Organizational support for employees during the Covid-19 epidemic

Zaznana podpora organizacije je dobro raziskan, teoretično voden in praktično relevanten koncept, ki opisuje, v kolikšni meri zaposleni čutijo, da njihova organizacija skrbi za dobro počutje svojih zaposlenih in ceni njihove prispevke. Za zaznano podporo organizacije je bilo dokazano, da se povezuje z uspešnostjo, višjo zavzetostjo, zadrževanjem kadra in uravnavanjem stresa zaposlenih, zato je ključno, da jo organizacije načrtno naslovijo. To je še posebej pomembno v času sprememb, kot je obdobje razglašene epidemije Covid-19, ki je način dela in delo samo praktično čez noč spremenilo (npr. delo od doma, prilagoditev načina dela). Ta prehod je bil nenaden, časa za pripravo tako organizacij, vodij kot zaposlenih pa praktično ni bilo. Namen raziskave je bilo preveriti, v kolikšni meri zaposleni zaznavajo, da jih organizacija in nadrejeni podpirajo v času, v Sloveniji, razglašene epidemije Covid-19. Za ta namen so 403 udeleženci ocenjevali zaznano podporo organizacije in zaznano podporo nadrejenega na dveh lestvicah, ki sta bili prevedeni in prilagojeni za slovensko kulturno okolje. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da je zaznana podpora organizacije razmeroma visoka, nekoliko višja od zaznane podpore organizacije pa je zaznana podpora nadrejenega. Zaposleni ocenjujejo, da jim je organizacija na voljo, ko potrebujejo pomoč, ter ceni njihov prispevek k dobrobiti celotne organizacije. Podobno ocenjujejo tudi podporo nadrejenih. Zaposleni, ki so bili v času raziskave zaposleni v mikro in majhnih organizacijah, so zaznavali višjo podporo organizacije kot tisti, ki so bili zaposleni v srednje velikih in velikih organizacijah. Višjo zaznano podporo organizacije so zaznavali tudi tisti, ki so imeli že pred epidemijo Covid-19 možnost dela od doma. Pomembne razlike so se pokazale tudi glede na trenutni status, in sicer so zaposleni, ki so v času izvajanja raziskave delali od doma, zaznavali višjo podporo organizacije kot tisti, ki so delali na lokaciji, in tisti, ki so čakali na delo na domu. Pri zaznani podpori nadrejenega so zaposleni, ki so delali od doma, zaznavali višjo podporo nadrejenega kot tisti, ki so bili na čakanju na delo.Perceived organizational support is a well-researched, theoretically driven, and practically relevant concept that describes the extent to which employees feel that their organization cares about the well-being of its employees and values their contributions. Perceived organizational support is associated with performance, higher engagement, retention, and managing employee stress, so organizations must address it systematically. This is especially important in times of change, such as the period of the declared Covid-19 epidemic, which changed the way of working and work itself, practically overnight (e.g., working from home, adapting the way of working). The transition was sudden, so organizations, supervisors, and employees had practically no time for preparation. This research aimed to examine to what extent employees perceive that their organization and their supervisors support them during the Covid-19 epidemic in Slovenia. For this purpose, 403 participants evaluated the perceived organizational support and the perceived supervisor support on two scales, which were translated and adapted for the Slovenian cultural environment. The results showed that the perceived organizational support is relatively high and that the perceived supervisor support is slightly higher. Employees primarily assess that the organization is available to them when they need help and values their contribution to the well-being of the entire organization. They also evaluate the support of their supervisors in the same way. Employees employed in micro and small organizations perceived higher organizational support than those employed in medium and large organizations. Higher perceived organizational support was also perceived by those who, before the Covid-19 epidemic, already had the opportunity to work from home. Significant differences were also found based on the current status, namely employees who worked from home at the time of the research perceived higher organizational support than those who worked outside their home and those who were furloughed. Regarding the perceived supervisor support, there were significant differences only in the current status, namely, employees who worked from home perceived higher supervisor support than those who were furloughed