Office workers thirsting for some gossip around the water cooler

AS MOST of the nation continues to work from home, people are missing those water-cooler moments in the office.

A survey of 1,000 Irish professionals by CV-Library found that a staggering 93% were missing making small talk with colleagues, and are struggling with stress and loneliness during lockdown.

Zoom calls and other communication tools such as Slack have helped keep work colleagues connected, but many are missing the chat by the office water cooler. ‘As human beings, we need face-to-face interaction with one another in order to feel connected, but unfortunately this just isn’t an option right now,’ said Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library.

‘We’ve been in lockdown for nearly two months and it’s no wonder that workers are missing their colleagues and the working environment. ’ New research from LinkedIn has found that more than half of Irish workers are feeling stressed out, while many are clocking up an extra 38 hours per month.

The survey of 2,000 adults revealed that 56% of respondents were suffering more anxiety since the lockdown.

Men were more likely to feel anxious than women, with younger workers affected the most. A quarter of respondents felt they struggled to switch off at the end of the working day, while 43% felt under pressure to answer calls and emails quicker than usual.

Lisa Finnegan, HR director at LinkedIn, said: ‘Covid-19 has impacted how we all work, not least those heroes on the front line. Whilst it is a very different set of challenges, for those of us fortunate enough to work from home, we are seeing the impact this is having on our mental health.’