Employee Engagement and Wellbeing in Times of COVID-19: A Proposal of the 5Cs Model.

María-Carmen De-La-Calle-Durán,José-Luis Rodríguez-Sánchez

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105470

María-Carmen De-La-Calle-Durán, José-Luis Rodríguez-Sánchez

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105470

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the labor market. The psychological pressure and uncertainty caused by the current changing workplace environment have led to negative consequences for workers. Considering the predictive relationship between employee engagement and wellbeing and in light of this unprecedented situation that affects workers of all the industries worldwide, this study aims to identify the key main drivers of employee engagement that can lead to employee wellbeing in the current context. Through a literature review, a theoretical model to strengthen engagement in times of COVID-19 is proposed. The main factors are conciliation, cultivation, confidence, compensation, and communication. Whereas prior to the pandemic, firms had already understood the need to achieve this, it is now considered a vital tool for staff health and wellbeing. This article makes two main contributions. First, it provides a model for boosting employee engagement, and therefore, wellbeing. Second, managerial suggestions are made to apply the theoretical model.

Highlights

The current pandemic situation has created a challenging context for organizations and for human resource management
By considering the psychological pressure and uncertainty caused by a changing workplace environment, such as the current one [17], our research proposes a model to strengthen employee engagement in times of COVID-19 based on five key drivers: conciliation, cultivation, confidence, compensation, and communication
This article has conducted an in-depth study on how the current pandemic is affectThis article has conducted an in-depth study on how the current pandemic is affecting ing the management of employee engagement

Summary

Introduction

The current pandemic situation has created a challenging context for organizations and for human resource management. According to [1], there are radical changes occurring in the work and social environment, such as shifting to remote work and applying new workplace policies and procedures to limit contact All this has led to consequences for workers, such as difficulties in disconnecting from work demands, separating work and private life, and even other psychosocial risks, such as isolation [2,3]. Layoffs, pay cuts, and furloughs have led to increased levels of job insecurity and economic loss, resulting in increased levels of uncertainty among workers [1,3]. All this pressure at work represents an important threat to employee wellbeing [4]

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