Combatting ‘Ground Hog Day’ Syndrome for your Team

“Some people (at the Workplace Wellness Festival) were concerned that workplace responsibilities didn’t go far enough (regarding mental wellbeing in the workplace) and that we’re moving too slowly. Others wanting it to go further and to progress quicker and then there are others still who are completely cynical about the role of an organisation in mental wellbeing full stop.”

Alex Kenning – Managing Director, Aquent Australia

Overview

The topic of staff engagement and wellness has become a hot topic, no doubt as a direct result of the impacts of lockdown and COVID over the last 18 months that are being felt in the workforce.

“It was always about the passion, the thought process, the being kind to one another because that’s why again we existed. So, it’s always been inherent and evolving and adapting, but it has just been heightened and the catalyst I guess has been COVID.”

Nghia Nguyen-Le, Director Strategic Business Performance, Office of the CEO, NSW Land & Housing Corporation

In the last month alone, I have attended two ‘Employee Engagement & CSR’ sessions, hosted by Communiteer as part of their Leadership Series and more recently another panel discussion hosted by the Workplace Wellness Festival.

These panel discussions were revelatory with great speakers from the likes of Optus, Accenture, Ben & Jerry’s, Cisco, AIA Vitality, NSW Land & Housing and Macquarie Business School and this article is a distillation and interpretation of what they shared.

The Problem

The welfare of employees is seriously at risk. Sustained physical and social isolation as a direct result of the COVID pandemic and the recurring lockdowns are eroding the resilience and morale of the workforce. People are increasingly tired and demoralised by the lack of connection and the challenge of planning beyond the immediate horizon for fear that whatever plans are put in place become quickly obsolete.

For many, work and life have become more of a hamster wheel and with employees feeling trapped in their home office, the strain on their mental health is a risk for many. Add to this, there are consistent reports of a distinct lack of purpose being felt as people scramble to find meaning during what has become a ‘ground hog’ period in their lives.

And this is unlikely to get better in the immediate future, so leaders need to act now to bolster the mental health and resilience of their staff and find ways to help and empower their people to be the best that they can be, which as Damien Mu, CEO of AIA Australia & New Zealand aptly pointed out is a shared value model and win/win principle.

“We have 3,000 family members across ANZ and this is a reminder to me of how important it is that we continue to stay connected and look at how we are supporting our family members to stay both physically and mentally well during this time.”

?Damien Mu – CEO, AIA Australia & New Zealand

Mobilising the wellbeing of your workforce

So, what can be done to combat the Ground Hog Day Syndrome?

The following will give you some pointers from what the panels of experts shared:

(i)????????????Measuring & Tracking Mental Health at work

“I don’t know about you, but there isn’t a person I don’t talk with at work or around a BBQ, that isn’t talking about some new form of awareness or consciousness that they have come to through this phase.”

Dave Wilson – VP, Global IoT Sales, Cisco

There is a growing recognition amongst leaders that tracking the mental health of their employees and reporting these metrics to their Board is not only a responsibility of theirs but that it is vital, and that the psychological safety of staff should be treated with the same importance as their physical safety.

“Employers are obligated to make sure that they have a mentally and physically healthy workplace. Besides the obligation, there’s also the fact that it contributes to their bottom line and a productive workforce is going to have a big impact on Society. Their role is to encourage and enable employees to be healthy. Mental health is definitely something that shouldn’t be tackled in isolation of physical health.”?

Danielle Williams – Senior Manager, Partnerships & Distribution, AIA Vitality

This has given greater emphasis to staff welfare and the realisation that this takes many forms and there now is a pressing need to measure and track the psychological health levels of employees. Furthermore, this requires these levels to be translated into behaviours and linked to KPIs within company performance measurement systems.

“Psychological safety is the key ingredient in high performing teams…There is much more of an appetite to look at it. I guess that people are starting to see psychological safety is at the core of supporting people to perform at their best in the workplace. It’s actually a lead indicator. So, when we talk about wellbeing at work, if people are feeling psychologically safe then they have a much greater chance of feeling mental health wellbeing at work, they’re going to be more innovative. We also see that psychological safety is a lead indicator of people’s engagement and a whole range of factors. So, I think there is a greater attention on it now… and that’s been escalated a bit through COVID, but not just through COVID but we’ve seen ISO 45003…, Royal Commissions… “

Linda Ray – Founder & CEO, NeuroCapability

This will be music to the ears of HR professionals everywhere as this is not a new idea to them. But this alone is not sufficient to bridge the gap.

(ii)???????????Promoting new ‘Healthier’ Attitudes & Behaviours

“It’s no longer just the physical. We once were telling people how to adjust their ergonomic chairs. We now are helping people to adjust their mindsets as part of preventative mental health strategies. We have a duty of care to provide a safe environment in our workplace.”

?Nghia Nguyen-Le, Director Strategic Business Performance, Office of the CEO, NSW Land & Housing Corporation

More and more employers are providing services, tools and support for their people beyond the traditional EAP (Employee Assistance Program – which has been around the last twenty years and now sits at about 85% of companies according to Danielle Williams at AIA Vitality) such as mental health first aid training and other courses to increase the mental health literacy of their employees.

“This is definitely a trend that we have seen throughout the years since 2017 (since they have run their survey) that corporates are more aware of it (mental health). They are more aware of it for a reason; because they are now more aware of the impact it has on the bottom line. So, of course we want mentally healthy people, employees in Society however it does actually impact on business productivity and business outcomes. So, I think Employers have to pay more attention now regardless of whether they can see the direct impact themselves, it is actually having that impact on their bottom line.”

?Danielle Williams – Senior Manager, Partnerships & Distribution, AIA Vitality

Such initiatives are critical for companies to help staff develop greater self-awareness and self-regulation skills so that everyone takes responsibility for their own mental health and safety.

“We’ve had such a focus on physical safety in organisations and there has been ton of work done in that area. It’s now time to actually be focusing on psychological safety. And I think that the companies that don’t pay attention to this and don’t try to positively influence psychological safety are going to end up in what I refer to as the ‘psychological safety divide’.”

?Linda Ray – Founder & CEO, NeuroCapability

For this to happen, there are two important changed that need to happen.

Firstly, leaders in business and society need to role model the right performance behaviours and:

-??????Show up to work as their authentic self and not present themselves as super humans which only serves to perpetuate unrealistic expectations of behaviour. Instead, leaders need to display vulnerability and ‘own’ and share their struggles with their people so that their staff can appreciate that they are not a failure or substandard if they are experiencing similar problems.

-??????Not work long hours, avoid sending emails in the middle of the night, do back-to-back meetings and calls and avoid presenting this behaviour as expected and a ‘badge of honour’ to be proud of. The days when working late was the norm and going home on time was the exception and frowned upon need to be firmly rejected by leaders and held up as evidence of poor work behaviour.

-??????Create a safe place for staff to share and show their own vulnerability.

-??????Empower their people to challenge and push back against unrealistic work demands or expectations that are counterproductive to staff mental health.

And then, once these attitudinal and behavioural characteristics are modified, these need to become the new norm, promoted far and wide and integrated into the company culture.

“We’re slowly but surely focusing on organisational culture as well as the practicalities. It’s no longer a tick the box exercise and it’s no longer a taboo topic where once it was, especially in a pandemic, but regardless of… is mental health care, freedom from abuse, breaking cycles of disadvantage or embracing your community…. We now need to be focusing on our own people.”

?Nghia Nguyen-Le, Director Strategic Business Performance, Office of the CEO, NSW Land & Housing Corporation

(iii)?????????‘Survive, Revive, Thrive’

This was the impressive title of AIA Vitality’s program that they put in place to assist their people to navigate their way through COVID-19 and the numerous lockdowns.

“Lockdowns remind us continually about the importance of mental wellbeing.”

Damien Mu – CEO, AIA Australia & New Zealand?

The challenge every company face is how to chart their way through these troubled times and unfamiliar waters and find new ways to bridge the gaps as they appear. Solutions include leaning more on Employee Assistance Programs, introducing new forums and feedback loops and significantly evolving working practices to cope with the practical setbacks along with the growing fears and concerns of workforces.

“Where there is collective buy-in there is always a way forward.”

Nghia Nguyen-Le, Director Strategic Business Performance, Office of the CEO, NSW Land & Housing Corporation

AIA’s ‘Survive, Revive and Thrive’ program is an excellent example shared value program that served to set and manage the expectations of their people and provide a common language to unite them behind. In doing so, they were able to better engage and connect with everyone. Companies should take their lead from programs like AIA’s and produce their own game plan which will serve to give their staff both comfort and structure, as well as injecting a healthy dose of hope into their lives.

(iv)?????????Staff Engagement & Connection

“More and more companies are becoming purpose driven organisations. People are looking for that stronger connection with the community.”

Frances Martin – VP, Operations & Enablement, Optus

‘Purpose’ is a vital ingredient that is largely missing in these times for most and it is something that it I hard to measure or prove objectively. We all intuitively know that when we have a sense of purpose in what we do that it lifts us.

Amongst the first things to go during the COVID pandemic was the likes of office party, gatherings, get-togethers, and training as companies struggled to figure out how to do these online. Another victim of this new way of online working was volunteering.

For the last few years there has been a growing trend of companies promoting both individual and corporate volunteering as a way for their people to give back to the society, connect to each other and find deep meaning and purpose.

“If people are connecting together; if they’re doing something purposeful, then they typically have a greater connection to the organisation.”

?Steph Curley – Impact & Activism Manager, Ben & Jerry’s

The decline in volunteering time amongst employees came at a time when arguably staff really needed the feel-good distraction and sense of purpose that it gave them. For teams, corporate volunteering has always been a great means of connection, engagement and inspiration. These events serve as fuel to the soul but were nor surprisingly quick to be put in the too hard basket for companies and charities as both have been so focused on charting their way out of the chaos of COVID.

The need for this partnership of minds, skills and resources has not gone away, but merely been suspended by some and ignored by many. And yet, as technology has found ways to enable people to connect in new and different ways, I would argue that this same principle could be applied to the field of individual and corporate volunteering.

“We’ve been very intentional around connecting what we do best as a company and linking it to the social needs and engaging our people’s skills, abilities, time to be able to support those needs and strengthen the community.”

Helen Maisano – Director, Group Sustainability, Optus

Happily, there is evidence that some companies have realised that their people need this form of engagement and connection, even more than before and have taken steps to make this possible for their people. At the same time, as charities have emerged from the COVID pandemic, leaner, hungrier and more agile, they too have seen the value and potential that volunteering offers them and its place in the mental wellbeing and resilience of workforces and have adapted with suitable offerings to meet this new and growing demand for staff engagement and connection.

Volunteering will certainly forever be part of the mental wellbeing landscape in the workplace, but it will look different and I for one am excited to see how things settle when the COVID dust has settled.

“Our Leadership absolutely believed that removing barriers to volunteering for our employees and getting them more involved was good for the organisation, was good for the employee and good for the community.”

?Julie Long – Corporate Citizenship Lead, Accenture

A Cautionary Tale

I think the following quote by Linda Ray, Founder & CEO of NeuroCapability, is a great way to end this article as it aptly captures the significance of connection, staff engagement and mental wellbeing in the workplace and what will happen in leaders do not heed the advice of all these learned subject matter experts…

“The companies that pay attention to it (mental health, staff engagement and wellbeing in the workplace) are going to be the ones that perform and… it does have such an impact on our bottom line. And the ones that don’t pay attention to this will be on the other side of the divide and means they are not going to be performing.”

?Linda Ray – Founder & CEO, NeuroCapability

Special Thanks

I would like to acknowledge and thank Francis Martin & Helen Maisano from Optus, Julie Long from Accenture, Steph Curley from Ben & Jerry’s and Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal from Macquarie Business School, Dave Wilson from Cisco, Damien Mu & Danielle Williams from AIA Vitality, Linda Ray from NeuroCapability and Nghia Nguyen-Le from NSW Land & Housing Corporation for all they shared at their respective panel discussions. Their experience, insights and learning’s were extremely valuable and they and their companies serve as role models in the area of staff engagement, mental health and workplace wellness for everyone to observe as they chart their own way out of the COVID Pandemic. Special thanks also to Victor Lee, CEO and Founder of Communiteer and his team for hosting such an invaluable series of events and Alex Kenning from Aquent for his chairing skills and the good people at the Workplace Wellness Festival for hosting a great panel discussion earlier this week. I hope that my article did justice to what they all shared.

To view the recordings of past Communiteer Panel Discussions on Staff Engagement, Connection and Welfare: https://teambuildingwithpurpose.com.au/communiteer

To view the recording of the Workplace Wellness Festival Panel Discussion on mental health and wellness in the workplace - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q6OiHT612o