In Our Quest to Reopen, We Have to Close the Confidence Gap

By Ryan Smith, co-founder and CEO, Qualtrics @RyanQualtrics

The world has lost its confidence. As of this week, 66% of people say they are uncomfortable returning to their workplaces, 68% say they would feel uncomfortable dining in at a restaurant, and 79% wouldn’t attend a live sporting event. At this unprecedented time, every organization needs to run their own confidence study, because it’s essential to understand how customers and employees feel if companies are going to instill enough confidence to get them back through the doors.

Closing the confidence gap is a problem we can solve, but too many organizations lack the data to do it right. They’re relying only on information such as infection, transmission, and hospitalization rates. These are essential data points, but they have to be combined with how employees and customers feel, because there’s no point reopening if no one shows up. At Qualtrics, we’ve built employee and customer confidence solutions to help every organization understand how to reopen the right way. And we used those solutions to ask more than 2,000 American adults what it would take for them to feel confident returning to the workplace and going back to businesses.

Give employees confidence to return to work

Outside of a treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 and public health officials deeming it safe to return to work, the top three things our data showed employees want in the workplace when they return are:

• Everyone wearing masks: 64% of people said they would only feel comfortable returning to the workplace if their organization ensured they could wear a mask. A full 57% said they want mandatory mask policies for everyone. And, interestingly, nearly 1 in 5 of people said that, mask or not, they would only feel comfortable returning to the workplace if no non-employees are allowed to enter the building.

• Social distancing–including no hugs and small meetings: When people do return to the office, half of them say that to feel confident doing so they want to ensure they can maintain six feet of separation between coworkers at all times. As for company policies, 45% of people said they want a company policy that prohibits hugs and handshakes; and 41% want companies to limit the number of people who can attend meetings in person.

• Supportive sick leave policies: To ensure people don’t feel pressure to come into the office while sick, people want companies to make it easy to continue working from home or to take sick leave when necessary. Half of workers want more liberal sick leave policies and for their companies to ensure that workers with even mild symptoms don’t come into the office. And 38% said they want people to be required to self-quarantine for 14 day following any personal or work travel.

Give customers confidence to return to business

Even if your business reopens, there is no guarantee that customers will return in person unless organizations help them build greater confidence that they can return while maintaining their health and safety. According to the data, here are steps leaders across three key industries can take.

• Live sports: Almost 4 out of 5 people (79%) said they would be uncomfortable attending a live sporting event right now. So what can arena organizers and sports leagues do? Fans said the top three things arenas can do that would make them more confident returning are: (1) Make it mandatory for everyone to wear masks, (2) enforce social distancing throughout the arena, and (3) assign seating with attendees kept at a safe distance … in other words, arenas that are far from full in the short term.

• Restaurants: 68% of people say they feel uncomfortable dining in at a restaurant. Even after health officials say it’s safe to go back, customers say that to feel more confident, they would like to see (1) tables separated by a safe distance, (2) social distancing enforced in lines, entries, and exists, (3) servers and staff wearing masks and gloves at all times.

• Travel: Today, 75% of people say they would feel uncomfortable boarding a commercial flight. That said, there are a number of steps airlines can take that would help passengers feel more confident traveling again. The top three things travelers want to see are (1) making masks mandatory for every passenger, (2) seat assignments that keep travelers six feet apart, and (3) social distancing throughout the entire traveling experience including everything from airport entry and exit, baggage claim, security, check in, and boarding. The entire experience is part of travel.

It has never been more important to understand the way customers and employees feel, because while we focus on health and safety first, we also need to understand what it will take to close the confidence gap. As we listen, understand, and act on customer and employee sentiment, leaders will make better, more informed decisions about reopening states, workplaces, and businesses and we’ll be able to return to work and get back to business faster.

As organizations around the world move to reopen in a safe and healthy way, understand what actions you can take to instill employee and customer confidence. Take action for your Employees // Take action for your Customers

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This content is paid for by an advertiser and published by WP BrandStudio. The Washington Post newsroom was not involved in the creation of this content. Learn more about WP BrandStudio.

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