Employee Mental Health a Major Concern in the Return to Work, Experts Warn
Monday, 6th December 2021
The mental health of employees should be a primary concern in the return to work, workplace wellbeing experts have cautioned.
In a context of burnout, fatigue, and anxieties surrounding safety, employers need to manage the return to work to support wellbeing and ease employee concerns.
In a major study from McKinsey earlier this year, a third of employees reported that the return to work had had an impact on their mental wellbeing.
Mental health should be at centre of return to the office strategies
The mental health of employees should be a major consideration in businesses’ plans for the return to work, experts have said.
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, digital anthropologist Rahaf Harfoush has warned that neglecting employee mental health during the return to the office could risk increasing burnout, employee fatigue, and anxiety.
This risks damaging business recovery and undermining employee retainment in the long term.
“Leaders are keen for their staff to return to the office,” Harfoush writes. “Despite the eagerness to bring teams together in person, however, rushing headlong back to work might create more harm than good.”
A third of employees say the return to work is affecting their mental health
Harfoush’s intervention comes as a third of employees say the return to work has had a negative effect on their mental health, according to a study from McKinsey.
A further half of those who had not yet returned to work told McKinsey that they were expecting the transition to have an impact on their mental wellbeing.
According to the survey, 45% of respondents cited concern about their own safety due to COVID-19 as the primary factor. Meanwhile, 29% said that the risk of transmitting the virus to unvaccinated children or loved ones was their most important concern.
McKinsey also found that 62% of employees said that air filtration and air quality monitoring would reduce the amount of stress they felt.
Emphasising safety and dedicated time for productivity is crucial
Alongside methods for workplace safety, Harfoush emphasises that a return to work should be gradual and respectful of employee perspectives to be effective.
“Psychologists who have observed how people reacted to isolation make a compelling case for pacing ourselves,” Harfoush writes.
“If you’ve been isolating or sticking to a small bubble, you might feel out of practice socializing with a bigger group of colleagues, especially with changing Covid etiquette around handshakes, masks and indoor dining.”
For employers, there is one important strategy that should be taken into consideration in the return to work: listening to employees.
“To avoid the anxieties that come with Covid specifically, ask employees to share their boundaries and design experiences that respect them. For example, if people are uncomfortable with indoor dining, hold gatherings that don’t revolve around food and drink.”
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