The RCI Index for the 1st semester of 2021
Record increases of 17.1 points for the general index and 20.5 points for the executive and specialized personnel index, skyrocketing the RCI indices to historically high levels, were recorded for the first semester of 2021. The general RCI index is now at 131.6 points for the 1st semester of 2021 (from 114.5 in the 2nd semester of 2020) and the specialized RCI Index is at 127.5 points (from 107 in the 2nd semester of 2020).
Equally important is the increase in optimism among Greek executives from 60.3% in the previous measurement to 76.8% for the current one (and also the related decrease in pessimism from 19% to 12.6%).
Regarding specifically the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on Greek companies, things look better too: the percentage of crisis influence dropped from 36.3% in June 2020 and 39.8% in November 2020, to 30.8% in July 2021. With time, this influence seems to become more positive (increase from 9.3% in the previous measurement to 19,4% in the current one) and less negative (decrease from 34.8% to 26.9%). Moreover, when we project the current situation into the future, Greek companies expect a positive influence by the COVID-19 crisis (23,4% expect a positive influence and 12.1% a negative one).
The most affected parts of the company operations seem to be the way people work (35.1%) and sales (32.2%).
Regarding the concerns for the future, again sales (21.6%) and people related issues (people management and motivation: 18.8%, & recruitment and selection: 18.3%) come first in the list. Distance modes of working seem to be here to stay (the 61.2% of participants say they will continue with remote working practices even after the end of the pandemic) despite the fact that not all companies are persuaded for the efficiency of such approaches (only the 26.3% believes that remote working is more productive comparing to the standard mode of working).
It is worth mentioning that only a relatively small percentage (35%) has suspended their employment contracts according to the governmental guidelines, and the majority of these companies (the 64.1% of them) have voluntarily subsidized part or the full regular salary of their employees.
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