Mental health and wellbeing, wherever you work

Over the course of the pandemic, the impact on mental health has been universally under the spotlight. The word ‘unprecedented’ was consistently heard in the early press briefings as events unfolded swiftly and unimaginably as everyone was confined to their homes unless they were key workers.

The dedicated 24/7 NHS mental health crisis helplines answered three million calls during the pandemic, indicating the impact of the pandemic on people over the past year. Here we examine the lasting impact as life is still not 100 per cent normal as variants persist and how employers can support employees.

Shaping mental health policies

Employers increasingly recognise their role in supporting employee mental health and wellbeing. According to our recent UK Reward Management Survey, 89 per cent of respondent employers actively adopted strategies that bolster employee wellbeing. 80 per cent of respondents reported that they have created employee surveys and consultations. Around half of respondent employers have made use of employee surveys and consultations to actively listen to employee concerns and act on feedback during this tumultuous period.

Actively listening to employees goes a long way to ensuring that they feel heard and seen. Experiences and employee reactions as we start to examine what workplaces will look like post-pandemic will vary widely. Employers are given the task of bridging the gap between those who might want to return to being with colleagues for the majority of the week to those who want to remain almost virtual if they have got into the routine of scheduling things such as dropping off their children at school before work. Whilst it is up to the employer to determine how accommodating they are when it comes to the spectrum of flexible working requests, fairness will be at the heart of the success of their response. Ensuring people are treated as individuals through listening and understanding their range of viewpoints will be critical to this process.

Stepping up to the unknown

As the first national lockdown unfolded, everything was new. The uncertainty called for constant communication from executive teams during the first lockdown. Many customers reported that CEOs were having weekly employee meetings to keep open lines of communication as remote working was rolled out to reflect the government policy to work from home. Over time, even though HR has reported lots of initiatives and communication plans to make people feel more comfortable with the return to the office, the level and impetus has reduced.

Frequency of change

Our HR Groups certainly captured the impression that people have not maintained communication initiatives such as virtual town halls and videos from senior leadership on a weekly basis. Whilst this may have successfully set the tone and it is up to teams to continue to be cohesive virtually to drive employee engagement, the dwindling of this senior-level communication comes at a time when many report working from home fatigue.

The blurring of home and work life, combined with the ongoing uncertainty of what will happen with the virus’ emerging variants has resulted in mental health deteriorating by 8.1 per cent in the UK, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Whilst it is understandable that as the frequency of change lessened, so did the senior-level comms, keeping that open line of communication and reinforcing the vision and direction of the company across a remote workforce could help to renew employees with purpose at a time when uncertainty persists.