of these jobs are frontline
service roles where you're interacting with customers on a daily
basis. You mentioned flexibility is the name of the
game. Uh certainly that's top priority when employees are
looking for that work life balance for those companies that
, that are considered the best in that work life
balance. Is is there a way to translate the
flexibility seen there to some of these sectors and industries
that are struggling to get workers to come back,
that may not have that current work life balance now
. Well, I think that actually something that companies
can do is just set expectations and then actually stick
to them. So one of the things that we
hear from workers, especially hourly workers, is not
necessarily that they need, uh that is not necessarily
that they need flexibility of the hours, but often
many times they just want to know that their hours
are going to be the ones that they plan for
at the beginning of the week. And so actually
providing some set expectations, making sure that scheduling doesn't
change last minute and if it does need to change
last minute, creating the right kind of communication and
the right kind of tools to allow that scheduling rescheduling
to happen flexibly is something that's important, even for
hourly workers. I'm glad you pointed that out,
because I think that's something that's so minor to maybe
the employer, but on the employee side, a
major factor that doesn't take much effort to kind of
switch and change quickly. Um I've certainly been there
so, well, that kind of struck a nerve
with me, appreciate that point out. Um just
really quickly here, is it possible that we're going
to continue to see this burnout, um you know
, continue through this year, even with employers learning
the impact that it's having. Yes, I think
unfortunately we are going to continue to see higher levels
of burnout and just worse mental health in the workplace
, just because of how long the pandemic has gone
on, it's been very challenging for people to stick
with it through through the pandemic and that's why you're
seeing such elevated levels of turnover in the economy today
. Hopefully as the pandemic starts to abate and we
get back to settling into a new normal things should
improve. But for right now, unfortunately, the
pandemic is what's controlling the trajectory of the recovery and
then also having a significant impact on mental health in
the workplace. We're certainly seeing that continue to happen
. Really appreciate your time and your insight. Senior
economist at Glassdoor, Daniel Zhao, thanks again.