Between Trust and Control - Impact of the Corona Pandemic from the Executive's Perspective
Summer 2021 shows adaptation and flexibility in the corporate and working world in dealing with the ongoing crisis. Innovations have been implemented under high pressure, and digitization and mobile working in particular are experiencing a tremendous breakthrough.
MORE POSITIVE VIEW OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION THAN IN 2020
Almost half of the companies surveyed (45%) assess the economic situation as unchanged from the time before Corona. A significant increase of twelve percent compared to the 2020 assessment, which was 33 percent. Around one in five companies (19%) say the situation has improved. Compared with the pre-Corona period, only a good third of respondents still assess the company situation negatively. The negative assessment has thus fallen significantly by ten percentage points since 2020, from 46 percent to 36 percent.
COMPANIES FACE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES
While around one in four companies report increased demand for their products or services, at the same time there are supply bottlenecks for various materials and intermediate products that are standing in the way of an economic recovery. At 43 percent, industrial companies are particularly affected by supply bottlenecks, including production stoppages and short-time working.
MORE REGIONAL PROXIMITY AND FEWER DEPENDENCIES IN THE FUTURE
As a result of the supply bottlenecks, more than two-thirds of the executives surveyed (67%) and as many as three-quarters in industry say that in the future they will focus more on avoiding external dependencies and outsourcing central products and services. For around three-quarters of the industrial companies surveyed, important supply companies and service providers are also to be located in close proximity.
DIGITIZATION
There is no way around digitization. Consequently, the vast majority of companies want to continue to drive forward internal digitization in the future (84%). Almost two-thirds of the companies surveyed want to digitally automate their work processes in the long term (64%). Video conferences will continue to replace face-to-face meetings, and business trips will be increasingly dispensed with.
HOME OFFICE - HERE TO STAY
The home office, which in the pre-Corona era was reserved for individual employees, became the new workplace for millions of office workers virtually overnight due to the contact restrictions in the first lockdown in March 2020. It is now clear that there will most likely be no return to the "before". But neither will the freedom to decide where to work at any time. The majority of companies that have already adopted a home office rule are striving for equal distribution between office and home office.
LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF HOME OFFICE AND WORKING AT A DISTANCE
The lack of personal and physical proximity makes the leadership task significantly more time-consuming and complex for the majority of executives surveyed (70%). Every communication has to be planned. There is less contact and informal exchange overall. Leadership overall moves between "trust" and "control." While around one-third of the decision-makers surveyed allow their employees to make independent decisions and take responsibility, the majority say they give more detailed instructions and follow more closely when, how and how much their employees work.
Source: Hays
