93% employees worry on health getting compromised on returning to work post-lockdown: FYI survey

About 93 per cent respondents in a survey by health-tech platform FYI said they were stressed/anxious about returning to work after the lockdown is lifted on account of the fear that their health may get compromised.

The survey, which polled 560 employees of SMEs as well as large companies in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru, found almost all the respondents (99 per cent) saying they would like to see a system of Corporate Health Responsibility (CHR) made mandatory for employers, similar to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Nearly 85 per cent people said they expect their employers to sanitise the office space, implement and enforce safety guidelines and advisories and seek out new and innovative ways to protect the employees' health while they are in the office, the survey conducted by MindMap Advance Research found.

"The new normal of a post-pandemic world has raised the expectations employees have of their employer towards their health...These expectations are balanced by a recognition among employees that it would require them to participate in efforts that employers take to make their health a priority," it added.

About 82 per cent said they would agree to participate in measures that require them to be monitored, while 18 per cent said they would comply if the privacy of their data was assured.

About 96 per cent said they would embrace and comply with health monitoring initiatives, despite the inconvenience. Interestingly, almost three-fourth of the respondents (73 per cent) said they expect employers to enforce work from home as an ongoing process, and 81 per cent felt employees would resume work only in batches.

The pandemic, which disrupted businesses globally, has also left India Inc's professionals anxious on several accounts.

About 59 per cent said they are concerned about their health, 25 per cent expressed anxiousness about their financial situation, and 16 per cent fear that the crisis will be a prolonged one.

"It may be an understatement to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way we live and work. This event has very quickly served as a tipping point to unprecedented change in the mind-set and attitudes of people, to both life and work," FYI co-founder Yeishan Goel said.

He added that the survey found that Indian enterprises will have new priorities to juggle when it comes to the health and safety of their employees.

"India Inc employees are clearly stressed on account of their health and that needs to be managed on priority. Evidence supports the fact that happier and secure employees are more productive and perform their jobs better while those under stress, perform worse," Goel said.