Survey research affords leaders a valuable tool to compare activities, outcomes, and attitudes and to inform business decisions with “hard data.” Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, data has limitations: moment-in-time snapshots provide results that are lagging indicators of real-world change.

Over the past four months, Manufacturers Alliance conducted more than a dozen “pulse” surveys with its members, starting with widespread travel restrictions in January. Fast forward through February as the virus spread, and the attention shifted to business continuity, including deep cleaning and remote work. 

Today, as non-essential businesses reopen and companies restore operations to a “new normal,” a core question for business leaders is to what extent changes experienced during the pandemic will be temporary or permanent. At the end of March, one pulse survey found corporate culture and policies transforming in real-time: remote work has never been as integral to the manufacturing industry as it is now.

Some of the questions going forward include:

• Will remote work stick in manufacturing?
• And, if so, in what functional areas and to what extent?

The consensus so far is that remote working in some capacity will last. More than 70% of executives responded to our survey in March that remote work policies were likely to stay in place even after guidance on social distancing was removed. Anecdotally, executives report attitudes shifting toward hybrid models given the widespread success of this forced experiment.

Continued research is one way to refresh and advance our understanding of the “new normal.” Manufacturers Alliance research partner Aon has shined a light on manufacturing industry change. Access the first three waves of their manufacturing-specific benchmarking: Navigating the Impact, Adjusting Total Rewards Programs, and Setting the Stage for Return to Work and the New Normal.