Workforce Resilience - Now not Tomorrow

In my article last week, I had a rant about organisations saying they have this workforce resilience thing covered because they have run a workshop or supplied employees with an app.

This is absolute BS. It does not cut it.

Much more needs to be done to build resilience in the workplace, and it needs to be done now.

WHY WORKFORCE RESILIENCE NOW?

Whilst it looks like there is light at the end of this pandemic tunnel for some, for others it just looks like a train coming in the opposite direction.

We know that the pandemic has already had a terrible impact on mental health and suicide rates. Factors include isolation and loneliness; financial hardship and unemployment; uncertainty about the future; and the loss of colleagues, family and friends.

Organisations should be investing in building workforce resilience now and help alleviate the stress and anxiety that leads to fatigue and burnout.

As and when we start to emerge from this pandemic the stresses and anxieties put on our employees will only be amplified.

All the discussion about the return to the office, the hybrid office, working from home (WFH) forever, working from anywhere (WFX), flexible schedules and staggered hours, are amplifying the stress.

You can choose to ignore it or take action now and show that you really care about your greatest asset – your people.

There is a massive return on investment to be gained if you take action.

There is massive impact on your brand and reputation and survival is you don’t.

“Take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of your business” ~ Richard Branson

What are some of the amplifier’s employees are experiencing?

THE STRESS AND ANXIETY AMPLIFIERS

AMPLIFIER 1 – ENVIRONMENT

If employees do return to an office, it is going to be a very different environment from the one they left. This will amplify stress and anxiety.

There will be temperature checks before, during and after work. Elevator occupancy will be limited. There will be no sitting in a communal space like kitchens. There will be no hot desks. Numbers in meeting rooms will be reduced.

There will be restricted freedom of movement and social distancing at all times. There may be staggered work start and end times to reduce the number of employees occupying the office space at any particular time. There will be changes in routines.

This will be a very different place to work in and personal adjustments will be needed.

AMPLIFIER 2 – CONNECTION

Many people have missed the company of their work colleagues due to isolation and there could be anxiety and stress about reconnecting physically after an extended time and wondering if it is going to feel the same when they return to the office.

Depending on when the return to the office commences, we could have been working remotely for anything from 12-24 months or more. Meetings conducted via Zoom, MS Teams and the like, have become the norm.

There will be anxiety about how we will interact when we are in physical proximity again.

Will we feel safe or not?

For the same extended period of time, many of us may not have used public transport. There will be anxiety about returning to the long-forgotten commute.

Will we feel safe or not?

Will the organisation’s COVID-safe plan be sufficient to ensure that we don’t get infected and take the take it home with us? If I don’t think it is sufficient, will I be able to speak up and raise my concerns without fear? 

Will we feel safe or not?

AMPLIFIER 3 - THE DIVIDE

For many people the talk of a hybrid working environment – home and office – is welcomed due to the flexibility it provides.

For many the thought of having to work from home for any longer than necessary is just adding more stress and anxiety to what already exists.

Many employees working from home are doing it in shared rooms or bedrooms. Some are working out of the closet or the laundry. 

These employees may lack the facilities or sufficient internet capacity to work effectively from their homes. They do not have the bandwidth to support video call meetings. For some, they may have no internet.

This situation is being called the ‘great divide’. It is highlighting the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.

Higher income groups are more likely to be comfortable and happy working from home and whilst doing so get to develop their skills and advance their careers.

The lower income groups who are unable to work effectively from home will get left behind. They will not be able to keep up with their higher income colleagues and advance their skills and work experience.

These groups of employees are reliant on the assistance of their organization to provide them with the technology, tools and resources to work effectively when they are required to work from home. Whether that will be forthcoming or not just increases uncertain, stress, anxiety and fatigue.

AMPLIFIER 4 – STIGMA

In many organisations, before COVID-19 hit us, there was a stigma about working from home 

Often ‘working from home’ was equated to ‘shirking from home.’

‘Flexibility stigma’ was a term that researchers coined to describe employees who worked from home and felt they needed to put in extra hours in order to prove their dedication. They felt they needed to validate working from home because they deviated from the ‘ideal worker’ norm within the organization.

Now that most of us have been working from home for a long period of time, this stigma has been lifted.

But will the stigma return when we return to a working environment in which we can, and are encouraged to, make a choice?

We have already seen an increase in the use of cyber-surveillance by managers during this pandemic to make sure that their remote employees are actually working. This shows that many bosses have been unable to ‘trust’ in employees delivering on outcomes and are more focused on the hours they spend in front of the computer.

If that mindset prevails, and I believe it will, those employees who return to the office and are in the line-of-sight of the boss may be better thought of than those working from home.

The stigma returns.

This uncertainty of what the future of hybrid working will really look like as it plays out, just increases stress and anxiety.

AMPLIFIER 5 – SUPPORT AS IT WAS

Employees know the stress and anxiety this pandemic has had on them, their families, colleagues and friends. They know the impact and the damage it has caused. They can feel it and they can see it.

They are also very aware of the uncertainty the future holds whether they work from home or the office, or both.

My personal stress and anxiety are fuelled by the knowledge that despite what we have gone through, and we will be faced with, those tasked with leading others have not been equipped with the capability or competency to look after the mental well-being of their employees.

The sad thing is – their employees know it too.

Stress and anxiety are amplified when we know that there is little or no effective support within our organization.

We need people leaders who make a more conscious effort to connect with their people and ensure they are dealing with constant and uncertain change.

They need an understanding of each individual’s circumstances, so they have informed insight. They need to know that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with employee stress, fatigue and burnout.

Could your people leaders tell you the top 10 signs of employee burnout they should be looking for?

Even if they could, could they then tell you the necessary steps they would take to address the situation?

Organisational lack of care and compassion for its employees is probably the greatest amplifier of employee stress and anxiety.

Summary

Constant and uncertain change is our reality. It is a storm we need each and every employee to be able to weather.

We need to ensure they are resilient in the face of it.

If you don’t, it is like sending me to sea in gale force winds, asking me to weather that storm without providing me with a life jacket.

Thanks for that.

How are you going to increase your employee resilience?

Talk to me today and let us Unleash The Resiliator Within together.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am an organisational change management rebel with a cause. 

I am an author, sought after keynote speaker, coach mentor and facilitator. My latest and fourth book, "Balanced Diversity: A Portfolio Approach to Organisational Change" is available here.

I am passionate about enabling individuals and organisations to triumph in the face of constant and disruptive change and I do so through programs regarding organisational change, resilience, agility, leadership, transformation and adaptation.

To inquire about me working with you or your organisation please contact me here