A survey on the impact of the pandemic on how people work in this region
Most of you have probably either done or commissioned research in Eastern Europe or Russia. If you’ve done research in Russia, you know it can be full of surprises.
The immediate future of work in North America, where our research firm, Bazis, has an office (specifically Chicago) is more predictable. Many professionals continue to work remotely or maintain some kind of hybrid approach. This trend may continue into the foreseeable future. According to Upwork, a freelancer platform in the U.S., nearly 42% of the American workforce continues to work remotely and not all will return to an office.
What was once a result of the pandemic is becoming more of a lifestyle decision for employees who can choose to work from home.
“Before the pandemic, everyone had a very structured life. Get up in the morning, take care of the kids/ chores/exercise, get ready for the commute, and run to get to work to be on time. Same story in the evening- commute for at least an hour and then get busy with their home lives. Everything was on a clock,” says Anju Jain, PhD., a trained market researcher, and human resources leader at Caterpillar Inc.
But, now it’s increasingly a mixed bag, she says.
“For some, that structured routine is gone. They get up just a few minutes before their meeting and remain on calls, back-to-back. No lunch or any other breaks. Family life is compromised because of meetings getting extended in the evenings given that no one has to rush out to catch a train. The result- their physical and mental health is impacted- too much screen time, no exercise or walking which were inherent to their routines before.”
“But for others, the pandemic has given flexibility. They have figured out how to leverage the work from home situation. They have established boundaries and some sort of a routine to make the most of the “free time” on their hands because of the absence of long commutes. They are able to spend more time with themselves and their families. Going forward, employees will decide what works best for them. Likely, a hybrid format of work from office and work from home, is going to be the new norm.”
Looking forward
Graceada Partners, who oversee a number of office buildings in California and who conducted research on the future of work during the pandemic, anticipates a hybrid model for many of their tenants as the pandemic slows. Gracaeda Partners co-founder and co-CEO Joe Muratore state that:.
“In order to adjust to post-pandemic office life, companies are reimagining the physical space and embracing the hybrid mode. When employees were forced to work remotely during the pandemic, many companies realized that maybe office space isn’t as essential as it used to be, and they can still conduct business at home. However, having an office has its perks. Offices encourage collaboration, shared culture and socializing, which can lead to productive brainstorming sessions, new ideas and innovation.”
But how about the situation in Eastern Europe and Russia? Andrey Mokriakov, a Ukraine-based market researcher with Pro-Consulting states that:
“We don’t have any fixed rules regarding how many days employees are supposed to spend in the office. If employees can do their jobs well from home and they are more comfortable there, they can come to the office once a week or every two weeks. If their efficiency suffers because of this, then they will have to spend more time working in the office.”
But a second researcher, Gulzhan Alimbekova, the CEO of CIOM, we talked to in Kazakhstan has more mixed feelings about the flexibility and remote work lifestyle.
“The Internet somewhat depersonalizes communication. There are too many places, too many people and it sort of blurs, and the amount of stress it causes is enormous We become victims because our life becomes all work, we have to think about work all the time, the lines that were so clear before are fading. The workload increases. The working hours are not so clear and well-defined anymore, they shift.”
While we have anecdotes from a few folks in the region, what will happen for market researchers across Eastern Europe and Russia as we move past the pandemic? How have people been working during it?
To answer that question, we conducted surveys across Eastern Europe and Russia. We also surveyed North American (Canadian and U.S.).
