Study: Employees don’t feel safe going to work

According to a new study, 68% of workers globally do not feel completely safe working in their employer’s buildings.

The number is higher for those working remotely, 75%. And nearly one in four of those remote workers (23%) said they would look for a new job rather than return to a worksite that did not implement the necessary safety measures.

The study, commissioned by Honeywell and conducted by Wakefield Research, surveyed 2,000 workers in late 2020 who typically work in buildings with 500 or more employees across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Middle East.

Fifty-four percent of surveyed workers said that their building management has not taken the steps necessary to keep them safer on the job, and 60% believe their building is more likely to make short-term changes in response to the pandemic versus long-term investments in building systems. They were also worried that building management wouldn’t consistently enforce health and safety guidelines (42%) and that they wouldn’t consistently invest in new technology to make working in-person safer (30%).

When employees were asked why they do not feel completely safe at work:

• 59% said they are worried about co-workers not following rules;
• 56% are worried about airborne transmission;
• 43% view shared office devices and spaces as the biggest safety risk;
• 30% are worried companies will not invest in new technologies; and
• 20% are concerned companies will not disclose health risks.

The full report can be accessed at https://hwll.co/ys6hr.