Leaders in the workplace must be adequately trained to support employee’s post covid! Mental health has increased around the world at an alarming rate

The Covid 19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented disruption to personal and professional lives around the world. With this in mind as leaders we have a duty of care to consider the impact of mental well-being and our responsibility to support our people at a time when they may be at a point in their lives where they are most vulnerable.

Given the risks and uncertainties inherent in an ever-changing employment landscape and the stresses associated with the COVID-19 situation. With concerns, such as reduced hours, job insecurity, health risks and adjustments to the work place post covid can have repercussions on performance and achievement. Thus, reflected in the overall financial performance of your business. The following detail is support for you and your teams.

Mental health & Wellbeing is now more than ever an integral part of the relationship between employer and employee.

As an employer consider the following;

·     Is enough being implemented to engage and communicate with your workforce to ensure the support mechanisms are available?

·     Do you understand how your employees view wellbeing, the policies and the HR/Wellbeing team?

·     Have you created an environment where staff feel comfortable coming forward with wellbeing challenges faced during the pandemic?

·     How can you empower staff to establish their own support networks?

·     Do staff feel comfortable coming forward to ask for help without risk of reprisal or stigma?

·     Are robust procedures in place to ensure employees can share sensitive challenges faced during the pandemic, these may be personal so it is paramount to tread carefully without aggravating existing feelings and behaviours.

Understanding what the workforce wants should be the driving factor behind your workplace wellbeing strategy with senior management acting as the catalyst to support initiatives and promote them internally. It is critical that face to face 121’s is undertaken, the first post covid 121 is not to be a formal affair as it may increase anxiety and negative thoughts.

The first post covid 121 is a discovery process, so you can understand if any of your team have underlying challenges as a consequence of the pandemic.

Consider asking questions like;

·     How are you?

·     How do you feel about the pandemic?

·     Has the pandemic affected you personally?

·     Do you understand the procedural changes made to the business, to ensure your safety post covid?

·     What’s one thing I can do right now to make work better for you?

·     How do you feel about the new ways of working post covid?

·     Do you have any questions that, if answered, would help you in your day-to-day?

·     What, if anything, feels harder than it should be in your day-to-day work?

It is important to note that different organisations will refine the questions around the type of business you own or manage.

The 121 gives the opportunity for the employee to share any detail on their state of mind and the experiences faced during the pandemic. However, it must be noted that professional medical advice must be suggested if any serious risks are shared and if required make necessary modifications to ensure the mental well-being of an employee is taken seriously and supported.

Below is a snap shot of ways to reduce and in some cases prevent challenges with mental health in your everyday life, you can then share this knowledge and mentor your teams to support them if required.

Try to lay a solid foundation for your mental health and well-being by prioritising your sleep, and practise good sleep hygiene (for example, avoid blue lights before bed, and maintain a routine around your sleep and wake times). Eat well (be conscious that you might be inclined to lean on alcohol, or other indulgences, to manage stress — this is understandable, but potentially damaging in the long run). Exercise: it will lower your stress levels, help you to better regulate your emotions and improve your sleep.

One way to manage moments of distress is to identify key thoughts or physical sensations that tend to contribute to your cycle of distress and feelings of being overwhelmed. Our thoughts (“Why can’t I concentrate?”), feelings (frustration, worry, sadness), physical sensations (tension, upset stomach, jitters) and actions (such as compulsively checking the latest COVID statistics) each feed into and amplify these negative emotional spirals. Addressing one aspect of this loop by, for example, actively reducing the physical symptoms (I use box breathing: breathe in for four counts, hold for four, breathe out for four and hold for four, then repeat) can de-escalate the cycle and help you regain control.

It helps to manage anxiety and will help you to adapt more quickly to this current reality. Create clear distinctions between work and non-work time, ideally in both your physical workspace and your head space. Find something to do that is not work and is not virus-related that brings you joy. Working in short bursts with clear breaks will help to maintain your clarity of thought.

There is much that we cannot control right now, but how we talk to ourselves during these challenging times can either provide a powerful buffer to these difficult circumstances or amplify our distress. Moments of feeling overwhelmed often come with big thoughts, such as “I cannot do this,” or “This is too hard.” This pandemic will cause a lot of stress for many of us, and we cannot be our best selves all the time. But we can ask for help or reach out when help is asked of us.

Even the most introverted of us need some sense of connection to others for our mental as well as our physical health. Many working groups have created virtual forums where you can contribute or just sit back and enjoy the chatter. Staff teams have instigated virtual coffee groups, online book clubs and co-working spaces where you can work in the (virtual) presence of others. We are in social isolation, but we need not feel alone. Reach out to those who might be particularly isolated.

Manage uncertainty by staying in the present. Take each day as it comes and focus on the things you can control. Mindfulness and meditation can be great tools.

Food and mood changes in blood sugar levels are linked to changes in mood and energy. Eating regularly maintains blood sugar levels. Not eating regularly can make you tired, irritable, anxious and cause poor concentration. Good tips include eating breakfast, eating every 3-4 hours, avoiding junk foods, eating plenty of fruit and veg and drinking lots of water. Physical activity helps release endorphins which can improve your mood. When you feel low in mood you might stop doing the things that can improve your mood, almost without realising it. Making sure you do some physical exercise, even if you don't feel like it at first, can give you quick results in improving your mood.

Distract yourself when you are feeling immersed in a problem, let yourself switch off from it and go and do something completely different. When you return to it at a different time it may seem more manageable. Distracting yourself is not a cop-out, but can be a reliable way to stop overthinking a problem when you are feeling stuck.

How would you feel if a friend asked for help, advice or just wanted to talk things through? Many of us would be pleased to be chosen to confide in, it might make us feel valued. When you are feeling low in mood, or anxious, it is easy to think negatively about yourself and be less likely to seek support from others. Try and beat this feeling and approach people that you trust to talk to. You may be surprised at how much better you might feel and how they have responded positively to you, as you would if the situation were reversed.

Learn to take time out and relax. People have lots of different ways of relaxing or having downtime from the stresses of life. These can be the things that you stop doing when you start to feel low in mood, or stressed, as you forget to be kind to yourself. A hot bath, listening to music, watching a film, keeping social arrangements and hobbies going, whatever it is, think about the things that help to keep you calm or more content, and make sure they are still in your routine.

Do something you enjoy; we are all unique and enjoy different things. You may not have found the thing that you enjoy yet, so try some different things out. You may have lost touch with activities that have given you pleasure in the past. Doing things, you enjoy can help you to stay connected with some of the more positive aspects of life.

Remember your good points We all have them, and none of us are perfect either. It can be easy to think that others are more talented, more successful, have more opportunity than us, when you are feeling low in mood.

Remind yourself about the things you do well, and looking for evidence of this can help to balance out critical thoughts about yourself, which tend to increase when we are stressed.

I have only touched on the surface but feel free to message me if you would like additional support on this subject matter.

Together we achieve more

Neil Campbell