10 Months Later: State of the Victoria Workforce

2020 has been a year of massive change and disruption around the world. It’s hard to believe that just shy of 10 months ago, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. I feel very lucky to have a job which can be done remotely, since many do not. Many more have either lost their job or are risking their health by continuing to work in positions that involve a lot of interaction with colleagues and the public.

I also feel very lucky to have a supportive CEO who has made it possible for me to move back to my hometown of Victoria, BC and continue my consulting role locally in Victoria and remotely across the Lower Mainland and the rest of BC and Canada.

With both the employee experience and data analysis being passions of mine, the first project I wanted to tackle after moving back to Victoria was to conduct a survey to understand how people are doing in the Victoria workforce and what employers and the public can do to support people through these challenging times. I have also published a report on the Trends and Best Practices For Support Remote Workers During COVID-19 and Beyond.

I surveyed 65 people working in Greater Victoria, with the majority of participants being in Food & Hospitality, Retail, Health, and Education sectors. 

The State of the Victoria Workforce report covers:

• Company responses to COVID-19
• Employee well-being
• Work changes
• Safety during in-person work interactions
• Remote work
• Ways to improve the employee experience
• Practical actions leaders can take now

While the survey was focused on the Victoria workforce, many of the insights translate to employees based in other areas.

Key statistics and questions to consider

As we continue to face disruption and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to check-in with your employees or coworkers on how to best support them.

How might we create relevant and safe check-in meetings with our people that allow them to share how they’re doing and ask for help if needed?

• 38% of participants indicated they don’t have regular meetings and they reported lower levels of job satisfaction and higher levels of job anxiety.
  

How might we engage our people in sharing their ideas on how to adapt to changes or deal with issues we’re facing?

• 42% of participants reported that their leaders do not ask them for this type of input and indicated lower levels of job satisfaction and higher levels of job anxiety. 

How might we monitor and adjust workloads, particularly if layoffs have put added pressure on our remaining people?

• 53% of survey participants indicated they often feel overloaded or anxious at work.

How might we conduct a candid employee experience survey that results in clear action items and changes we follow through on?

• Consider having a third-party conduct an employee survey to ensure employees feel safe candidly sharing their concerns and needs. Every organization is unique, and each employee has slightly different needs. Assessing your employee experience and how it impacts the level of engagement, satisfaction, anxiety, and burnout helps support meaningful changes to strengthen your organization.

Download our full State of the Victoria Workforce report for free!