Being agile, trusting and compassionate during the coming months will be vital, says Paul Farmer
Paul Farmer chief executive at Mind will be joined by Dame Carol Black; Vish Buldawoo, VP – global benefits and wellbeing at Centrica; and Nicola Wells, global director reward at Unilever to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Wednesday 23rd September at the virtual Employee Wellbeing Congress.
Partially leaving lockdown has presented us with another set of difficult, perhaps conflicting emotions as we all readjust to the ‘new normal’ and many of us return to the workplace. We're yet to fully understand the long-term impact that coronavirus will have on our mental health and this poses many questions for employers. We need to learn the lessons about maintaining and improving employee wellbeing during the pandemic, and build upon them to create stronger, more supportive, mentally healthier workplaces. Three key areas are emerging.
A more human, compassionate and empathetic relationship with employees
First, we have gained new insight into our colleagues’ lives via video calls, many employers will have developed a more human, compassionate and empathetic relationship with their employees to better maintain their wellbeing, whether they work remotely or are key workers who have remained in their workplace.
Mind’s coronavirus survey found that 54% of employees had been offered some form of support from their employers for their mental health or wellbeing during the pandemic, and 64% of survey respondents found this support very or quite useful. If an organisation arrived at the start of lockdown with an embedded approach to mental health, this has become more deep seated. The gap is beginning to grow. Any increased levels of trust, openness, kindness, support and communication should be maintained and capitalised upon post-lockdown and embedded within employers’ policies, processes, rewards and benefits.
Pressure to ‘always be on’ has made it more difficult for employees to strike a work-life balance
Second, when I wrote the Thriving At Work report and mental health recommendations for employers with Lord Dennis Stevenson in 2017, we discovered that poor mental health costs employers £33-£42 billion a year, with more than half of that cost coming from presenteeism. This has since risen by 16% to £45 billion per year according to Deloitte's Mental health and employers: Refreshing the case for investment (2020) report. The recent sharp increase in homeworking has also seen an alarming rise in e-presenteeism, with UK employees working an average of 28 extra hours a month while working remotely during the peak of the pandemic, found a study of 2,000 adults by LinkedIn and the Mental Health Foundation.
This pressure to be available and ‘always on’ has made it even more difficult for many employees to strike a work-life balance and places further pressure on their mental health. To help employers provide the best support to their employees at this time, we have produced our Mental Health at Work Commitment guide for employers during coronavirus, which adapts and builds upon the Thriving At Work recommendations. An out of sight, out of mind approach simply won’t work.
A nuanced and personalised approach
Finally, here at Mind we are gradually reopening our offices but are placing no pressure on our employees to return. Whether they choose to work from home full-time or feel their wellbeing is better supported by being back in the workplace, we are supporting their decision.
Although many employers may need their staff to return to the office, it is still vital that a nuanced and personalised approach is taken to each employee to ensure their mental and physical wellbeing is maintained. This may involve a greater level of flexibility around hours, allowing employees to commute outside peak hours or mixed working patterns in the office and from home.
With the ONS reporting in its Opinions and Lifestyle Survey that depression has doubled during the pandemic, it is clear that many challenges remain on the horizon. But employers can use this unique period as an opportunity to implement positive changes that benefit their workers.
The agile, trusting and compassionate approach built since March will be even more vital during the coming months: flexible working and management with employee wellbeing at its heart.
The author is Paul Farmer, Chief Executive Officer of Mind.
