Work Environment: Leadership, Communication, and Autonomy. The Perception of Work Among Polish Employees During Turbulent Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: The article focuses on the assessment of knowledge workers’ relation with superiors, internal communication, perceived autonomy and feeling of appreciation. The goal of the article is also to extend current knowledge of the perception of cooperation between employees. The authors were able to identify interdependencies among the researched variables and the impact of COVID-19 on peoples’ professional situation. Design/methodology/approach: The article presents the results of a CAWI survey conducted on a large sample of 2778 specialists and managers in Poland. The researchers used the purposive sampling method to reach the population of white-collar workers who experienced remote work or remote cooperation with their colleagues. Findings: The empirical study showed that in most cases superiors passed the test and were positively evaluated by their subordinates. The correlation analysis also showed that certain positive qualities of a manager go together and are positively correlated with professional situation assessment during the COVID-19 period. Research limitations/implications: The study describes the results in a large sample; however, the sampling method was not probabilistic and therefore we cannot use statistical inference for the general population of working specialists in Poland. Originality/value: The value of the article is the presentation of the up-to-date opinion of almost 3 thousands specialists employed in Poland. The text plays an important role in recording the influence of the pandemic on Polish employees.