Addressing Workplace Mental Health and Wellness During Reopening

What you need to know as an employer

It’s happening everywhere. People are growing tired of being trapped inside. We long to go back to enjoying meals with friends, sporting events, concerts, conferences, and life the way it was pre-coronavirus. We know it’s what we want. But are we ready?

As some states begin the reopening phase, it brings up a new challenge that many didn’t predict-people may not be mentally ready for life to “return to normal”. In fact, a recent CBS poll found that only 57% of employed people felt comfortable returning to work.

As an employer, you may be experiencing this yourself. You’re excited at the idea of getting back to “business as usual” but then the what-ifs start to run through your mind. I won’t list them here because we all have a list like this running through our heads, and I don’t want to give you anything new to add to it.

So as you look to reopen and bring employees back into the office, it’s important to realize that if you want to support your employees’ mental health and wellness during this transition, you can’t think of it as “business as usual”. It’s not.

Your employees are experiencing trauma

We are living through traumatic times right now. Trauma is a world that you might only associate with things like war, death, abuse, or large natural disasters. But those aren’t the only traumatic situations and experiences people can have.

Our current reality includes large-scale health scares, financial trouble, political unrest, and isolation. People have no assurance of what the future months hold. Even when things start to look a little more promising, talk of a “second wave” brings the situation into reality again.

Being aware of this can help you as you interact with your team. Your employees aren’t mindless robots that can show up to work unimpacted by the world around them. They are human. Even before this pandemic began, they needed to be viewed this way. But our “leave your problems at the door” philosophy has made it difficult for employers to think this way. If you were operating like that before, it needs to change now.

Understanding the trauma that’s happening around us and viewing people through this lens can help you build empathy for your staff. Your empathy builds trust with your employees. And this is crucial for addressing mental health and wellness in your organization.

Here are some things to keep in mind and some ideas on how to make the reopening transition as smooth as possible.

Understand there are different levels of anxiety

Not everyone has the same views of what’s happening right now. Most fit into one of the following groups:

• Ready to go: Some are comfortable moving about and interacting in public as the reopening phases occur.
• Wait and see: Others are uncertain if it’s a good idea. They prefer to sit back and see how it goes for a few weeks before joining in with others.
• It’s too soon: Some don’t think it’s a good idea. They’re afraid of getting sick and dying or exposing a loved one to the virus unknowingly. They don’t believe we should be rushing back into the old “normal”.

There isn’t a right or wrong stance. The truth is, no one really knows what to expect as we move forward.

You may have two employees in the same position who feel very differently about coming back. They have different levels of anxiety. On one side of the scale, you have those who are mildly anxious. On the opposite end, there are people experiencing severe anxiety. What concerns one employee might not concern another.

You cannot expect everyone to feel the same way.

Remember everyone has a unique situation at home

You can’t properly address workplace mental health and wellbeing without thinking about what your employees’ home life looks like. Remember, they can’t just leave their problems at the door.

The coronavirus pandemic has created unusual situations for home life. Children are finishing the school year through distance learning at home. If you have employees with children, they’re being impacted by this on a daily basis. If you expect them to come back to work at your location, they may find themselves stuck without a daycare open to fall back on for childcare.

Or you may have employees whose elderly parents are living with them or a partner or child with health problems. They are living with individuals who are high-risk for developing serious complications from coronavirus. They’re afraid to return to work, be exposed to the virus, and carry it out to their loved ones unknowingly.

And you may have individuals who live alone and can’t wait to get back to the office. Everyone is different.

You may need to customize your reopening to each person

You may be tired of hearing it, but these are “unprecedented times”. Your employee handbook probably doesn’t have a section for how you’re going to proceed after your business has been working remotely or shut down for months because of a worldwide pandemic. (If it does, you’re way ahead of the game!)

Because everyone has different levels of anxiety and unique home situations, you may need to customize your reopening plans for specific employees. What works for one might not work for another.

Is that efficient? Definitely not!

As a man who likes to have systems in place for my own business, I completely understand why the idea of customizing the plan to each employee doesn’t sound like something you want to do. But I’ll remind you that this isn’t “business as usual”. If you want to continue to build trust with your employees, you need to show them that you care.

We’re all unique people with unique needs. Talk to your employees and find out what they need in order to have a successful return back to the workplace. You may not be able to accommodate all of their requests, but you can explore the options and possibilities.

Celebrate the small wins as you reopen

Your team might not be knocking the goals out of the park as you transition back to the office. Anxiety and mental health challenges play a role in productivity levels. Expect it.

Instead of pushing your employees harder in order to meet expectations that were set before the pandemic, shift your focus. Start celebrating your team’s small wins. Acknowledge the work they are doing and any positive progress that is made.

This helps to build trust and unity within the team. Encourage them to celebrate together. Team building activities might look a little different right now, but it doesn’t mean they don’t need to happen. During quarantine, I shifted my presentations from in-person to virtual in order to keep supporting workplace mental health during the current situation. Explore your options on how to reconnect your staff together after they’ve been apart and working alone for months.

Educate yourself and your team about mental health

Anxiety and depression are hitting highs for many people because of this pandemic. The suicide hotline saw an increase in calls since coronavirus started. As I shared earlier, you might have employees who are struggling right now in ways they never have before.

It’s important that you learn how to recognize the signs of mental health challenges and that you educate your employees as well. Remember that a decrease in work performance could be a sign of someone struggling with anxiety and depression. Your employees might not need correction and direction, they may need support and guidance.

I have some mental health resources available that you can use and share with your employees.

It can also help to make sure that they understand their health benefits. Let them know what type of mental health services are available to them through their insurance or EAP. And don’t just tell them the basics, share the steps on what they need to do if they want to take advantage of it. Make it as easy as possible for them to get the help they need.

You might have employees who experience higher levels of this when they have to return to work. Find ways to educate your team about the signs of mental health challenges and what steps they can take to care for themselves.

Encourage employees to share with you

The best way to know how to support your employees is to talk to them. There are plenty of managers and leaders out there who say they have an “open-door policy” but employees know it’s not really true. They don’t feel welcome to share what’s really going on because they’re supposed to “leave their problems at the door”.

In a recent blog post, I shared about the owner of a company who focused on supporting his employees’ mental health. He started a program called “Bring your problems to work”, where he encourages employees to share what’s going on in their lives and how they need support. Instead of trying to hide their personal problems, they make their employer aware of them so they can work together to figure out how to solve them.

As you reopen and transition, let your employees know that they’re welcome to discuss their challenges with their manager or the HR department. Then see what the company can do to help them get the help they need.

Encourage self-care

While some of you are getting ready to reopen businesses that were shut down or slow for months, there are others of you who have been swamped with work. Your employees may have been at home but they were working harder than ever while trying to balance life in the midst of it. Some of your employees are essential workers and never had a break.

Your employees may be burned out.

Make sure your employees are aware of the importance of self-care. Encourage them to do the things that they need to in order to take care of themselves. Not only does this include things like getting enough sleep, physical activity, and eating right, it also includes activities that help them to rest and recharge.

Be consistent with your messaging and actions

If you weren’t in the habit of promoting mental wellness in the workplace before the pandemic, your employees may not trust your efforts right away. Stick with it and be consistent.

Don’t just expect to say it once and have them believe you. Ask often, “How can the company support you right now?” Provide them with examples of solutions that you can offer. Take the initiative to support your employees.

And remember, if you say that you have an open-door policy but brush them off when they try to address a problem with you, they won’t keep coming back. You’ll lose their trust. This is the last thing you want.

Addressing workplace mental health now will help you long-term

While your reopening phase may only last for a certain period of time, the messaging and actions that you implement now can benefit your company long-term. You can use this time to set an important precedent for how you’ll continue to support employee mental health and wellness within your organization.

We may not know a lot about what the future looks like at this time, but we do know that mental health was already a problem in the workplace. In fact, mental health challenges like anxiety and depression were already costing the global economy $1 trillion each year because of decreased productivity levels.

Your company can’t afford NOT to support your employees’ mental health and wellness during this reopening transition. Your bottom line and your employees will notice the difference.

For more information on how to promote mental wellness in the workplace, download the FREE checklist: “How to Support Workplace Mental Wellness as You Reopen”.

Originally published at https://www.mikeveny.com.