DUBLIN, Calif., May 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNet, a
leading provider of comprehensive human resources, teamed with The
Harris Poll for four industry-wide pulse surveys to better
understand broad COVID-19 sentiment, beyond its own small and
medium-size business (SMB) customers. The latest round of surveys,
released in a whitepaper today, sought to uncover how SMB business
owners were balancing productivity with employee work-life balance
during the pandemic.
According to the survey results, the majority of SMBs (58%) were
investing in the health of their workforce by adjusting healthcare
benefits or offering guidance to employees. Further, 92% have made
efforts to shift to a remote workforce as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic. Eighty-two percent of SMBs have taken actions to enhance
employee wellbeing, with the most common and effective of these
actions allowing for the flexibility to balance the new work/home
life conditions. And, lastly, the majority of SMBs (71%) have made
HR changes, or plan to make them, as a result of the pandemic.
Amber Broughton, managing
director of The Harris Poll noted, "small and medium-sized
businesses continue to step up as they adapt to the new realities
of this pandemic, investing in the wellbeing of their workforce
through enabling remote work, staying in close contact, and
offering increased flexibility to balance daily work and
life."
Surveys were conducted April 14–26 and included more than 700
SMBs with an employee base between 5–249 employees. Detailed
results of the surveys can be found in the whitepaper issued by
TriNet.
Supporting Employee Wellbeing
The current state of the remote workforce has made 82% of SMBs
take concrete actions to enhance employee wellbeing. According to
survey respondents, the single action they feel that's been most
effective in enhancing employee wellbeing include:
- Increased flexibility to balance new work/home life (44%)
- Virtual gatherings such as happy hours, coffee breaks, book
clubs (10%)
- Increased visibility of leadership/management team (10%)
- Stress management information (7%)
Overall, 74% of SMBs say that most or all of their employees
have taken advantage of the new employee wellbeing offerings. In
fact, 57% of SMB leaders say their workforce remains optimistic in
light of the current circumstances, with 52% believing their
optimism is trending upwards since the start of April.
Employee Healthcare Coverage
Highlights from The Harris Poll administered survey show that
SMBs have invested more in their employees' health and safety.
- Nearly 58% of polled companies have adjusted healthcare
benefits or are offering guidance to employees
- 39% have changed their healthcare benefits to respond to the
pandemic, such as extending healthcare coverage to laid off
employees
- 53% are offering at least some form of guidance in areas like
the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, short-term medical, and
telemedicine, for employees that are losing healthcare
coverage
When it comes to short-term healthcare coverage, SMB leaders are
primarily concerned about the cost to the employee, with 22% citing
this as the single most important consideration.
Enabling Remote Work
While the COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for SMBs,
75% of SMBs who have made efforts to shift to a remote workforce
said it has been challenging. Sixty-five percent of SMB leaders for
whom remote working is a possibility said they wished they had
implemented a remote workforce earlier.
According to the survey, the majority of SMB leaders (62%) have
seen a downtick in productivity. In fact, when identifying the
single biggest challenge in workforce management during the
pandemic, lower employee productivity ranked third on the list for
SMBs (12% selected it as the single biggest challenge). The other
aspects SMB leaders picked as their single biggest challenge
include:
- Maintaining morale (24%)
- Managing employee workload (14%)
- Unknown employee availability/ambiguous working hours (9%)
- Lower level of engagement (9%)
- Technological difficulties (8%)
The current state of the remote workplace has SMB leaders
planning for the future once the pandemic subsides. Fifteen percent
of SMBs expect that all of their employees will remain working
remotely, 52% expect that some will remain remote, and 33% say none
of their employees will stay working remotely when the crisis is
over.
HR Support
According to the survey, 63% of SMBs believe the pandemic has
revealed some aspects of their current HR capabilities as lacking.
This has led to 71% of SMB leaders making, or plan to make, HR
changes which include:
- 48% are making a concentrated effort to enhance staff
morale
- 42% are ramping up employee health and safety programs
- 65% of these SMB leaders planned or implemented changes to
optimize HR capabilities, including reorganization of the company
structure, changing to outsourced HR functionality/PEO, providing
additional training/education for HR talent, and hiring/contracting
additional HR talent
The whitepaper can be downloaded here. More information on
TriNet's continually updated resources for SMBs around
COVID-19 can also be found on TriNet's Business Resiliency and
Preparedness Center.
For this research, TriNet teamed with The Harris Poll to conduct
an online survey of more than 700 business leaders in U.S.
companies with 5 to 249 employees between April 14-16, 2020 for the fourth wave,
April 16-20, 2020 for the fifth wave,
April 21-24, 2020 for the sixth wave
and April 23-26, 2020 for the seventh
wave. Business leaders were qualified as either owners/partners or
C-level executives.
TriNet previously released the results of three pulse
surveys that were conducted April 3–12 focusing on the topics
of cash flow and liquidity. The results showed that despite the
challenges, SMB optimism was strong.
About TriNet
TriNet (NYSE: TNET) provides small
and medium-size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR solutions
tailored by industry. To free SMBs from HR complexities, TriNet
offers access to human capital expertise, benefits, risk mitigation
and compliance, payroll and real-time technology. From Main Street
to Wall Street, TriNet empowers SMBs to focus on what matters
most—growing their business. TriNet, incredible starts here. For
more information, visit TriNet.com or follow us on Twitter.
Investors:
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Media:
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Alex Bauer
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Fatima
Afzal
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TriNet
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TriNet
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Investorrelations@TriNet.com
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PR@TriNet.com
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(510)
875-7201
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(510)
875-7265
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TriNet and the TriNet logo are registered trademarks
of TriNet. All other trademarks, service marks, registered
trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their
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SOURCE TriNet Group, Inc.