Culture Amp, the leading people and culture company, released data from its initial COVID-19 response survey and launched guidelines and a template to help leaders manage the next phase: return to work.

More than 100,000 employees across 200 companies completed the initial COVID-19 response survey, a free template Culture Amp released in March to help companies understand how their response to the pandemic was being perceived by their teams, measuring employee mental health, well-being, engagement and productivity.

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The data has revealed that companies on the whole have managed the first phase of the crisis well:

• more than 91 per cent of employees believe their company made the right changes in response to COVID-19;
• more than 93 per cent are confident in their company’s response;
• 90 per cent believe they are adapting well to remote work.

Having managed the first phase well, Culture Amp released a free ‘return readiness’ template to help leaders to track, measure and manage what matters in the next phase as companies begin the recovery process.

In order to return to work, companies need to understand the readiness of their employees, asking how confident each individual is that they can make an effective transition back to the workplace. This will be determined by a number of factors: the level of caring responsibilities they are juggling, their current state of wellbeing, the safety measures they feel are important, and how well set up they are for remote working on a more permanent basis.

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Culture Amp CEO and co-founder, Didier Elzinga said: “Leaders should be congratulated for how they have handled the first phase of this pandemic, as employees largely believe their leaders have reacted well. The true test comes now as leaders must navigate the return to work – whatever that may look like – depending upon the sector, country, and in some cases job function.”

“Using data is the best way to design return to work plans, as each individual employee will be in a different place, be it driven by their personal circumstances with caring responsibilities, their mental wellbeing, or their preparedness to continue working remotely.”

“We have released our ‘return readiness’ survey to give leaders this information, because with this knowledge, leaders can track, plan and assess which elements of the return to work plan are working, and make adjustments along the way – responding in real time to the needs of their teams.”