The Covid-19 pandemic has forced entire countries into lockdown and many employees into a remote working environment.
This way of working has not sat well with some employees, resulting in increased stress and anxiety, as well as decreased optimism for the future. In many cases, remote workers also worried about the mental health of their loved ones.
According to a report from security firm Kaspersky, smaller organizations are particularly at risk and need to better connect with their employees to survive the pandemic.
While 33 percent of employees in small companies need support with this, 36 percent of those working in medium-sized businesses said the same. Kaspersky has spotted a similar pattern with technology support (providing the right equipment or IT tools).
The company suggest that employees in small organizations are accustomed with arranging their own working environment, compared to those working in bigger businesses.
However, when it comes to emotional or psychological support, all employees are the same, regardless of company size. According to Kaspersky, mental health support “may be significant for any employee”.
“People who have experience working in small businesses may feel more self-sufficient in the new working reality and this has helped their organization to concentrate all of their resources on survival,” said Ivan Salikhov, Product Manager, SMB Products at Kaspersky.
“However, to maintain employee productivity and moral, it is still important to make sure that staff have all that they need for work.”
In order to ensure a healthy and productive remote workforce, Kaspersky suggests businesses should communicate openly and honestly with employees, run surveys to better understand how they feel, and ensure they don’t feel overwhelmed.
They should also create HR and IT online communications channels to help everyone solve issues faster, and educate employees to use basic security practices when working remotely.
