Dealing with work away from work

Missing your office? Or is it the commute that you remember the most? Maybe it’s those tea breaks and conversations with colleagues. 

Millions of Indians (including myself) have been working from home for more than two months now. While the transition has been smooth for some, many are struggling to ensure business as usual.

For yet others, the lockdown has brought forth surprising results – forcing people and organisations to view remote work (and the use of technology) from a totally different lens, as an analyst I spoke to last week said.

The fourth edition of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index gives us insights into two areas the pandemic impacted the most: the need for working from the office and people’s perceptions about the job market.

The index – a fortnightly survey based on responses from 2,582 workers in India – gives a snapshot of how people are feeling about their ability to get or hold on to a job right now, improve their financial situation in the next six months and progress in their career over the next year. The national Workforce Confidence Index (WCI) remains unchanged at +50, according to the latest survey. The index uses a scale from -100 to +100 to reflect current sentiments and expectations. 

Acing Remote Work

Of late, several reports have emerged about tech giants contemplating permanent remote work options for a section of their workforce. In India, Tata Consultancy Services announced plans for three-fourths of its staff to work remotely by 2025.

But does working away from office affect output?

Not surprisingly, productivity, and the perception of it, varies from individual to individual and industry to industry. The #WorkforceConfidenceIndex  tells us just that. Sample this: 61% of software and IT services professionals said they can be effective on an individual level while remote working, followed by 50% of professionals in the media and communications space. While almost half of individuals in corporate services and education felt the same way, they aren’t as optimistic about the efficacy of remote working for their industry.

The adaptability was also higher among professionals under 40: More than half of millennials and Gen Z professionals said they can be effective while working remotely.

This, however, does not reflect in their overall optimism. As per the index, those in the 40+ age bracket depicted higher confidence levels, especially on the job security front.

A possible explanation - hiring for entry level jobs and internships is likely to remain muted across most sectors, HR expert Abhijit Bhaduri says. Expect companies to instead focus on upskilling existing employees who are well-versed with their business culture and have a strong network within the ranks, he says.

Senior professionals have also seen more recessions and slowdowns during their career spans and therefore draw comfort from having survived them. Much like a seasoned film actor who has seen enough hits and misses to feel less vulnerable than a newcomer.

Company size matters too: Enterprise employees, or those working in firms with 10,000 employees or more, found themselves more suited to remote working – both at an individual and industry level.

Perceptions about the job market

At an overall level, professionals in India continue to remain cautiously optimistic, but nearly half the respondents said they expect fewer new job listings in the next two weeks. Thirty two percent of respondents  also said they anticipate recruiters to be less responsive to their job applications.

This, however, is not proving to be a deterrent: 42% individuals said they would increase their time spent searching for jobs during this period. Also, more than a third said they would invest more time updating their resumes. Optimism on the job security front was the highest for employees in healthcare, education and corporate services.

How effective is remote working in your profession? And how do you expect the job market to shape up in the near future? Share your comments with #WorkforceConfidenceIndex.

Workforce Confidence Index Methodology

LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index is based on a quantitative online survey that is distributed to members via email every two weeks. Roughly 1,000+ India-based members respond each wave. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. Students, stay-at-home partners & retirees are excluded from analysis so we’re able to get an accurate representation of those currently active in the workforce. We analyse data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy.

Data is weighted by engagement level, to ensure fair representation of various activity levels on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership & overall market population are not accounted for. Confidence index scores are calculated by assigning each respondent a score (-100, -50, 0, 50, 100) based on how much they agree or disagree with each of three statements, and then finding the composite average score across all statements. Scores are averaged across two waves of data collection to ensure an accurate trend reading. The three statements are: [Job Security] I feel confident about my ability to get or hold onto a job right now; [Finances] I feel confident about my ability to improve my financial situation in the next 6 months; [Career] I feel confident about my ability to progress in my career in the next year.

Neil Basu, senior program manager for research and talent development at LinkedIn, and Vrushank Nayak, data fellow at LinkedIn News, contributed to this article.