A majority (81%) of India Inc. employers sensitised their workforce on mental and emotional well-being to help them in combating COVID-19 induced anxiety, according to a recent survey.

TimesJobs survey titled 'Employee well-being amid COVID-19' was conducted over 834 HR managers. The survey sheds a light on how companies are addressing the agenda of employees' mental and emotional well-being owing to work from home situation.

Nearly 25% of HR managers feel that 30-40% of their employees were availing the well-being measures introduced by their respective organisations.

The findings revealed that 31% of HR managers said that their employee well-being programs were 'effective' as compared to other industry players. While, 59% of HR managers plan to set up a crisis management team to address employees' well-being issues effectively. 

"The COVID-19 pandemic introduced remote work ecosystem en-mass, which was new to many in the workforce. Employers around the world are concerned about the well-being challenges presented by the present situation. In such extraordinary times, organisations must keep a tab on what their employees are going through mentally and emotionally. The current pandemic situation has led to faster adoption of #Workfromhome culture among employees and employers. This change that has come in the last six months would have taken 15 years without the COVID situation," Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig.

Around 35% of professionals stated that they had implemented policies such as one on one counselling, staff mentoring, etc. Next 29% of respondents claimed that they had started free health and fitness consultation for employees to tackle the lockdown. While 20% of them said to help their workforce, they have implemented virtual mindfulness workshops as a part of their employee well-being programs.

As per the survey, 38% of the managers acknowledged failing to cater to maximum issues faced by employees.

About 22% of HR leaders recognise designing customised benefits for workforce as one of the primary challenges.