Irish workers working from home have put in 300 million overtime hours since the start of the pandemic, with growing concern over increasing workforce burnout in research from laya healthcare. Laya Healthcare’s Resilience Rising: Shaping the Future of Work and Wellbeing research, one of the largest research studies among Irish employees and employers during Covid-19, reveals two in five (43%) workers are experiencing frequent stress. 

The findings show two thirds (65%) of those working from home feel pressure to stay connected after normal hours with an average of 22 hours put in of overtime per month by employees over the last year, worth €7 billion. The research, which measured the wellbeing of over 1,000 Irish employees and 180 HR leaders during the pandemic, was the second barometer issued by laya healthcare during Covid-19 and was unveiled at a free virtual event for HR leaders on 11 March 2021.

The launch event Resilience Rising: Shaping the Future of Work and Wellbeing included a panel discussion into the findings and the future for employee health and wellbeing, along with practical guidance on implementing health and wellbeing within an organisation. The panel included Sinéad Proos and other experts in their respective fields — Clinical Psychologist Dr. Sarah O’Neill; Occupational Health Specialist and Chief Medical Officer of Cognate Health, Professor John Gallagher; Director of Human Resources at Eir, Therese Gavin; Founder of Unplug, Chris Flack; and Vice President of Global Operations for EMEA at Paypal, Annette Hickey. More details at layahealthcare.ie/bravenewera/resilience. 

Commenting on the research, Sinéad Proos, Head of Health and Wellbeing at laya healthcare said: “We are seeing worrying signs of deteriorating morale among employees, due in part to less social interaction with colleagues, the struggle to self-motivate, and having to be ‘always-on’. Our latest barometer shows that employee motivation and maintaining organisational culture are becoming more notable issues compared to six months ago, with a greater number of employees now citing the loss of workplace bonding as their top challenge of working from home.” 

At Springboard Communications we were delighted to work with laya on this release. Find out more about our services here.