Published during World Mental Health Month, the survey demonstrates that age, proximity to job loss, tenure, and whether individuals have continued working outside the home or not, all play a significant role in determining how well people feel they’ve coped.

Younger workers are feeling more pressure

The survey indicates 50-65-year-old workers feel least affected by the pandemic, with 72% stating they don’t feel their motivation levels have changed and only 26% concerned they might lose their job.

Meanwhile, younger workers are feeling the most pressure, with almost 4 in 10 (37%) respondents aged 18-29 years saying they feel less motivated to complete work tasks compared to pre-COVID-19. And nearly half (47%) of under 40s are concerned they will lose their job in the future.

64% of the 18-29-year-old group reported personally knowing someone who has lost their job – a significantly higher percentage than the 43% of the 50-65 age cohort who knew someone.

The impact of knowing someone who has lost their job is significant

Knowing someone who has lost their job is shown to have a marked impact on a person’s psyche. Those who personally know someone who has lost their job are considerably more likely to feel increased stress/anxiety levels (60%), to feel more isolated working from home (67%), and to be more concerned about job security (51%).

Nearly half (49%) of those in close proximity to job loss simultaneously feel they need to over-deliver in order to stay employed, and 45% also cite finding it harder to concentrate.

Length of tenure has a positive impact on how employees feel

The survey found that the longer people have been employed in their job, the less likely they were to feel negatively impacted by the pandemic. Close to three quarters (71%) of those who have been in their job for more than five years reported that their ability to deliver work has not changed. Only a third (33%) of the 5+ year tenure group said they are concerned about losing their job looking forward.

In contrast, two thirds (67%) of those who had been in their job for less than 5 years were concerned about future job loss.

People who have continued to work from have been less negatively impacted

Individuals who have continued working full time in an office or other out-of-home work environment (e.g. store, restaurant, etc.) overwhelmingly said their confidence in their ability to deliver work has not changed (71%), nor had their ability to concentrate on work tasks (59%). In contrast, for people working full time from home, only 53% said their ability to deliver work hadn’t changed and 39% said their ability to concentrate hadn’t changed.

Looking forward, only a third (36%) of Australians who have continued to work full time out of the home are concerned about losing their job, compared to nearly half (49%) of people working from home.

There are many unseen effects from changes to employment

Of employees who had their hours reduced, 62% said they were more stressed now compared to before COVID-19, and 50% reported finding it more difficult to concentrate on tasks.

Similarly, 50% of people working in environments where staff had been laid off said they found it more difficult to concentrate on work tasks. And over a third (35%) of those exposed to staff cutbacks around them said they felt less confident in their ability to deliver work.

Australian employers have largely ‘got it right’ when it comes to navigating workplace pressures

In positive news for businesses, 70% of workers overall said they felt their employer had taken every step possible to avoid layoffs. More than 6 in 10 (65%) of workers said they felt that their employer took the emotional wellbeing of staff seriously, and 59% thought they had made every effort to support their emotional wellbeing.

This was more positive among those working in large organisations (72% and 65% for taking the emotional wellbeing of staff seriously and making every effort to support that emotional wellbeing, respectively), compared to small to medium organisations (61% and 55%).

While COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on Australians’ mental health at large, there has often been an assumption that those employed are less adversely affected than those who are out of work.

However, our research has shown that employed Australians are also feeling the toll of the pandemic when it comes to their relationship with work.

This group’s experience has been a varied one, with some very interesting influences at play. Age, tenure and work environment have played a role in determining their experience, with proximity to job loss also emerging as a very important determinant of one’s mindset in the workplace.

Australian employers have cause to be proud about their navigation of COVID-19. It was really encouraging to see that the majority of Australian workers feel their employer has done everything they could to avoid layoffs and has taken their emotional wellbeing seriously. The fact that employees are confident their employers have acted ethically and in staff’s best interests will put businesses in good stead to rebuild and recover.

With more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Jay Munro has worked in a variety of roles in agencies and job boards, from consulting and recruiting, through to leading the product development of new sourcing technologies. As an Employer Insights Strategist with the Indeed Employer Insights Team, Jay pairs platform data with industry trend analysis to share Indeed’s story and bring the value of the company’s programs and solutions to life.

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“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers.

Jobs for Australia is a Not-For-Profit organisation of volunteers from the Talent Acquisition & Human Resources industry located across Australia that have been affected by COVID-19.

With many industries facing recruitment freezes or having to stand down staff due to the Coronavirus, countless Talent Acquisition and Human Resources Professionals were also let go from their positions.

Keen to utilise their skills and experience to support job seekers and empower them with skills to improve their job search, Jobs for Australia was born. People & Culture Author Justine Figo, The Recruitment Events Company Director Andrea Kirby and self-confessed ‘HR Tech Geek’ Rich Lewis-Jones developed Jobs for Australia as a Not-for-Profit organisation aimed at keeping HR & Talent Acquisition Professionals connected, engaged and actively helping job seekers with:

• their resume
• their LinkedIn profile
• interview preparation
• personal Branding (where appropriate).

“Jobs for Australia is not a job board. We focus on supporting job seekers by providing guidance on their Resume, connecting them to the job market via job boards, interview preparation and advice on employers that are hiring or other initiatives and services that are available to them,” said Andrea Kirby, Director of the Recruitment Events Company.

Pavi Iyer was let go of her position as Talent Acquisition Manager in the first week of April due to the economic impact of COVID-19 on the business.

“The concept of Jobs for Australia came from the HR & Talent community because we’re connected to the companies that are still hiring and we have the skills and experience to support people that have lost their jobs. I wanted to get more involved in helping the community and didn’t want to just sit and do nothing. Volunteering with Jobs for Australia lets me put my skills to work helping job seekers around Australia improve their chances of finding work’, said Pavi.

Jobs for Australia launched on 15^th April this year and currently, over 40 volunteers are working with job seekers to help them prepare for their job search journey.

Andrea, it must have been challenging for Recruitment Events Co. to temporarily stop face–to–face events. Are you running any virtual events in the meantime, or are you delaying all events to see what the situation is like in July?
We’ve been running a series of webinars on either recruitment topics or on personal subjects like Emotions or Career development. Our May series can be found here.

We’re planning an online conference for July and monitoring the situation. We’re still planning RecFest for November and are looking to run smaller events from August.

It’s certainly created more options for us as an event company and while the last few months have been challenging, we’re really excited about what we can do event-wise for the future.

Tell us about what it‘s been like working with Justine and Rich, and how the idea for Jobs For Australia (J4A) came about.

The idea of J4A came about when someone in our network linked us (Justine and I) together. HR was looking for options for the staff they needed to either make redundant or deploy. Our Talent Acquisition (TA) community either had jobs to fill or were losing theirs.

After a few discussions, we decided that we would ask the TA people if they would coach people that were impacted by Covid-19. HR people could refer their people to us.  If there were recruitment needs, we could match them.

I had seen the brilliant Jobs for Lebanon and was connected to Rich Lewis-Jones so Justine and I approached him and we put this together. It has been built into what it is now by our amazing team of volunteers. They have put together coaching resources for us to use, video sessions for job seekers and built the SmartRecruiters platform to work for what we need. There are 35 amazing Talent Acquisition professionals doing amazing things every day. They have given me inspiration and energy through this time. I adore them.

Can you extrapolate on how J4A is distinct from a job board? What kind of resources and support do you provide to candidates and employers? 

We are a coaching service first and foremost. We give job seekers coaching on their CV, LinkedIn profile, interview tips etc. We are not advertising jobs. Employers are reaching out to let us know they have jobs and we have a list for the team to reference and introduce people to but it’s not formalised. Often, we find ourselves helping job seekers reference the job market through the job boards. We have partnerships with SEEK, Indeed, Adzuna. We provide links to all other job boards and also flexible work platforms, like Work180.

The TA team at LinkedIn have offered to run a ‘Rock your profile’ session with job seekers and we’re in discussion with both Indeed and SEEK for training for our team and for our job seekers.

We’re talking with WePloy about also assisting the coaching of people signed up to their site and referring our people to the jobs they have.

It’s been an amazing community effort. The TA community is an amazing one!

What’s been the response so far from candidates and employers who have connected with J4A?

We have had some really nice success stories of people never getting through the CV stage and are now at interviews and popping back for some interview training. I think the confidence levels going up in not only our job seekers but our TA volunteers who are also out of work has been the most rewarding. We all need connection at this time. Our little team are supporting each other as they in turn support people out of work. It’s given us all purpose and direction at a time when it’s not been business as usual for any of us.

We think we will take this forward as an ongoing initiative and start to offer support to job seekers as part of the TA community giving back. It’s a global movement now that was started by Roy Baladi and Jobs for Lebanon. There are now chapters in Ireland and Europe. I have always loved being part of the TA community and now it is the most rewarding time to be part of it.

Volunteers from Jobs for Australia, including  Rebecca Powell shared their experience working for J4A.

I’ve been in Talent Acquisition and Recruitment for more than 13 years. I recently found myself joining the ranks of the unemployed, though in my case it was due to a company merger rather than the pandemic, but the timing was no less unfortunate.

I’m a member of RL100 and attended a number of the Reconverse events for internal TA specialists over the past 12 months. I even had the opportunity to speak at one of the events last year so when Andrea Kirby reached out to a few of us asking if we’d be interested in being involved with JFA I jumped at the chance.

I’m in the fortunate position that I was given a redundancy payout so I have time on my side but there are many others out there who can’t afford to be out of work. I had been looking for ways to volunteer within my local community and JFA is risk-free because I can do it from the comfort of my own home!

I know from personal experience just how hard it is to write a CV and build a personal brand and that’s in spite of all my experience in TA/recruitment. I have a mentor who has been a huge support and guide for me in these times and I wanted to be able to pay that forward. So many people out there have been thrust into a situation they never expected and it can be so daunting knowing where to start. Being able to help them to take those first steps may seem simple but the positive impact on the recipient cannot be overstated. 

What‘s been the most meaningful result you‘ve seen so far for an employer or candidate who‘s connected with J4A?

It’s still early days for J4A but already we’ve had candidates coming back and telling their volunteer coaches that they’ve finally had a response to their CV for the first time or they’ve secured an interview.

In one case someone quite accomplished and experienced who had been struggling to get beyond a first interview actually was able to smash two interviews simply by applying the advice his JFA volunteer had given him. It’s those simple wins that can mean so much and I’m confident that we’ve got bigger victories just around the corner.

At the end of the day, J4A is about empowering the job seeker so when they tell us that our advice has helped them to make a positive change to their circumstances that’s a pretty special feeling. These are real people with real struggles and it’s humbling as well as hugely uplifting to know we’re helping.

Jobs for Australia volunteer, Vidhita Jain also shared information about her career path and how she came to volunteer for Jobs For Australia.

I’m a qualified Talent Acquisition Partner with over 14 years of international recruitment experience in India, UK (London), USA and now Australia. My experience has been gained in onsite, agency and in-house environments business partnering with companies across Retail, Professional Services and Consulting, Government, Accounting & Finance, BFSI, Technology, IT, Sales & Marketing.

Andrea Kirby floated a message on the WhatsApp TA community which I instantly replied too, I just knew this is what I want to do to help my community and what better way than using my own skills and experience. I jumped on to this opportunity and decided to contribute as much time to it as possible and help as many people affected as possible.

What‘s been the most meaningful result you‘ve seen so far for an employer or candidate who‘s connected with J4A?  

I’ve been kindly told that I have a unique and holistic coaching style and I’m pleased to say I work this way with people whether they’re looking for interview techniques, help with tough conversations, or practical guidance to take the next step, whatever that looks like. This has been by far the most satisfying role I have played in my entire career.

Volunteer Pavi Iyer shares her experience, from HR generalist roles to TA. 

Over the last 10 years, I’ve worked my way from HR generalist roles to setting up TA functions. Having worked across complex functions and greenfield roles, I’ve loved working in TA and being able to be part of someone’s career pathways in some way.

When I found myself unemployed, I was looking for some way to meaningfully fill my time that would also hone my skills. When Andrea approached me about an idea that would see us helping people displaced by Covid-19, I jumped at the chance. It was everything that I was looking for in terms of helping others within our community, making a difference in their situations and learning from others in the team. It provided an outlet for our creative sides to develop and be able to set up a small TA function of our own.

What‘s been the most meaningful result you‘ve seen so far for an employer or candidate who‘s connected with J4A?

For me, it was realising we’ve helped people that would otherwise not have access to similar avenues of coaching or support. For me, the most meaningful candidate was someone who had found himself unemployed for the first time in 30 years. He required assistance with his CV, was not aware of LinkedIn and hadn’t interviewed for a job in just as long a time. Having helped and coached him in these areas, and to see the impact these small pieces of advice had on his confidence and how grateful he was, it was heart-warming and enlightening to experience.

For more information visit jobsforaustralia.com

Media enquiries: Renae Peattie at hello@jobsforaustralia.com

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We’re being swamped with mixed communications, from free webinar invitations to opinion pieces about how to juggle remote working, and mixed news messaging, which can make it tough to determine what’s true and what’s not. This has an enormous impact on how we need to manage the perception and communication of our employer brands.

Employer brands never sleep and, if anything, they’re now in the spotlight! Employees, the talent market and consumers are watching what action organisations are taking to manage and accommodate their most valued resources through this pandemic. 

Effective communication is key both internally and externally. In fact, it’s the glue that will preserve employer brands from fragmenting! HR is front and centre in this crisis. 

The organisations that take deliberate action with consistent, relevant communication, interacting and engaging with their remote workforce will be successful in navigating this situation. 

Employer Branding requires collaboration between leaders. 

As I place an optimistic lens over our current situation, I highlight that now, more than ever, HR and employer branding leaders cannot be held solely responsible for their people driving business continuity and still preserving their employer brand. 

Teamwork is essential. HR leaders must leverage critical partners in their organisations through internal communications, corporate marketing and communications, training and development, transformation officers, IT and the like. That being said, I’ve distilled the most fundamental priorities leaders should be paying attention. 

1. Use ongoing, clear and constructive communication

In monitoring virtual teams, regular, concise, clear and constructive communication is of the utmost importance to building trust and sustaining employee morale. Recruitment leaders must utilise their internal communication partners to assist with the often confusing government and media communications, translating it appropriately to employees to help them understand how new changes will affect them personally, while simultaneously keeping them updated regarding applicable daily health and safety news.

2. Support hiring managers

If you are hiring right now, operational managers at the forefront are often peoples’ first point of contact. For hiring managers to recruit effectively, they need to receive ongoing up-to-date workplace policy changes, understand what support is available for their employees and be properly trained to communicate this effectively with their teams. Leaders don’t like to communicate if they don’t have answers. Therefore, partnering with them, giving them guidance and training assist them in fostering a positive employee experience.

3. Issue transparent communications on COVID-19 management

Conducting weekly update meetings through online video platforms like Zoom, Teams, WebEx is a given, especially if you have interstate or international offices. Communicating best practice and facts about how your organisation is managing operations in light of the crisis is essential, using the utmost transparency and clarity about how deliverables are being met.

4. Maintain employee engagement

Being proactive in delivering answers to employees’ questions regarding their health, wellness and finances, without them having to search for or ask will earn you brand credibility and loyalty.

5. Routinely focus on mission-critical issues

Leaders need to establish a routine and cadence when setting up meetings and stick to mission-critical issues, actions plans, deliverables and dates.

6. Obtain ongoing employee feedback

Welcome ongoing internal employee feedback and schedule real-time, regular pulse surveys. Proactively assess the “heartbeat” of your organisation to overcome the current challenges.

7. Gauge preferred communication channels

Be aware what communication channels your people prefer and test if they’re conducive to the current situation. Video channels, where your people can see and hear you speak, seem to be trumping emails and intranet. Decide what subjects should be communication through which medium. 

8. Humanise remote work environments

To boost morale, change behaviours and maintain team collaboration by setting up virtual coffee sessions, sundowner virtual gatherings or fun quiz competitions. Humanise it by including kids, pets, etc., as many people miss face-to-face connection through phsyical distancing. For example, check out what Spotify is doing through reinforcing their values and prioritising wellbeing. 

9. Remember, you don’t need to have all the answers

There’s no rulebook and you might not have all the answers. (For example, we’re witnessing company announcements, such as from Edcon, who admitted having limited liquidity.) Leaders need to be transparent, authentic and brutally honest when communicating with your people. You’ll gain far more support and understanding through honesty and transparent vulnerability. 

10. Consider cost-cutting measures

News articles are highlighting how organisations are taking cost-cutting initiatives to maintain business stability without haemorrhaging layoffs (for example, initiatives from big brands such as Macy’s and Gap).These include:

• Requesting employees to take an unpaid leave of absence (the most common measure companies are pursuing). Reframe the stigma attached to unpaid leave by referring to it as a sabbatical
• Revising compensation structure and delaying increments (freezing salary-increases, bonuses, overtime, payments into other funds)
• Encouraging employees to seek part-time jobs to supplement their income
• Implementing short work weeks to save costs
• Leveraging training opportunities 
• Identifying and optimising eager talent who are ready to step into new job roles and projects
• Creating a time bank where employees are paid for working reduced hours, but agreeing these hours will be utilised in the future;
• Implementing executive or leadership pay cuts and wage freezes to reallocate cash flow to prevent layoffs. 
• Seeking government support.

Covid-19 has accelerated and shaped the new world of work. Many thought leaders have predicted we won’t return to our normal working environments. This will fundamentally shift how we position our employer brands and value propositions as we look towards the future and attract different roles and skillset (which we’re already witnessing via Glassdoor). We’ll need to revise our current workplace environment to engage and interact with our people differently and endeavour to retain loyal team members who have stuck by our sides as we navigate these extraordinary times. 

Celeste Sirin is the Managing Director of Employer Branding South Africa, a consultancy that focuses on assisting companies to build and market their employer brands in order to attract, engage and retain talent. Having worked within the recruitment industry for many years, running her own recruitment marketing and response management agency, she has first-hand recruiter knowledge, having to recruit best-in-class talent across various industries. A recent contract saw Celeste engaged with the SA Team of Universum Global, a data-led employer brand research company, in sales, facilitation and marketing to national and multinational key accounts.

Celeste’s mission lies in defining and driving the essence of employer branding and the fundamental importance of companies adopting it as a business imperative.

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Understandably, there’s an abundance of information in cyberspace about the coronavirus. Much of it is a rehash of existing news being shared by different sources, and it’s getting to a point where people see these posts and think, “Oh no, not more doom and gloom.” I know that’s how I’m feeling.

Yes, we need to stay informed and updated but we also need to remain calm and focused on business. There are a number of different things we can do to minimise long-term impacts.

With events being cancelled in all industries around the globe and no indication when they will recommence, content marketing will be vital for lead generation.

During this time, I’m trying to share as much practical, free advice as I can to help anyone in business.

So let’s talk content – specifically, how much COVID-19 related content you should be sharing.

Let’s start by asking these two questions:

• How relevant is it to your clients and industry?

Certainly, for industries that have been directly impacted (such as travel, hospitality and some retailers) the issue is highly relevant. Using social media and content to communicate will be vital over the coming weeks. 

If you’re in recruitment, consider how it impacts your clients and candidates, and what those impacts might be. How much information do people need from you?

• How does it impact your target audience and candidates?

What issues and challenges are coming up for your target audience and candidates? This is an opportunity for you to address those issues and provide practical solutions that can help them.

Content tips

Now you’ve established how relevant it is, think about what types of content you can share.

• Consider newsjacking (when relevant) – Newsjacking is the process of adding your thoughts and opinions into breaking news stories. It’s piggybacking on trending news topics to get yourself noticed. If you choose to newsjack, be make sure it is relevant, non-offensive and makes sense to your audience. Simply mentioning something about coronavirus as an add-on to an article doesn’t cut it and isn’t newsjacking. 
• What questions do people have that you can answer? – due to the amount of uncertainty in the world, people are looking to experts to answer many questions. There’s an opportunity to educate people on many relevant topics, the most obvious being gig economy and flexible work, HR  and employment policies, law, self-help and online learning, customer service training ….
• Try to share positive messages that educate your target market and candidates – doom and gloom helps no one, least of all the economy. Try to share positive stories of creative ways people around the world are managing the current issues. I have seen stories about book stores delivering books to households, bakeries creating ‘Make your own Sourdough’ kits, overall businesses getting creative with how they deliver their products and services. 
• Practical tips and how-tos offer the most value – share posts and articles that educate your audience and give practical advice, much like I am trying to do with my free blogs and content.
• Opportunities to remain relevant and be the ‘go-to expert’ – Recruiters, now is the time to position yourself as someone who solves problems. Your content should reflect that.
• Produce relevant and compelling strategic insights – before you share existing content, do some research to validate that it is correct. Make sure you add your expert insights with any shared content to give it context
• Share positive news stories from clients who are taking advantage of market conditions to redefine their business offering or find new revenue streams. 

My poor phone and laptop have been running hot and I’ve had to charge again during the day just because I am on it so much. 

We are online, not just getting our news and updates, but shopping online, looking for entertainment, doing Zoom calls to stay connected, enrolling in online learning to upskill, looking for positive stories, looking for jobs, researching suppliers, downloading movies and books, and trying to continue business as usual. So now is the time to take advantage of that and look for ways to spread joy, not fear.

Tanya Williams is the pink-loving, sparkly Chief of Everything at Digital Conversations. She wears many hats; entrepreneur, best-selling author, digital trainer, and she is a Social Amplification Specialist with over 20 years’ marketing experience. She works with recruiters to uncover the hidden gold in their existing assets, find ways to leverage every moment of your digital marketing without increasing your marketing budget and amplify your internal champions to increase your visibility. Her goal is to make the hero in your industry sector.  She has a simple, no-tech-talk approach and thrives working with established recruitment companies to tap into the opportunities they might miss, using practical & relevant tactics to drive business outcomes.

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