Employees’ confidence in their organization’s culture and leadership has dropped slightly (three per cent) since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey by Eagle Hill Consulting.

The survey, which polled more than 1,000 employees across the U.S., found slightly more than a quarter (29 per cent) believe their organization has trusted leaders and managers to navigate the crisis in January 2022, down slightly from more than a third (32 per cent) in March 2020.

While respondents noted their employers have made substantial improvements when it comes to flexibility (66 per cent) and remote work (57 per cent), just 20 per cent said their organization has a culture that fosters innovation and collaboration to deal with the pandemic, down from 24 per cent in 2020.

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“The pandemic forced employers to pivot their business and workforce strategies almost overnight and some of those changes are resonating well with employees,” said Melissa Jezior, Eagle Hill Consulting’s president and chief executive officer, in a press release. “But even with some improvements, employees still have low confidence in organizational leadership and culture. Employers are wise to build on the positive changes implemented during the pandemic to set the stage for addressing any trust, confidence, leadership and culture concerns across an organization.”

Indeed, about a third of respondents said their organization has the resilience to withstand this crisis, down slightly from 35 per cent in 2020. And while 46 per cent of respondents said their organizations were quick to make changes to meet shifting realities, which is on par with responses in 2020, just 28 per cent said their organization is proactive about addressing concerns about the economic health of the organization, down from 31 per cent in 2020.

At the same time, half (50 per cent) of respondents cited improvements in innovation and productivity, while 47 per cent have seen revenue improvements. Another 46 per cent of respondents agreed that employee satisfaction has improved and 42 per cent noted improvements to the organization’s culture.

Read: Focusing on employee experience helping build new, improved work culture