Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work Engagement of UK Active Employees

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to describe the work engagement perceived by UK workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample included 1085 participants, aged 18 years and older, living in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, who were active workers. Data were collected using an online questionnaire and the UWES-9. They were analysed using descriptive statistics, a t-test for equality of means or ANOVA, and the Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection method. The mean value in the UWES-9 was 3.46 (SD = 1.11). Participants with lower satisfaction (21.8%) gave significantly low or very low UWES-9 scores in 58.5% of the cases. Greater work engagement was obtained with more resources and less conflict, risk, and stress. In cases where there had been contact with COVID-19, this was associated with slightly lower levels of work engagement. These results could motivate and guide companies to adopt risk prevention measures and protocols to return to normal working conditions after the initial crisis phase of the pandemic.

Relationship Between Psychological Distress, Burnout and Work Engagement in Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…In another study conducted in Spain on nonhealthcare workers, it was found that at low levels of engagement there were higher percentages of psychological distress (77.9%), and this same trend was observed both in the group of workers who worked away from home and among those who worked from home (11). Following this, a study conducted in the UK on 1,038 general workers (44), in line with a study conducted in New Zealand on 530 social workers (10), found that work engagement was an effective predictor of reduced burnout, cynicism, and feelings of reduced professional competence.…”

“…The initial search strategies identified a total of 704 references, which were screened according to the topic of this review. A total of 24 studies (5,10,11,15,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47) were finally selected (Figure 1). All the analysed studies were quantitative.…”

The relationship of work engagement with job experience, marital status and having children among flexible workers after the Covid-19 pandemic

“…In addition, the reason for the high work engagement among married people is deemed to be originated by accountability, high involvement in work and emotional stability of married people and the extra support that they get from their families [ 106 ]. In a similar study conducted after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, considerably higher work engagement was noticed in people who were married or living with a partner, with children under 16 years of age, and with a very good perception of health in the last 14 days [ 32 ]. As a result, marital status and having children were found to be important factors in flexible workers after Covid-19.…”

“…At the same time, it has been observed that the attitude towards flexible working options varies depending on gender, sector and previous participation in flexible working [ 48 ]. After the Covid-19 pandemic, research related to flexible working has increased and gained importance [ 32 , 65 ]. Especially, studies concerning the additional burden of women in housework and childcare is frequently discussed [ 66 ].…”

“…In addition, there is a need for more research on how work engagement, which is an important variable found to be associated with performance, organizational citizenship behavior and customer satisfaction, changes with the spread of flexible working arrangements in the post pandemic era [ 31 ]. Many governments dictate severe measures related to the pandemic, which could have psychosocial and mental health repercussions for the population [ 32 ]. In these uncertain and extraordinary circumstances, work engagement is a concept that can be helpful in battling the sensitive situation at the workplace.…”