Dutch business community: the biggest challenge COVID-19 has yet to come

November 5, 2020 –
The corona pandemic has brought about major changes in the way of working, but Dutch executives expect that adapting to the new normal after the pandemic will be more challenging than the mandatory changes at the beginning of the pandemic. Half of Dutch employees also have these concerns.

The leading digital workflow company ServiceNow’s large-scale global research “Work Survey” proves this point. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on our work and the possibility of digitally improving the way employees and companies work.

Bill McDermott, Chief Executive Officer of ServiceNow, said: “The global trend of digital work shows the future of work.” “Digital workflow is the way to complete business in the 21st century. We will not return to COVID In the -19 situation, digital transformation will accelerate. New ways of working will become the norm, and we are on the eve of unprecedented innovation in work processes and workplaces.”

Personal safety and business continuity
Surprisingly, 52% of Dutch employees worry that employers will find that business continuity is more important than returning people to the workplace safely. Even more striking is that a higher percentage of executives (58%) shared these concerns. This percentage is much higher than the European average of 37%, while the proportion of Dutch employees is equal to the European average.
In addition, nearly half of Dutch employees (46%) do not believe their organization will take all necessary steps to ensure a safe return to the workplace. Similarly, the proportion of executives is even higher, not less than 56%. In contrast, the European average is 32%.

The pros and cons of being forced to work from home
All managers and almost all employees (96%) in the Netherlands agree on one thing: working from home has an undeniable advantage. But this does not mean that there are no worries. Employees (78%) and executives (90%) have expressed their concerns:

• Executives are particularly worried about service or production delays (62%), while employees are particularly worried about the lack of collaboration between different departments (53%).
• Executives believe that the biggest advantage of being forced to work at home is that employees take on more personal responsibility (56%). Dutch employees believe that the time saved by reducing commuting is the biggest benefit (62%).

Other notable results:

• 94% of executives in the Netherlands believe that the pandemic has changed the way we work. A slightly lower percentage of employees (87%) said that COVID-19 helped their organizations create better ways of working.
• The overwhelming majority of executives (94%) and employees (87%) said that their organizations are implementing new ways of working, faster than previously thought.
• 96% of Dutch executives expect that changes in business operations caused by corona will save costs. They believe that these savings should be mainly invested in entering new markets (60%) and digital transformation (54%).

Adapting to the new normal will face greater challenges
In the Netherlands, 62% of managers and 50% of employees expect that adapting to the new normal will bring more challenges than the changes that need to be made at the beginning of the corona crisis. Another complication is that 84% of executives report that offline workflows are still in the company, such as approving documents, reporting security incidents, and requesting technical support. Although progress has been made, three-quarters of Dutch companies have not yet established a fully integrated system for managing digital workflows.

Lack of confidence in the second rapid transformation
According to 86% of Dutch workers, the new system developed and implemented in response to the corona pandemic provides new and better ways of working. However, these systems seem to be vulnerable to the next major change, because many executives say they don’t want key departments (such as IT, HR, or customer service) to develop and deploy new workflows within 30 days. Employees have the same concerns, and only a few are confident that the IT department can implement changes within the set time frame.
Michael Maas, Vice President of ServiceNow Nordic Region, said: “Corona enables organizations across Europe to accelerate change. It has reached a level that we have never seen before. Frankly speaking, this is impossible. “Discussions about adapting to the new normal Many, but the reality of many companies is that only the current situation is important, and with it is constant change. The biggest challenge facing the Netherlands and European organizations is how to find a balance. Establish a link between business continuity and the personal needs of employees, and ensure that both are ready for digitalization to respond to upcoming changes. Focusing on digital work wherever it is performed is an important factor in this balance. “
When asked about the implications of the research results, futurist and author Tom Cheesewright said: “This research is at the beginning of the transition from the early chaos of COVID-19 to the development of new sustainable It was carried out during sex and achieved incredible results under extreme pressure. Hybrid technology has proven its value, but there is still work to be done. Culture, workflow and behavior must become part of the foundation of the new technology, as well as employers Between the new social contract and the employees who occupy a central position in remote work.”

For more information on job surveys, please see here.