Thriver Survey Reveals That Mental Health Is the Biggest Challenge Faced by Employees and HR Teams During the Pandemic

• Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Employee Happiness

A Thriver survey in October 2021 of 179 company leaders, representing HR and people operations professionals, revealed significant insights into the greatest struggles they have faced since March 2020.

Mental health is the biggest challenge for employees and HR teams

Isolation, rapidly changing social norms, fear of the unknown: the pandemic threw a lot of curveballs that have a major impact on mental health. Thriver survey shows that 58% of HR professionals identify mental health as the number-one challenge faced by employees and 57% identify it to be their major personal challenge.

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Companies looking to genuinely support their workforce need to focus on mental well-being now more than ever.

Work-from-home came with benefits and drawbacks

At the start of the pandemic, many businesses worried employee productivity would plummet when offices closed. The survey revealed that HR and people operations teams found the opposite to be true. Sixty three percent of the respondents agreed that productivity has increased over the last two years. However, bringing work home made it harder for employees to draw the line between their job and their personal time. Work-life balance was employees’ second biggest struggle, according to 44% of survey respondents. 

Employee engagement is at the center of company culture

HR and people operations teams are responsible for booking and scheduling many workplace activities and events for their teams. Their number-one roadblock in doing so is employee engagement (55%), followed by trying to satisfy their teams’ different preferences (45%) and employee mental health concerns (37%). To tackle these challenges, Thriver offers ratings and reviews by participants from other companies, plus a polling feature to allow employees to vote for their preferred services.

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Professional struggles impacting HR and people operations teams

71% of HR and people operations professionals felt that the past two years have proven professionally challenging for them and 67% also indicated struggling on a personal level. Two of the most notable difficulties they encountered included meeting the demands of their role (32%) and dealing with change (26%).

The results of this survey highlighted actionable things company leaders can do to better support employees and prepare them for greater success. These include prioritizing mental and physical health, and supporting everyone in defining solid work-life boundaries.

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