According to a new survey from JumpCloud, with global changes in the workplace due to COVID-19 and the Delta variant, small and medium-sized enterprises are continuing to adjust their workplace models. The survey results detailed the impact of the Delta variant of COVID-19 on SMEs, how SMEs are making adjustments to the workplace and what the future of the SME workplace might look like. The survey represents the views of more than 500 decision-makers from small and mid-sized organizations in both the U.S. and the UK.
“SMEs continue to exhibit great resourcefulness, flexibility and initiative in responding to the pandemic and the Delta variant,” Rajat Bhargava, CEO of JumpCloud, said. “As an SME ourselves, we know the current conditions are extremely fluid, and like the majority of respondents, we had to rethink and delay our office return and hybrid workplace options. While SMEs grapple with how and where employees will work, we are rapidly expanding functionality delivered through the JumpCloud platform with new security like our recently announced one-touch push multi-factor authentication that makes it easier and more cost-effective for small IT teams to adopt advanced security policies.”
Survey Findings
Differences by Geography
- Businesses in the U.S. South are least likely to mandate vaccines among U.S. SMEs. Whereas 67.9% of U.S. companies in the survey are taking steps regarding mandating vaccinations for employees, the number drops to 56.1% in southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia).
- The UK is split, as 72.8% of companies in Greater London are taking steps to mandate vaccinations, whereas only 44.9% in the rest of the UK are.
- Geographic vaccination outliers: Northeastern states in the U.S. (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont) are most likely to be taking steps for vaccination (82%) and areas of the UK outside of London are the least likely (44.9%).
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COVID-19 Delta Variant Impact
- Rethinking return to the office: 52.8% of respondents are currently rethinking their plans to return to the office. An additional 15.9% have already delayed their “work in the office” start date.
- Delta is delaying the return to offices and SMEs are staying flexible. Of those who have delayed a return to the office, 30% of respondents are delaying a return to the office until September, 16.3% are delaying until October, 18.8% are delaying until November or later and 35% don’t yet have a firm timeline.
- Policies are changing for returning to the office given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Changes to return-to-work plans include requiring social distancing in the workplace (59.2%), limiting the number of people in the workspace at one time (57.4%), requiring masks or personal protective equipment (54.3%), upgrading air filters or HVAC equipment (43.8%) and altering the workplace with physical dividers (41.9%).
- Permanent changes: 70% of SMEs will be offering a work-from-home option indefinitely.
- Employees are mostly comfortable with company decisions. When asked if they agree with their company’s decision whether or not to go back into the office, 80.5% answered yes (44% agreed that there is no reason to delay in-office work because of COVID-19 and 36.5% agreed because they were working from home). For the 19.5% that did not agree, 9.8% reported they disagreed because there is “nothing to worry about” and 9.8% reported they disagreed because they felt things are being rushed.
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Vaccines in the SME Workplace
- Mandating vaccines: 62.7% of SMEs have taken steps to mandate vaccination for employees.
- Incentives for vaccines: More than half of those mandating vaccinations (55.6%) will offer special incentives to encourage vaccination. Of those, 73.7% of respondents are offering paid time off of work to get a vaccine, 53.7% are offering a holiday with proof of vaccination and 59.4% are offering cash or cash equivalent compensation.
- Differences in general COVID-19 responses at SMEs: 14.1% reported they never left the office, 18.7% still work remotely, 36.9% are back in the office and 30.3% are working in a hybrid environment.
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JumpCloud surveyed 502 SME decision-makers in the U.S. and UK, including managers, directors, vice presidents, C-level executives and owners. Each survey respondent represented an organization with 2,500 or fewer employees across 32 different industries. The survey was conducted via Propeller Insights from Aug. 9 to Aug. 18.
