3 in 5 Indian professionals have felt lonely while working remotely

Around 3 in 5 (60%) Indian professionals have felt lonely at some point while working remotely in the last few months, while 37% still feel lonely now. These are the findings of the Linkedin Workforce Confidence Index, an online survey of 16,199 Indian professionals conducted between April and September to understand the impact of the pandemic and remote work on their mental health.
With 51% of the Indian workforce continuing to work remotely, 41% professionals felt that this was slowing down their career progression and 46% said it was harming their work-life balance.Overall, almost 2 in 5 (39%) of professionals were experiencing increasing stress due to Covid-19.
In addition, this distress seems to be getting compounded by the reopening of some offices and employees being asked to return to work. Around 50% of those surveyed expressed concerns about the risk of exposure to people who don’t take safety precautions seriously. Approximately 36% were worried about workplace sanitation, 34% about exposure to large groups of people in meetings or in public and 34% to uncertain workplace safety guidelines.
While the findings highlighted the need for more support from employers, only 1 in 4 (23%) Indian professionals were being offered emotional well-being initiatives and flexible work hours by their employers in the early months of the lockdown. Only 1 in 5 (21%) professionals were getting more time off through paid or unpaid leaves, while 42% believed that their companies would not continue these initiatives after the pandemic. Close to 40% continue to experience financial instability, indicating high levels of financial stress and uncertainty.
“The ongoing stress around the 3 Rs — Remote work, Return to work, and Risk of exposure — are adversely impacting the mental health of Indian professionals,” Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, Linkedin said. “Companies in India are beginning to bolster their mental health programmes to support their employees in such times.”
The pandemic also seemed to be taking an additional toll of working mothers, with 36% saying that they were unable to focus on work with children at home, compared to 25% of working fathers. Moreover, 28% working moms were providing childcare full-time and 33% were working outside business hours to provide childcare. While around 31% of working fathers seek support from friends or family to take care of children, just 23% working mothers were likely to do so.