Last month, around 600 UK employees were invited to participate in a global online survey. The intention behind this was to get an indication of how employees feel about returning to their workplace and what their experience has been for those that have returned.

Key points are summarised below, but in general the results are very positive, particularly for people that have now returned to their workplace; many responses were more favourable than the Europe average. This gives us reassurance that the work of the Rapid Response Team, as well as managers and supervisors in leading their teams, and everyone pulling together in very challenging times has made a real difference to how well we are coping with the pandemic as a UK business.

However, the survey results also tell us we need to do more, particularly in helping people to understand when they might return to their usual workplace and what to expect when they do. We also need to make sure that everyone feels able to raise any concerns about their safety and wellbeing.

Key Points

• Some questions were specifically aimed at people who have now returned to their usual place of work. These results told us:
  • 94% said returning to their workplace has been a very positive experience and better than they might have anticipated
  • 97% are clear about their customers’ needs and how to meet them, but for some (23%) there is a level of concern about how well this can be done outside of their usual work environment
  • 97% said stress levels are manageable
  • 85% told us they know how to report a safety issue

Other questions were more general and included people who have not yet returned to their normal place of work e.g. they continue to homework, as well as those who have. Responses to these questions told us:

• 89% feel valued by CEMEX
• 74% think their safety and wellbeing is a top priority for CEMEX
• 69% said that the company supported them in adapting to changes that affect them and their job
• 53% feel that there was sufficient communication about returning to their workplace
• 52% said they felt comfortable about raising concerns about working during the pandemic

 Next Steps

• Preparations for re-opening offices at the appropriate time are well underway and we will provide more regular updates about this. There is a lot to do, but we are confident we have good plans in place, and we are making steady progress.
• Government advice is still to work from home where possible. However, we are starting to review which teams and job roles we might expect to return to offices first, so that as government guidance changes and our office preparations are completed, we are ready to take next steps.
• We would like to get a better understanding of people’s experiences while homeworking, what works well and how we might work in the future, as well as any concerns anyone may have about returning to their office. With that in mind we plan to run another short survey a bit later this month.
• Please talk to your manager or supervisor if you are worried about anything, or any member of the RRT. It is very important that we all feel able to raise concerns, whether specifically about COVID or other safety/wellbeing issues.