Results of EUCUSA Homeoffice Check: mood landscape whilst working from home during COVID-19 crisis

May 27, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis has been following us over the past ten weeks. Many office workers had to move their workplace to their homes following the governmental lockdown measures. Subsequently, EUCUSA initiated the tool “Homeoffice Check” and gained decisive and valuable insights.

Workplace and work conditions were decisive for a good overall satisfaction

All survey participants were overall able to deal very well with the working from home situation. The EUCUSA Index showed 1.8 on a 6-point Likert scale (1=best value, 6=worst value) and was placed in the green area of the traffic light color system. Out of three researched dimensions, „Workplace“ (1.7) and „Work conditions” (1.8) got very positive results. The dimension “Communications” was a little behind (2.0) but still in the green area.

The most important aspects: concentrated work and functional technology

The survey participants considered the aspects “I can concentrate very well working from home”, “All digital communication channels work perfectly when working from home.” and “Digital equipment” (“I have all digital options to complete my work during home office.”) as most relevant. The majority was very satisfied as the digital equipment seemed to work well right from the beginning. The only exception, households with children saw the aspect “concentrated work” as well as digital equipment as rather problematic.

The aspect “provision of basic needs” such as food was the least important topic regarding the level of satisfaction whilst working from home, as food and other basic needs were always catered for.

Digital communications cannot replace social face-to-face contacts

The statement „The lack of social contacts is compensated by a higher level of digital communications.” was considered most difficult and only achieved 3.1 on the six-point scale, and is hence the only aspect in the red area of the traffic light color system. The contact with the manager as well as with colleagues as well as the availability for the customers were considered as sufficient. However, they miss the emotional side such as small personal encounters, the chats in the coffee area which are important for team spirit, motivation and good ideas. Digital communication channels cannot replace that. The lack of face-to-face contact affects everyone, in particular younger people up to 40 years without management responsibility, people with children and working in companies with 50 to 250 employees, and men rather than women.

Working from home as a future work scenario?

The readiness to work from home after this crisis has ended is overall quite strong. 82% have either fully or slightly agreed to this statement. Women with children show a specifically positive attitude, a little more than men, under 24-year olds as well as people working in companies with 11-50 employees. The people who had already worked from home before COVID-19 considered the working from home situation more positively than those who had not. Specifically, women with children were more ready to work from home for good reasons, having to manage different roles. The price of a decrease of quality regarding the work situation was hence accepted.

The positive attitude regarding working from home has increased after mid-April, and also the faith in a secure workplace increased towards the end of the survey period. Only one-person businesses were afraid of losing their jobs and have more problems dealing with the exceptional situation but are at the same time more familiar with working from home.

The basic parameters

The short online survey was available at www.homeoffice-check.com . No registration required, any answers were anonymized and evaluated as part of all given answers together. Participation was free, the invite was sent via the EUCUSA newsletter, XING and LinkedIn as well as via personal invites, e.g. during virtual events.

233 answers were evaluated.

Statistical data voluntarily given by the participants:

  • 121 women, 92 men
  • Under 39 years old: 62 people. Between 40-55 years old: 101 people. Over 55 years old: 49 people
  • Households with children requiring care: 0 (149 people), 1 (34 people), 2 or more (19 people)
  • 109 managers, 101 employees without management function
  • Company size: 13 one-person businesses, up to 10 employees (44), 11 to 50 employees (39), 51 bis 250 employees (27), more than 250 employees (87)
  • Experienced in working from home before COVID-19: yes (129 people), no (81 people)

Download attachment to Homeoffice Check here .
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Working from home due to Corona – how are you?

March 23, 2020

Many office workers currently face a new work challenge by being forced to work from home following Corona crisis. Some are not really used to this way of work, and there are quite a few challenges in an already tense environment. Others are already familiar with working from home. How do you feel about this?

As an expert for feedback systems, we as EUCUSA would like to help with our core competency. We will regularly create a mood sentiment barometer of the current situation and publish the results at no cost on our website.

Please let us know how you feel. You will find a short survey with an online questionnaire under www.homeoffice-check.com. Answering those questions will not even take 5 minutes. Your answers will be processed anonymously and only be part of general group results. Your participation is free, and we will not bother you with unrequested emails. However, if you have questions, you may of course contact us by sending your email to office@eucusa.com.

With this survey, we will be able to provide a valuable overview of the current mood of those working from home. We will regularly update our website with the results and publish these in different media. The greater your participation, the clearer the overall picture.

Furthermore, we have already started contemplating the post-corona-future. Thanks to your contribution, the public eye will early understand what people working from home need, what they miss and what works well. This way we as well as all other organizations will learn how to optimize their respective procedures for working from home going forward.

Thank you for your participation! PS: Please feel free to forward the link www.homeoffice-check.com to your friends and family also working from home – we look forward to your participation.

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“How do you do this in practice?“ Creating understanding of daily business in consulting at school

March 06, 2020

„How do you do this in practice?“ was the overriding question that was answered for Ms Lydia Kehl-Weilguny during her internship at EUCUSA from 2 to 4 March 2020. Specifically, EUCUSA’s expertise in surveys was key as to why she had chosen EUCUSA for her internship. She has many projects with her students herself dealing with questionnaires and oversees master thesis. She teaches the subjects Business Administration, Business Behaviour, Communications Management and Marketing at HAK Braunau as well as she is a professor for Model Company for practical training, Economics and Law, Operations and Social and personal competencies at HTL Ried.

Lydia Kehl-Weilguny: “I have a business background myself. Practical teaching matters a lot to me. The initiative ”Teachers in business” and its offers suit best to me. I was warmly welcomed at EUCUSA, took part in meetings with customers and partners and – among others – got initial practical insights into sales, controlling, corporate finance, cost calculation, organisational structures, employee motivation and incentives. I take a lot of good things with me, have broadened my horizon and go highly motivated back to school. I would like to say “thank you“ to EUCUSA, because every company has to consider every intern’s personal needs to make them fit into daily business.

Mario Filoxenidis (CEO EUCUSA): “We would like to thank the organizers for this important opportunity to enable teachers with this internship to enhance their practical experience in business. I hope that we were able to give some valuable new inspirations and impressions to Lydia Kehl-Weilguny. The three-day-internship happened in a really positive atmosphere, and we were hugely impressed by Ms Kehl-Weilguny’s social and professional skills and capabilities.”

For the third time EUCUSA supported the initative “Teachers in business”. The initiative fosters understanding for economic topics in schools: teachers can participate in internships and gain practical experience for their future teaching.

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Official certificate of the WKO

Lydia Kehl-Weilguny with EUCUSA’s CEOs

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EUCUSA customer survey results 2019

November 18, 2019

On our own behalf we conducted a customer survey in October. Compared to our last survey in 2014, we were able to keep and even improve a high-quality service for our customers and partners – we are happy to be on the right track.

Overall result: 1,5

90% of the answers range between 1 and 2 on the overall six-level EUCUSA scale – according to our traffic light system, this would be in the center of the green area! We were able to improve the EUCUSA-Index by 0.1 (compared to 2014) and we scored best regarding the dimensions “employees“ and “responsiveness“ the latter of which has most improved. We are pleased about the recognition and the fantastic collaboration!

What matters to our customers

The below factors were most important to the survey participants:

  • Serious service provider
  • Competence of employees
  • Agreements are always met
  • Speed of responses
  • Reports are easy to understand

We scored between 1.1 and 1.8 in those areas and proved to accomplish our customers most important expectations.

EUCUSA’s top scores

EUCUSA scored best in the following areas:
  • Competence of employees
 1,1
  • Agreements are always met
 1,1
  • Uncomplicated cooperation
 1,1
  • Serious service provider
 1,2
  • Trust in EUCUSA employees
 1,2
  • Willingness to help
 1,2

Especially regarding the factors which matter most to participants, EUCUSA reached top scores. In terms of EUCUSA’s competence and the uncomplicated collaboration, we were able to improve by 0.2 compared to 2014!

The topics “website” and “support in taking actions” have also nicely improved.

Areas to improve

In all honesty: we are very proud to summarize that there are no real areas to improve regarding the aspects mentioned in our survey. Only the factor “Reports are easy to understand“ is still green but shows a result of 1.8 – so there is still room for improvement.

We would be happy if you endorsed us

By the way: 82% of our customers’ and partners’ top managers told us that they would most likely or likely endorse us to their friends and colleagues. We are happy to talk to any interested people or organizations about the options to collaborate.

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Working on Corporate Culture pays off

November 13, 2019

Welser Profile Group received the EUCUSA Award for excellent employee orientation in September 2019. TRAINING magazin interviewed CEO Thomas Welser.

Welser Profile Group, has more than 2,500 employees worldwide in their production sites and sales offices. The company’s head offices as well as the technology center are based in Ybbsitz, Lower Austria. Welser Profile is still run as a family business. EUCUSA employee surveys are conducted regularly since 2008. The development of the company is clearly visible. A big company-wide Corporate Culture project has started last year.

Read the entire article, published in the TRAINING magazine 7/2019 (issue October) or follow the link.

Working on Corporate Culture pays off

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EUCUSA is a member of respACT – Austrian business council for sustainable development

October 02, 2019

respACT is Austria’s leading platform for CSR and sustainable development focusing on responsible economic activities. For us, this is not contradictory to national and international success – on the contrary. We are convinced that entrepreneurial activities should go along with respectful dialogues with all partners, and thus contribute to significantly higher satisfaction and commitment of employees and customers. This guiding principle connects us and goes very well with EUCUSA’s vision “Making the world a a better place through employee and customer-oriented actions.”

We are delighted to be part of the respACT network and look forward to sharing our experiences!

Read more about EUCUSA’s mission

More information on respACT

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EUCUSA Award 2019 for excellent employee orientation goes to Welser Profile Group

September 19, 2019

The 2019 EUCUSA Award was presented during the 17th EUCUSA Summer Talks on September 17, 2019 held in the Assembly Hall of the University of Vienna Campus (Altes AKH). The awards are annually presented to particularly employee-oriented or customer-oriented companies. The criteria for the award are an exceptional overall result in an EUCUSA survey, the implementation of a new benchmark in the EUCUSA international reference database as well as an outstanding performance regarding the implementation of identified measurable actions.

Welser Profile Group has been manufacturing special steel sections and tubes for over 11 generations and has production sites and sales offices across the globe. Up until today, the company’s head offices as well as the technology center are based in Ybbsitz in Lower Austria. They have high-tech and future-oriented production sites in Gresten and Ybbsitz as well as in Germany and the US.

Welser Profile Group received the award for “excellent employee orientation 2019”. They have conducted international employee satisfaction surveys with EUCUSA since 2008, showing continuous improvements in employee satisfaction, specifically in terms of leadership, and their overall employee satisfaction is very high.

5 new benchmarks could be achieved in EUCUSA’s international comparative database, for the statements “an active design of the future”, “a safe future of the company”, “knowledge of trainings being offered”, “ a positive climate for innovation” and “work life balance” (despite shift work).

The successful implementation of actions derived from the surveys and the continuous shaping of company culture are proof of the high valuation of employee orientation in the company.

Award-winner Welser Profile Group (from left)
Mario Filoxenidis (CEO EUCUSA), Nicolas Longin (Group CFO Welser Profile), Isabella Luger (Human Resources Welser Profile), Peter Aichberger (CEO EUCUSA)

COPYRIGHT FOTO: EUCUSA / Susanne Einzenberger

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17 September 2019: 17th EUCUSA Summer Talks

September 19, 2019

On September 17, 2019, EUCUSA invited to their 17th EUCUSA Summer Talks held this year in the Assembly Hall of the University of Vienna campus (Altes AKH) under the title “The Power of data – information overflow – lack of knowledge”

In his keynote speech, Cornelius Granig PhD, Management Consultant and Cyber Security expert discussed the power of data and risks of digitalization from a historical and from today’s perspective.

Professor Matthias Beck PhD, theologist, pharmacist and physician looked at the question what type of information actually leads to real understanding and whether information overflow entailing mass data and over stimulation could potentially cause a “lack of knowledge.

The event was presented by EUCUSA’s CEO Mario Filoxenidis M.A. who also led the following vivid discussion with the audience.

The talks were followed by the 2019 EUCUSA Award presentation.

Keynote Speaker and Presenter (from left):
Mario Filoxenidis (CEO EUCUSA), Matthias Beck, Cornelius Granig, Peter Aichberger (CEO EUCUSA)

COPYRIGHT FOTO: EUCUSA / Susanne Einzenberger 

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Quick checks in practice

July 17, 2019

The market for feedback tools is growing day by day. It is necessary to have a good overview and to know, which tool fits for the respective company. And which criteria you should observe to make the right choice. Mario Filoxenidis has some good hints for you, due to 20 years of experience.

Read the entire article, published in the magazine TRAINING 5/2019 (issue July/August) or follow the link.

Quick checks in practice …

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To broaden the horizon: „Teachers in Business“

March 13, 2019

For the second time, EUCUSA supported the initiative “Teachers in Business”. It promotes understanding of economic issues in schools with a very special offer. Teachers get the opportunitiy to work in companies and gain practical experience for the classroom. From 4th to 6th March 2019, Alexandra Kaudela, who teaches Business Administration and Business Behavior at the Federal Trade Academy in Laa / Thaya, broadened her horizons.

Alexandra about this experience: “In these three days I got a very deep insight into the fields of activity and the projects of EUCUSA. The personal attention given by Mr. Filoxenidis was outstanding. Thank you for this great experience! A big added value for my teaching activities!”

Mario Filoxenidis about the project: “Alexandra has a close relationship to the topic of economics due to her subjects already. EUCUSA’s trust-based corporate culture enabled a quick and in-depth insight. We were really impressed by Alexandra‘s great interest and commitment. We are convinced that she was able to provide positive impulses for her classes.“

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Alexandra with both managing directors of EUCUSA
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