A Gartner survey of more than 20,000 employees between January 2020 and March 2021 revealed that COVID-19 has negatively impacted the health of 55 percent of the global workforce. The 2021 Gartner Workforce Resilience Employee Survey measured the change in workforce health across multiple employee well-being elements, work-life balance, psychological safety, burnout, collaboration, innovation and responsiveness.

Gartner’s survey revealed that all segments of the workforce have experienced significant and widespread damage to workforce health, specifically:

  • At least 50 percent of the workforce at each level
  • At least 44 percent of the workforce in each function
  • At least 35 percent of the workforce in each industry

“Many leaders have looked at productivity to gauge how employees have done during the pandemic,” said Molly Tipps, senior director, advisor, in the Gartner HR practice. “While HR leaders and employees report that productivity has maintained or improved since the onset of COVID-19, the cost has been substantial declines across many workforce health elements.”

Gartner clients can read more in the report “Sustaining Workforce Resilience Through Disruption.”