Here’s the thing: the pandemic disrupted organizational practices opening the door for a new employee experience. While employees are showing burnout symptoms and looking for more support, organizations want to streamline budgets without sacrificing productivity. 

Qualtrics’ employee experience survey, which provides insights into how employees feel about the state of the workplace and how their changing relationship with it will define the future of work, found that employees want reassurance that their position and their employer are secure.

Employers who encourage work-life balance will benefit from having workers who are more willing to go above and beyond. Employees who are satisfied with their pay are 74% more likely to stay at a company for

three or more years than employees who are not, so the decline in satisfaction could push top performers to look for other opportunities. 

“Employee expectations have fundamentally changed, and our progress cannot be undone. But clear and open communication is essential as the economic picture shifts and people focus on their basic needs. Employees want reassurance that their jobs are secure and that they’ll get some relief from burnout after the disruption brought on by the confluence of COVID, an economic downturn, and geopolitical events,” said Sarah Marrs, Head of EX Product Science at Qualtrics.

The percentage of workers eager to go above and beyond for their employer increases to 85% when they feel they have a healthy work-life balance. In contrast, just 35% of workers who have a poor work-life balance would take the same action.

“Work-life balance is essential to sustainable business performance. It’s in the best interest of the entire organization for employees to take time off seriously and recharge,” Marrs added.

However, the UAE showed strength in its digitization efforts and strong technology ecosystem, with 81% of workers saying work processes enable them to be productive, compared to the global average of 65%. 

This is despite the pandemic exposing and elevating broken processes hindering worker productivity, and introducing new challenges.

Similarly, 81% of employees—compared to 63% globally—say technology helps them be more productive. Notwithstanding the productivity gains and technical advancements, 36% of the employees polled reported feeling burned out, and 43% said their jobs left them emotionally spent.