E-learning and analytics company Emtrain believes that only 39% of employees can be their 'authentic selves' at work, in a recently released report. The report also mentioned that 46% of the respondents believe that their manager would not take a harassment complaint seriously.

According to Emtrain, the recent findings came from research that took more than 90 million responses from 300,000+ employees at 350+ organisations in 2022. The entire report was compared to the data presented in similar analysis done in 2020 prior to COVID-19 pandemic. 

Emtrain CEO Janine Yancey said, "The entire nature of work has changed since our Workplace Culture Report 2020. We wanted to see how cultural dynamics have changed as well. The data tells an interesting story in that we found some signs of encouragement, but still lots of room for improvement." Below are the top points:

Key findings from the analysis

Only 39% of employees felt that they can be their "authentic selves", A number considered an improvement over 2020 when fewer than one-in-three  (32%) said they could themselves be on the job.

46% responded that their managers wont take their harassment letter seriously, a marked contrast to  2020, where only 41% people considered it.

75% said that their managers don't grasp that it's hard for them to refuse an inappropriate request. However, in 2020 that number was higher at 80%.

27% of employees in 2022 say workplace conflict has caused them to leave a job, an improvement in comparison to 29% in 2020

Emtrain CEO Janine Yancey added that the cultural challenges in the analysis come from a lack of emphasis on pro-social skills that create respect, inclusion, belonging, and ethics in the workplace. This presents a tremendous opportunity for people leaders to use training to help develop these skills in employees.

In light of the findings, Emtrain announced a new pro-social skills framework initiative in the US, that identifies 16 specific skills employees can learn in order to enhance the employee experience and manage business outcomes like productivity and attrition.

The initiative will bode with the US labour system, which has seen a spiked in unemployment due to recent mass layoffs and hiring freezes.