Post-Covid Working Changes in the Higher Education Market – November 2022
We have conducted a survey to see how working in the HEI marketing and recruitment industry has changed as a result of the Covid pandemic. Our survey was completed by almost one third of the HEI marketing sector and we discovered some interesting information and working patterns that should help everyone in the sector work together in a more cohesive and mutually beneficial way.
is there room for improvement?
What do you think about the post-pandemic workplace? Do you feel lonely in the office or is it nice to have a bit of peace and quiet? Are hybrid meetings a communications’ saviour or the worst of all worlds? With responses from representatives from almost a third of HEI marketing and recruitment specialists, the overall findings of our hybrid-working survey reveal a cohesive working model within the industry, with most of us in sync with the way we are operating our departments in the post-Covid world.
“Working post-pandemic is much more flexible”
Since 2020, almost 90% of the HEI offices now offer their employees a formalised hybrid-working model, allowing staff to work from both home and in the office – and this way of working is more likely to be on a flexible basis. People are definitely spending more time working from home than in the office (87%), although some of you anticipate that time spent in the office will increase over the next year.
“Hybrid meetings can be very difficult – it’s better to be one or the other”
Hybrid meetings appear to be the biggest bone of contention, with people finding them an unsatisfactory way of conducting a group meeting. While meetings featuring everyone online – eg Teams meetings – or those where everyone attends in person are both deemed suitable, it’s the combination of online and round-the-table attendees that people are struggling with.
“Meetings for the sake of meetings!”
There is also a strong feeling that the ease of setting up an online meeting often results in more meetings being held than are necessary, with a big grievance being that it’s OK to set up online meetings outside of working hours. The overall message we have received is that the line between working from home and home life can sometimes get blurred – it might be good for more boundaries to be put in place so that when people are working from home and their working day should be over, it’s actually over.
“I would like there to be more effort to improve community feel when in the office”
Another clear preference that was highlighted in our survey is the need for more human interaction in the working day. Despite the fact that the vast majority of you do seem happy with the permanent shift towards hybrid working, there is a clear desire for more staff contact on the days that are spent in the office. Our responders cited a desire for more social interaction and a better sense of community in the workplace – going into an empty office is definitely an unpopular option.
Do you have a Better work-life balance?
One of the big positives to come out of our survey is that the majority of people are experiencing a much better work-life balance (63%) since the pandemic – this is great news for an industry that has previously reported to experience high pressure and stress levels in the workplace. Take a look at the breakdown of the results and see how your department compares with others in the HEI sector.
Thank you for your input
Thank you for responding to our survey and for taking the time to read the results – we hope the findings are interesting and useful to you. Going through the individual responses, we found one of the most significant issues to be the best way to conduct meetings in the post-pandemic world. With customer service at the heart of our business, we’d like to assure you that we’re happy to meet you in whatever way suits you best – in-person, online or even partaking in a dreaded hybrid meeting, just let us know what suits!
We’re planning to carry out regular surveys to make sure we continue to provide our clients with the best possible service and to fine-tune our working practices accordingly. We’d like to thank you in advance for answering our surveys – don’t worry, they will never take up more than a couple of minutes of your time. And please feel free to contact us if there is anything going on in the HEI world that you’d like us to conduct a survey about.
Many Thanks,
