Are you Ready? Office Return

Roughly 1/3rd workers already back in the workplace said the return-to-office shift negatively impacted their mental health, according to a survey done among 2000+ employed people.

Workers who experienced declines in their mental health were five times more likely to report taking on reduced responsibility at work. Meanwhile, another 1 in 3 workers said going back to an office had a positive impact on their mental health, with the primary benefit being they feel more engaged upon their return.

But negative responses to return-to-work plans, along with a now rising number?of Covid cases due to the contagious delta variant, are complicating employers' plans in India?to bring workers back to the office?in the fall.

Leaders will need to work quickly to address the rising challenges of their returned workforce and support those who are expected to come back soon: more than half of workers still remote but scheduled to return anticipate negative mental health impacts associated with the transition, such as anxiety and depression.

Biggest Concerns

Workers are most concerned for their physical health and safety when returning to the office, as well as losing a sense of autonomy gained while working remotely during the pandemic.

The 2 concerns are felt among both those who’ve returned and those anticipating their return.

• Workers want to know whether the office is physically safe to return to, for example if the building has improved its ventilation and air quality, or if shared spaces are being deep-cleaned more often. They’re also concerned about getting infected with the virus and transmitting it to at-risk family members at home.
• Parents and caregivers of children are more likely to be stressed about their return. Majority of parents back in the workplace say their return negatively impacted their mental health — compared with people without children — because they worry being in public could increase their chances of contracting the virus and spreading it to children at home who are too young to be vaccinated.

Meanwhile,?researchers have cautioned that returning to a physical workplace can increase burnout, which can show up in three main ways: EXHAUSTION (a depletion of mental or physical resources), CYNICAL DETACHMENT (a depletion of social connectedness) and a REDUCED SENSE OF EFFICACY (a depletion of value for yourself).

Want to Reduce Stress

Stressed-out workers say Additional Time Off, Flexible Work Schedules and Hybrid Work Arrangements would help them feel more supported in their return-to-office transition.

Bottom-line : It is recommend employers must address employee concerns about safety and flexibility directly.

On the health and safety front, researchers say?leaders would require regular COVID or antibody testing, social distancing and mask wearing. If they share a building with other employers, they also need to know what other organizations are doing in the workplace and share those details with employees transparently. In recent weeks, more employers?have started to require workers show proof of vaccination, or be subject to regular testing, in order to return to the office.

Instead of mandating a blanket return, researchers recommend employers should create flexible and hybrid work options and let employees figure out what will work best for them, with the expectation that they can adjust as needed during the pandemic and beyond.

On-site accommodations concept will be expected by the Employees. Such as providing more backup child-care options for working parents, better hybrid-work technology to manage teams, or on-site mental health providers and time to make use of them.

Return-to-work raises concerns of equity

Leaders should also be thinking how their return-to-work plans impact diversity, equity and inclusion. It is known fact employees who opt in to a voluntary return to the workplace are more likely to be younger men who don’t have children.

Then you have a concern of equity. Parents are more likely to experience stress and concern about whether taking advantage of flexible or hybrid work could negatively impact their careers.

But a blanket remote-only workplace may not be a win for equity either, particularly among people who live in smaller spaces and lack quiet or privacy at home and would benefit from returning to a formal workplace.

Role of leaders to model new expectations

A crucial piece of employee support will come down to whether leaders model the right behaviors and set realistic expectations. For example, if a workplace offers a hybrid schedule to encourage better work-life balance, managers can show they value the flexibility by opting into it, too.

Employees who see this in their leaders are more likely to feel comfortable opting into the accommodation.

“As an employer you have to consider, ‘what is my employee not going to like about this workplace, and how do I attract new ones?'”. “Right now, the labor market is in a position of employees being able to ask for a little more, and employers will have to figure out how to give it to them.”