Working From Home Survey Report

May 2020

Working From Home: A look into how COX employees are adjusting to WFH during COVID-19

The WFH Survey

Due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had no best-practice policy or strategy for a whole studio shift to working from home (WFH). This survey was designed to evaluate both the reality and perception of our people’s WFH set-ups to learn from and address the shortfalls affecting their ability to work effectively. The survey was open from 10th - 27th April 2020. The overall response rate was 68%.

Process We asked our 655 people in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney to participate in a survey.

Summary The survey confirms that the approach, experience and communications around COVID-19 and WFH have been a success. The feedback received from our employees is assisting us to better support our people while working from home.

Dr Jacqueline Baker (Head of Research, Melbourne) “ The study was carefully conceived, and the response rates provide a real, quantitative guide to our people’s WFH situation...as such it’s an invaluable tool for the leadership team”

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Working From Home

Overall response rate for the WFH survey: 68%

Top-line Findings

90%

79%

of employees believe none of their tasks are more difficult WFH

of employees are not experiencing new software issues

87%

88% of employees are satisfied with team communications, WFH setup & undertaking tasks

of employees are satisfied with COX’s COVID-19 and WFH communications

Cliff Nichols (National Head of Marketing) “ I’m proud to say that leadership wanted to ensure the same discussions and sentiments they were having were reflected in our staff and external comms…to me that showed respect for our people and an authenticity I’ve always admired the practice for”

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Working From Home

Moving Forward

The situation is fluid and if restrictions continue or change this will likely affect our people’s need for both the quantity and type of information and techrelated assistance they require.

We will continue with this approach but be prepared to adapt, if subsequent follow-up surveys indicate the need.

Aaron Noble (National HR Manager) “ This survey provides a valuable partner study to our Wellnessfocused HR surveys, so we’ll be able to get a good sense of our people’s needs from both functional and emotional perspectives”

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Working From Home

90% believe none of their tasks are more difficult WFH Employees were asked to determine whether specified tasks were more difficult to complete from home.

•

90% of employees feel that their tasks were not more difficult to undertake working from home;

•

Design reviews, communication and rendering were flagged as more difficult to undertake working from home by around 10% of employees;

•

Coordination with consultants, coordination with team members, 3D modelling, presentations and documentation tasks were flagged as more difficult to undertake working from home by only 5% or less of employees;

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Better ergonomics, better internet and a printer were identified as likely to improve WFH setup.

79% not experiencing new software issues We asked participants whether they are experiencing new software issues since working from home.

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79% of staff are not experiencing any software issues since working from home.

Almost 80% staff are not experiencing any software issues since working from home

Moreno Sartorello (CIO) “ I’m most happy for our National IT team where this survey recognizes emphatically the great work the have done…and are continuing to do”

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Working From Home

90% of COX staff believe none of their tasks are more difficult WFH

88% satisfaction with team communications, WFH setup and undertaking tasks We measured levels of satisfaction Technology support, HR support, with “team communication”, “WFH improved project standards, setup” and “undertaking my tasks”. support to organise their time, support to undertake their tasks, • 88% of employees are satisfied better communication with their team and better equipment would with team communication, improve their WFH experience.

WFH setup and undertaking their tasks.

• Almost half of employees indicated that additional We asked employees to indicate support measures would likely whether support measures such improve their WFH experience. as leadership support, support from colleagues, IT support, Design

Almost 90% of employees are satisfied with team communication, WFH setups and undertaking their tasks

87% satisfaction with our COVID-19 and WFH communications We asked employees for feedback on their perceptions of our communications around COVID19 and WFH. •

87% of employees were satisfied with COX communications related to COVID-19 and WFH.

87% of COX staff are satisfied with our COVID-19 and WFH communications

Matt Austin (National Technology Lead) “ Agile is a word that gets overused, but even while the study was still open we used the progressive insights from it to identify and fix issues…so much so that by the time the study closed most software challenges had been addressed”

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