The business case for kindness
Monique Borst
Human WD40. CEO catalyst, strategist and coach. Growth-oriented leaders work with me to scale and lead business their way, so they can break new ground without breaking themselves.
Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16 May) kicked off yesterday and much has been written about pandemic brain and cognitive bandwidth.
Scientists say that the WFH plays a significant part in playing havoc with our brains. We are becoming de-skilled, we can't remember what has been said, lost in a morass of digital meetings and virtual conversations.
Here’s what the latest Office for National Statistics ‘Coronavirus and Depression in Adults’ report has to say:
????Around 1 in 5 adults experienced depression in early 2021, which is more than double the level seen before the pandemic.
????Younger adults and women were more likely to experience depression, with over 4 in 10 women aged 16 to 29 experiencing symptoms, compared with around 3 in 10 men of the same age.
????People living with a child experienced some of the largest increases in rates of depressive symptoms. Before the pandemic, only 6 per cent of households with at least one child reported symptoms. The number is now 23 per cent.
The last statistic is particularly worrying.
If overlooked, this mental health pandemic may cause as much suffering as the virus itself.
The government committed ￡500 million of extra spending on mental health services this year to address waiting times for specialists, now stretching to many months, and to invest in the workforce.
But those services have been underfunded for years and, alongside the new demand from 1.5 million children and adolescents, the Centre for Mental Health predicts 8.5 million more adults will need them.
In the midst of a national mental health crisis speaking about mental health, showing each other acceptance, patience and kindness, has perhaps never been more important.
And, as we’re slowly emerging out of lockdown into a new, hybrid model of working, this applies to our places of work too.
On the one hand there are employers who are pretty insistent that they want to see their employees back in the office. And there are others who are fairly relaxed one way or the other, and there are others again who do not expect to see some employees at work at all.
????Topics for conversation to help unpick some of the issues that businesses should be considering
Is the ‘working from home’ environment really fit for purpose?
Should leaders focus on productivity or presenteism?
Will there be a need to redefine collaboration?
How can leaders be truly inclusive in a hybrid model?
Getting the employee experience right will be key to embedding any type of behavioural change. How does your business intend to transition and what changes are you planning?