The Rise of Post-Furlough Blues
Stress and anxiety mental health issues to spike in the North West as redundancies are predicted for the region
The North West is predicted to have the highest cases of stress and anxiety as waves of redundancies are predicted in the region as employers are asked to contribute to furlough.
Last week figures from the Learning and Work Institute forecast the North West to be the most at-risk region in the UK for redundancies, as employers make the uncomfortable decision to contribute to furlough tapering or make redundancies.
Today, new research by Stay Nimble shows the impact on the region could be even greater than job losses — as employees who experience badly handled redundancy are more at risk of developing mental health issues.
One in five respondents in the North West claimed to have experienced anxiety following or during the redundancy process, and a further 25 per cent said it caused stress and panic attacks.
Of those surveyed in the region more than a quarter (27%) said they felt insecure and more than half saying the process left them feeling sad or no longer valued.
When asked if they felt they were treated poorly or had considered legal action following redundancy — almost half the people surveyed in the North West (46%) agreed.
Co-founder of social enterprise Stay Nimble, Dominic Atkinson, is urging the region’s business leaders to carefully consider their options regarding how they handle redundancy — advising that employees should get the same investment leaving the role as they would starting it.
An overwhelming three-quarters of people in the North West said having financial advice, career coaching and mental health support when exiting a business would have had a major impact on their future success.
Dominic Atkinson, who started Stay Nimble to provide digital career coaching and support to thousands of people across the UK, said:
“These findings demonstrate once again the devastating impact that redundancy can have on an individual, and our communities. Reflecting on the recent findings from the Learning and Work Institute forecasting a gap of 10,000 Job Centre Plus work coaches, it’s vital employers consider the part they can play to help people going through redundancy. Too many workers will slip through the cracks if we don’t mobilise all available career support professionals and point this towards areas of most need. There is a lot of focus on safeguarding the mental wellbeing of current employees, and we’re calling on employers to consider extending that safeguarding beyond the life of the employment contract in order to support our communities to ride out the next wave of this crisis.”
With 41 percent of respondents in the North West admitting they didn’t trust their employer to handle redundancy well, and over half said they would share a bad redundancy experience on social media, businesses need to consider the lasting impression they leave on an exiting employee as it could be reputationally damaging.
Dominic added: “Badly handled redundancy can also have a knock-on effect on ‘surviving’ employees. In the North West alone, our study showed 65 per cent of those avoiding redundancy felt they were negatively affected by the experience of their co-workers.
“From feeling like their own job was no longer safe to believing that their employer didn’t care about its people, the findings painted a bleak picture for the entire post-furlough workforce. We firmly believe that employers in the North West who ensure that an employee leaving gets the best possible transition support will be the organisations that thrive in a post-COVID world.”
Following the research, Stay Nimble has launched a whitepaper, Best Practice Offboarding, to help businesses offer employers advice for navigating post furlough redundancies.
Stay Nimble is also currently providing thousands of coaching sessions with Career Development Institute registered advisers at no-cost to workers recently made redundant due to the pandemic, made possible through corporate partnerships with major multinationals.
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact Verity Clarke at Aubergine.
Notes
Stay Nimble is an award-winning tech social enterprise supporting thousands of people to navigate career transitions through accessible and affordable digital career management support. Dubbed the ‘Headspace’ of career coaching, the Stay Nimble platform empowers mid-career adults to successfully navigate their working lives and helps businesses of all sizes to support their employees during redundancy.
Stay Nimble is a UK social enterprise, disrupting the career coaching space through accessible and affordable digital career management support. It was recently awarded the ‘Best use of Technology in Career Development’ at the UK Career Development Awards and is a finalist for the Nesta CareerTech Challenge, supported by the Department for Education.
Recognised by Seedrs as one of Europe’s brightest start-ups, Stay Nimble is on a mission to help everyone to find their purpose in the new world of work, and directs its activities to help society achieve four of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; No Poverty, Decent Work, Good Health and Wellbeing and Sustainable Communities.
For career guidance resources, tools for finding more rewarding work, and courses in our Learning Hub, register with Stay Nimble.
