TOPIC- How 

Covid-19 affected the employee

satisfaction rate in Sarthak Electromech Private
Limited?

STUDENT NO. – 19026141

WORD COUNT-

MODULE – NX9624 Management Enquiry

 1
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Declaration
I declare the following: -

(1) That the material contained in this Management Enquiry is the end result of my own
work and that due acknowledgement has been given in the references to ALL sources be they
printed, electronic or personal.
(2) The Word Count of this Management Enquiry is 3,847
(3) That unless this Management Enquiry has been confirmed as confidential, I agree to an
entire electronic copy or sections of the Management Enquiry to being placed on Blackboard, if
deemed appropriate, to allow future students the opportunity to see examples of past
Management Enquiry. I understand that if displayed on Blackboard it would be made available
for no longer than five years and that students would be able to print off copies or download.
The authorship would remain anonymous.
(4) I agree to my Management Enquiry being submitted to a plagiarism detection service,
where it will be stored in a database and compared against work submitted from this or any
other School or from other institutions using the service. In the event of the service detecting a
high degree of similarity between content within the service this will be reported back to my
supervisor and second marker, who may decide to undertake further investigation which may
ultimately lead to disciplinary actions, should instances of plagiarism be detected.
(5) I have read the University Policy Statement on Ethics in Research and Consultancy and
the Policy for Informed Consent in Research and Consultancy, and I declare that ethical issues
have been considered and taken into account in this research
(6) I have read the University Policy Statement on Data Protection in Research and
Consultancy and I declare that the data collected for use in this Management Enquiry has been
properly safeguarded and will be destroyed once the Management Enquiry or subsequent
research activity has been concluded. I acknowledge that it is my responsibility to destroy the
information with due regard to confidentiality.

SIGNED:
DATE: 21/01/2022

1
 2
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Contents
Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................3
Explore.............................................................................................................................................3
Problem Statement.......................................................................................................................6
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................6
Scope of Study.............................................................................................................................7
Significance..................................................................................................................................7
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................9
Review.............................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................14

2
 3
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Chapter 1

Explore

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a great change in the overall way in which humans

used to live in over the course of the past two years in a very significant way. The pandemic

spread forced governments all over the world to enforce long lockdowns in their countries.

Consequently, humans all over the world have spent a fair share of the last two years within the

confines of their homes. The pandemic in addition to being a global health issue caused a great

deal of trouble in other sectors. The financial and economic markets took its toll to the

maximum. The influence on the global economy pandemic has forced companies to take quick

decisions and actions in order to keep up with the changing scenario to keep the pliability of their

companies safe. The independent and government organizations were equally affected by the

issue and workplaces all around the globe felt the need to run their operations from remote places

just to keep the employees safe from any threat while empowering them at the very same time

(Hossain, 2021).

Since the outset of COVID-19 pandemic, companies and firms have to shape themselves

in order to adapt themselves to the widely changing scenario. The immense change in the

environment observed by the organizations and their workforce has caused a radical change in

their attitudes, behaviors and motivation. The pandemic lockdown resulted in the “work from

home” practice becoming a new normal (Bick, Blandin, & Mertens, 2020). Taking into

consideration the impact of these changes, the organizations and corporations must take into

account the extent to which the pandemic related lockdown is causing on the mental satisfaction

of their employees. The satisfaction of the employee is elucidated as the approach, conduct and

3
 4
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

morale he exhibits in a team thereby affecting his productivity. It is one of the most fundamental

concepts and is widely used in the managerial literatures. Thus, its importance is greatly asserted

by scholars all over the world.

When the COVID-19 epidemic was declared as a Public Health Emergency of Immediate

Concern and then a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March, 2020,

Governments all over the world enforced lockdowns in their countries and India was no

exception (Spinelli & Pellino, 2020). The lockdown had its influences on all the sectors such as

education, health sector, safety, transport industry, national and international industries and

labour work force. Companies and the job holding community suffered drastic effects of the

lockdown. Numerous industries, service sector companies and outsourcing business corporations

all bore heavy losses. Consequently, many companies in almost all the countries of the world had

to lay off their employees and some even had to face a temporary closure of their operations. All

these factors combined hugely affected every country’s economic situation as these businesses

play a very significant role in driving a country’s economy.

The business sector could not afford to keep the operations shut for a very long time.

Thus, in order to keep the things flowing, variety of strategies were adopted to keep the business

running up to some extent instead of shutting it down completely. Work from home, skeleton

working, spread working hours for the employees, working 4 days in a week are some of the

most common working alternatives adopted by firms all over the world and Sarthak Eeltromech

was no different. This new normal takes into account a number of ramifications, including

flexible work arrangements, cost saving, forecasting in unpredictable times, and individual

variances. The companies have been relying strongly on health and safety protocols such as

enforcing the hand sanitization practices, face masks, and other arrangements to keep their

4
 5
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

workforce safe and secure diminishing the possible impacts of the disease on their business

operations.

The study is focused at studying the impacts of COVID-19 as a preliminary factor

causing great distress to the employee’s satisfaction and morale. The major seven factors that

normally affect the morale of a company’s workforce encompass organizational goals, structural

integrity, nature of work, managerial practices and ideas, work environment, compensation and

team. The goals that an organization set employee satisfaction in a way that when the think tank

of a firm sets up specific significant targets, an encouraging approach spreads throughout the

organization and the employees it contains.

The structural compatibility helps employees in getting satisfied with their job because

having a compact structure at a company means that the commands they are receiving and the

briefs for a specific task are highly vivid and specific. Each person’s role is clearly defined and

the company practices an open door policy. The nature of job is one of the prime drivers in

ensuring a job holder’s satisfaction. People feel more lively, contended and happy working at a

place which helps their personal and professional growth. Working in a dull and boring

environment causes them getting frustrated and eventually losing all morale and content for that

job (Sila & Sirok, 2017).

Compensation for a morale of the tasks he is performing makes him fully contended for

the job he is performing and does his absolute best for the company knowing that the company is

fully compensating his efforts. The working groups and the teams an employee is working in

contribute a lot to his interest at an organization. A good working group boosts his morale,

increases his knowledge of the job, adds to his individual development and thus increases his

satisfaction (Darma et al., 2017).

5
 6
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Problem Statement

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a global impact on the economic fabric of countries. It

has caused significant harm to employees and labourers in all industries. The corporate world is

confronted with unprecedented problems as it tries for fast transformation in how it operates.

Based on a case study by Sathak Electromech Pvt. Ltd., the goal of this study is to investigate the

impact of COVID19 on employee motivation. The study seeks to find an explanation of the

problem by taking into consideration the following aspects:

 Assessment of employee profile

 Assessment of factors impacting employee satisfaction within the company

 Company’s policies during the pandemic and their effects on employee satisfaction from

employees’ perspectives

 Differences in employees’ perspectives regarding the satisfaction before and after

pandemic

 Finding a correlation between the company practices before and after pandemic

Research Objectives

The purpose of the research is to find the factors that affect employees’ satisfaction and if

the pandemic has contributed in lessening the employee satisfaction at Sathak Electromech Pvt.

Ltd. The research is aimed at finding optimum answers to following research questions:

 Whether or not an apparent difference has evolved in the levels of employee satisfaction

before and during the pandemic in response to the policies of the managerial setup at

Sathak?

6
 7
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

 What are the notions and perspectives of the employees of Sarthak and their point of

views regarding their satisfaction?

 Is there a correlation between the employee satisfaction levels of the workforce of

Sarthak due to company practices before and during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Scope of Study

The scope of the study is limited for the employees at Sarthak only and presents the

findings and arguments mostly based on the scenario at the said company. Thus, it is not a

generalized research, however an attempt is made at finding what practices are observed in

organizations of similar structure around the world and how they have affected the employees’

satisfaction by deep study of already published research works.

The tools used for the study include questionnaires and interviews held with the

employees and bosses at the company. The questions were designed to evaluate the effect of

COVID-19 pandemic on employee satisfaction levels. The research is a qualitative one and is

done by good study of the already present studies.

Significance

The study can prove to be a very beneficial one as it can offer beneficial insights to

various groups through its findings. The research findings will assist human resource experts in

identifying their function in the current context, as well as how these positions impact the

operational aspects of the human resource management area. For corporate companies, the

findings of the study will help top management in ensuring working conditions that can enhance

employee morale even amid epidemics. Employees may be motivated by research because it

teaches them how to use knowledge to improve their working conditions. This research can

enhance students' knowledge and provide them with an in-depth view of the corporate world,
7
 8
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

according to academics. It also gives pupils in-depth knowledge of the circumstances they may

face when they enter the sector in the near future.

8
 9
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Chapter 2

Review

Employee contentment is a critical component of corporate operations. Excessive

satisfaction is associated with prioritising action fulfilment, overwork, innovation and initiative,

job satisfaction, organisational dedication, and accomplishment in the common want over

personal desires. To boost the organization's performance. Low satisfaction, frequently cause

significant absenteeism, employee turnover, unresolved grievances, or strikes, all of which

impede the organization's ability to fulfil its goals. The research on psychology, discipline, and

interpersonal interactions has primarily been characterised as the initial part of efforts to regulate

employees. As a result, it is still difficult to modify employee happiness when measuring the

success of a normal organisation. Because contentment is a sensation rather than an activity or a

result, it cannot be directly assessed (Psomas & Antony, 2017).

More contentment leads to increased production; nevertheless, the link between the two

is not always favourable. High productivity can be obtained by close monitoring, time research,

and scientific control, yet it is possible to attain high output while being dissatisfied. However,

the collection's long-term viability is in doubt. Different levels of contentment and productivity,

include higher levels of satisfaction but lower levels of production; more contentment leads to

higher productivity; less satisfaction leads to higher production; and poor satisfaction leads to

lower productivity. Satisfaction encompasses a wide variety of sentiments, emotions, attitudes,

and ideas held by the firm and its people. Positive contentment is frequently the result of hard

work, self-confidence, and a strong desire to succeed. Low satisfaction can be ascribed to a

variety of causes, including risky operations, the loss of true payment rules, unstable company

9
 10
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

situations, and ineffective outsourcing methods. Reduced satisfaction will have an impact on the

company's revenue, productivity, financial competitiveness, and organisational goals (Badubi,

2017).

Satisfaction is a person's mental state, manifested as self-assurance, passion, and

dedication to a vocation or organisation. People's satisfaction stems from their conviction in

fairness or the worth of their acts, as well as their desire for future inner benefits (material or

other). Employee satisfaction refers to an employee's total potential, attitude, contentment, and

confidence at work. When employees are optimistic and enthusiastic about their workplace and

recognise that they can achieve their most critical requirements at work, such as providing

appropriate resources to get the job done and being honest with management, they are engaged.

Employee satisfaction is more or less favourable when discussed. Employee satisfaction is

negative or low if employees are unsatisfied with their employment, believe they are not

respected, and are unable to satisfy the organization's goals and needs. One of the oldest theories

in management science is the principle of contentment, sometimes known as the spirit de core. It

may be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Venetian

administration (Lumsden, 2017).

Employees' thoughts and attitudes regarding their jobs may and do have an impact on

their production. In this scenario, satisfaction might be defined as "a proud frame of mind that is

prepared to preserve the selected organization's and work's dream." It is possible to state using a

syllogism that "Employee motivation in a manufacturing facility has a direct impact on

production. Excellent motivation "is a non-tangible trait that may contribute to pleasure and

personal fulfilment throughout the organisation. In this context, motivation refers to an

individual's work attitude, which includes job happiness, corporate loyalty, and going above and

10
 11
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

beyond to achieve company goals. Morality means that there is a sense of excitement in the mind

of employee and he is ready for the task. In this instance, motivation is really high. Men and

women participate willingly and connect their ambitions with the organization's aims (Pattnaik &

Jena, 2020).

Low morale, on the other hand, is characterised by a cold or hostile demeanour, closeness

to the job at hand, and a lack of teamwork. An investigation on the relationship between

company culture and employee motivation. These data are based on a three-year study of 54,000

employees from various businesses and professions. According to the findings, 76 occupations

impacted the employees. These 76 elements are divided into 14 variables, and the 14 variables

are divided into 5 key motivational factors. According to research, a good company culture has a

considerable beneficial influence on employee morale (Rice et al., 2020).

Although organisational rules and policies are intertwined with public officials'

professional life, the impact of the regulations on employee motivation are viewed as both

positive and destructive. Given the reduction in work satisfaction among public sector

employees, the impact of the restrictions on prospective morale is significant. As organisational

resources for rewarding employees grow increasingly limited, public management researchers

must understand all of the workplace characteristics that have the ability to effect job

satisfaction. Employee morale refers to the employee's connection with the organisation.

Employee happiness at all levels is reflected in the sort of job people perform. Higher employee

motivation can increase organisational performance and productivity since it equates to higher

employee satisfaction and motivation. Employee morale, on the other side, leads to a decline in

production, which leads to organisational failure (Dahlin et al., 2018).

11
 12
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Employee satisfaction refers to an employee's attitude toward his job, his company, and

his coworkers. Satisfaction influences our thinking, satisfaction, and so on. We are more

productive at work when we are satisfied. We require a great deal of enjoyment because it aids

us in our daily lives. A person has achieved a certain degree of accomplishment in internal work,

such as diversity and challenges, feedback, and learning. Satisfaction is essentially an

individual's or group's overall attitude toward all parts of their work, such as company, job,

supervisor, colleagues, working environment, and they should be proud of it and invest in

efficient time (Ali & Anwar, 2021).

COVID-19 has a considerably higher impact than affected persons. Anti-epidemic tactics

such as lockdowns and curfews have had a negative impact on healthy people. Although the

economic cost of the pandemic is difficult to assess, its consequences are far-reaching. It poses

an unexpected challenge to the company's connection with its employees and raises investor

perceptions of employee happiness, which are not evident during calm times. Despite the fact

that the economy is essentially frozen and many businesses have no money, the government is

insisting that businesses continue to pay their employees. So far, COVID-19's large abrupt

disruption has put financial strain on many enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized

businesses who did not have adequate capital prior to the outbreak. To avoid bankruptcy, some

businesses have had to reduce pay and benefits, and employees have had to make charitable

contributions. In this situation, the employee-company connection is critical to the company's

long-term viability. Organizations with positive employee connections are more likely to receive

their support, whereas companies with negative employee relationships may find it harder to

encourage people to work from home (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020).

12
 13
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

According to one research, businesses should take care of their workers and guarantee

that they are not in danger. The current position, as a result of COVID-19, poses a challenge to

organisations all around the world. Managers must collaborate with human resource practitioners

and health agencies to protect their employees and minimise the spread of the corona virus in this

scenario. Organizational rules have a significant influence on the viral control of their respective

staff. To do so, they must adhere to health authorities', governments', and the World Health

Organization's rules (Shan & Tang, 2020).

The emergence of the virus resulted in the greatest monthly unemployment rate in the

United States since World War II, with the peak unemployment rate rising from 3.5 percent in

February 2020 to 14.7 percent in April 2020. Current and former workers may have greater time

and inclination to submit reliable, non-public information regarding their satisfaction and the

operations of the organisation. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic provides a one-of-a-kind

paradigm for investigating the effects of employee satisfaction on firm returns (Papademetriou &

Hooper, 2020). The global financial crisis of 2008-2009, like the COVID-19 outbreak, had

radically altered businesses and the way they operate. According to research from this time

period, organisations with high employee satisfaction outperform companies with an absence of

employee-friendly culture and widespread economic shocks happen (Axelrad, Sabbath, &

Hawkins, 2017).

Job insecurity has become an acknowledged worldwide reality as a result of the global

financial crisis induced by the COVID-19 outbreak. This insecurity is linked to an acute dread of

COVID-19 because treatment techniques and recovery rates are unknown, and job insecurity is

positively associated to work insecurity. Recent research have found a clear relationship between

13
 14
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

employment instability, work insecurity, and employee job satisfaction in this environment

(Nemteanu et al., 2021).

14
 15
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

References

Ali, B. J., & Anwar, G. (2021, April 8). An Empirical Study of Employees’ Motivation and Its

Influence Job Satisfaction.

Axelrad, H., Sabbath, E. L., & Hawkins, S. S. (2017). The 2008–2009 Great Recession and

employment outcomes among older workers. European Journal of Ageing, 15(1), 35–45.

‌Badubi, R. M. (2017). Theories of motivation and their application in organizations: A risk

analysis. International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development, 3(3), 44-51.

Bick, A., Blandin, A., & Mertens, K. (2020, July). Work from Home Before and after the Covid-

19 Outbreak.

‌Dahlin, K. B., Chuang, Y. T., & Roulet, T. J. (2018). Opportunity, motivation, and ability to

learn from failures and errors: Review, synthesis, and ways to move forward. Academy of

Management Annals, 12(1), 252-277.

Darma, Prayoga Setia, & Supriyanto, Achmad Sani. (2017, December 5). The Effect of

Compensation on Satisfaction and Employee Performance.

Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of

Business Research, 117, 284–289.

Hossain, M. (2021). The effect of the Covid-19 on sharing economy activities. Journal of

Cleaner Production, 280, 124782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124782

Lumsden, S. (2017). The Satisfaction of Absolute Spirit. The Owl of Minerva, 49(1), 83–105.

https://doi.org/10.5840/owl2017/18491/25

15
 16
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

Nemteanu, M. S., Dinu, V., & Dabija, D. C. (2021). Job Insecurity, Job Instability, and Job

Satisfaction in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of

Competitiveness, 13(2), 65-82.

Papademetriou, D. G., & Hooper, K. (2020). Commentary: How is COVID‐19 Reshaping

Labour Migration? International Migration, 58(4), 259–262.

Pattnaik, L., & Jena, L. K. (2020). Mindfulness, remote engagement and employee morale:

conceptual analysis to address the “new normal”. International Journal of

Organizational Analysis.

Psomas, E. and Antony, J., 2017. Total quality management elements and results in higher

education institutions: The Greek case. Quality Assurance in Education.

Rice, D. B., Taylor, R., & Forrester, J. K. (2020). The unwelcoming experience of abusive

supervision and the impact of leader characteristics: turning employees into poor

organizational citizens and future quitters. European Journal of Work and

Organizational Psychology, 29(4), 601-618.

Shan, C., & Tang, D. Y. (2020). The Value of Employee Satisfaction in Disastrous Times:

Evidence from COVID-19. SSRN Electronic Journal.

‌Sila, E., & Širok, K. (2018). The Importance of Employee Satisfaction: A Case Study of a

Transportation and Logistics Service Company. Management (18544223), 13(2).

Spinelli, A., & Pellino, G. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives on an unfolding

crisis. British Journal of Surgery, 107(7), 785–787.

16
 17
Employee Satisfaction in COVID-19

17