Exploring workplace wellbeing trends for 2022

Speaker 1

Hello, and welcome to our first episode of Zevo Talks of the New Year. My name is Pamela Lennon, Psychologist and Wellbeing Consultant for Zevo Health. I’m joined here today, Sarah Keene, Physical Wellbeing Consultant for Zevo.

Speaker 1

Today, we’ll be looking at some wellbeing trends for 2022, looking at the challenges and opportunities we’ve had over the past two years and looking at what the new workplace environment might look like in the coming year.

Speaker 1

Thanks so much for joining me today, Sarah. So how’s the new year going for you so far?

Speaker 2

Oh, hi, Pam. Well, look, like so many of us, I’ve been recovering from COVID and it struck our household there on St. Stephen’s Day. And yeah, I guess it kind of leads into our first main topic on what so many employees and employers, most immediate health and well-being issue were confronted by is managing COVID, the volume of cases at the moment, but also what we’re really seeing is that recovery phase and the diversity in individuals’ experiences where some people are really bouncing back and it doesn’t take them long to get back to full steam,

Speaker 2

but that there is a significant percentage of people dealing with the aftermath physically and mentally with fluctuations in energy levels and mood and brain fog. And this is really posing as quite a significant challenge for individuals, obviously, depending on their own severity of experience, but also for employers.

Speaker 2

And so what we’re seeing as the kind of first big thing in the next coming months is how to put supports in place for employers in managing that and in managing staff that are having such a diverse experience in terms of their recovery phase, as well as how to manage employees who are actually really back to full steam and maybe unaffected by COVID and the demands placed on them that they’re compensating for perhaps having to work extra hours,

Speaker 2

depends on the industry and the context, but having to work extra hours and pull up. So what we’re seeing is we’re developing solutions around how to support both management in terms of developing leadership skills that can support them and their own stress levels as well, as well as well-being solutions like training courses that support positive health behaviours and improve self-awareness.

Speaker 2

I’m kind of the backbone of that. I won’t talk too much more on this, but it’s so pressing at the moment, would be that NHS have a guide, a three-piece guide, to help both individuals who are managing their illness to pace themselves, to prioritise and to plan, and then how that can also help in managers themselves as well, help the employees who are struggling to pace themselves, prioritize in fact.

Speaker 2

So that’s kind of like the first and most pressing issue we’re seeing. But I guess as an adjunct to that, on the backbone of the healthy staff having extra pressures, you’re probably seeing as well an increase in the demand for mental health support and is

Speaker 1

Absolutely, yeah. Just following on from the impact of, you know, psychologically of having COVID, of being afraid of catching COVID, of, you know, people working remotely over the last two years is that there are some worrying mental health trends out there, up to 60% of the Irish population, I think, have found that their mental health has decreased significantly since the pandemic.

Speaker 1

And even before this pandemic had kicked off, burnout had become a key issue or a psychosocial stressor in 2019. So you can imagine now two years later, where people are mostly working in isolation and not having that kind of face to face engagement with work colleagues that burnout would have significantly gotten worse.

Speaker 1

And also, what we’re seeing is high rates of, you know, emotional exhaustion being reported, particularly last year, even to the level of, you know, people experiencing this kind of existential crisis, you know, because we’re so used to, you know, working hard, then we’re planning holidays or events or weddings of friends, etc.

Speaker 1

And when people didn’t have this, and they were, you know, working in isolation that they kind of fell into this more of a state of languishing where they’re not necessarily flourishing or not necessarily in poor mental health state.

Speaker 1

But that is kind of like, you know, not motivated, nothing really to look forward to. And that’s where we see this, you know, high rate of attrition in the workplace, because people are just leaving their jobs without necessarily having another job lined up that would have, you know, previously been the norm there.

Speaker 1

Great resignation. Yes, yeah. And I think it’s maybe, you know, again, that remote working, not being in the office, has really made people reflect more on the work that they do and really evaluate the values of the organization and whether they align with what they really want to, particularly with that existential crisis, people have kind of reevaluated, you know, what’s the meaning of life, even like,

Speaker 1

why, you know, if this is all I’m doing working, and then maybe binge watching Netflix shows or on social media, you know, is this it, you know, not getting, particularly when we’re in that five kilometer restrictive zone as well.

Speaker 1

It really, I think, it feels like a lot.

Speaker 2

a lifetime of going away, but yeah, we’re still grappling with the… Yeah.

Speaker 1

think it has an impact. I think you had some stats on the percentage of those willing to possibly leave their current roles.

Speaker 2

It was a Microsoft work index 2021 report and it actually just feeds into the shift in work models but they did report that 58% of employees were willing to leave their current position about flexibility in working hours and both environment whether they could work from home or remotely or on site and yeah they were just willing to take the risk and just leave.

Speaker 2

So Pam as you’re aware in our national well-being survey top three ranked stressors were workloads, communication and management practices and that kind of leads into the second maintain here around mental health.

Speaker 2

Yeah

Speaker 1

Yeah, I’ve been listening to some podcasts on psychological health and safety. And basically, the thing is, is about how to understand what psychological safety in the workplace is, it sounds very wordy, it’s hard to imagine what it actually is.

Speaker 1

But it really is all about protecting mental health. It’s a preventative measure, instead of, you know, trying to maybe address stigma, which is more of a reactive kind of a response. But workload demands, communication, management practices are all what you would call psychosocial risks.

Speaker 1

And in each organization, there are different, there’s going to be different psychosocial risks, there could be cases of bullying, there could be just, you know, very demanding KPIs, you know, so much work for people to do.

Speaker 1

And then that leads to burnout, because it’s kind of an unsustainable way of working, you know, and what we’re really looking at here post pandemic is, how do you maintain your workforce? And how do you create a sustainable working environment?

Speaker 2

We’ve got to hear it now, aren’t there, Tom?

Speaker 1

Yeah, there was a just been released a new globally agreed standard. It’s the ISO 45,000 entry. And basically that sets out a set of principles by which organizations can work towards to prevent, you know, any psychosocial risks, where, you know, there’s different components of it where you can carry out a psychosocial risk assessment, where basically it’s like a health and safety risk assessment.

Speaker 1

But instead of looking for, you know, opportunities for trips and falls, it’s kind of pulling out where, you know, employees can report if they’re experiencing, you know, excessive workload demands, it creates a kind of a conversation or reported conversation with them and their manager, where, you know, just there can be an action then about how that might be rectified.

Speaker 1

Of course, there’s going to be individual cases where people might find work challenging, but it’s very important to highlight, you know, that root cause analysis of what’s causing this, you know, stress.

Speaker 2

Is it? Say that again, sorry. Oh, sorry. It’s almost like a checklist, you know, a guide,

Speaker 1

Yeah, and I suppose it makes it more objective rather than subjective and in a way kind of treating it like health and safety. I remember working in a place many years ago and the focus was quite strongly on health and safety in you know in an office environment that would be inherently physically safe you would think as opposed to a warehouse for example.

Speaker 1

But the lack of focus on psychological risks always kind of bamboozled me really because it was such a stressful environment. There was even trips and falls and accidents because of that high pressure, high stress environment and I just wondered why is the focus on something that is actually of much lower risk than the mental health impact of the work environment that was there.

Speaker 1

So I am delighted as a result to see you know this prioritization on psychological safety. You know unfortunately post-pandemic because it’s really kind of put a spotlight on mental health because of the challenges over the last two years.

Speaker 1

People are more comfortable about talking about you know mental health in the workplace and how it’s affected them trying to look after their children while trying to work as well. So I think it’s a very good thing to see coming across globally and just to mention it’s Australia and Canada that are really leading the way in the policy and guidelines for psychological safety but it’s something for 2022 that Zevor looking to create some services around that in terms of risk assessments and gaining accreditation with that ISO as well.

Speaker 2

So employers have the support and kind of have a framework or even know where to start with this. Where to start.

Speaker 1

you know what it is and how it applies into each individual organization. It’ll depend on the style, the industry and the size of the organization as well. So it’s always important to get that root cause and analysis of you know maybe doing a well-being audit of like what are the key issues here and how what’s so important especially with attrition in a lot of the McKinsey reports is like asking your employees how they’re feeling instead of assuming that this is what’s going on as well.

Speaker 2

in the dialogue.

Speaker 1

Which is so important and the importance of compassionate leadership and that empathy is more relevant and important now than ever before, I think, as well, rather than your process focus, you know, all about the job, you know, people are really searching for quality relationships with their colleagues and their managers and having feeling valued.

Speaker 2

Yeah, mental health that central centre stage and it’s really kind of on the back of what I just mentioned around the recovery of COVID mental health, y’all are so interdependent.

Speaker 3

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Speaker 3

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Speaker 3

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Speaker 2

So with the first two trends we’ve discussed recovery from COVID, mental health at the fore then, and these teams all of course, so interdependent and interwoven, it really feels that it leads into the kind of third big trend and the third topic, I guess, at the fore of most employers’ minds in coming once and yeah, into the rest of the year is this management of the hybrid work model and for some individuals working remotely long-term,

Speaker 2

which was never foreseen at the start, it was always a couple of months and then it just snowballs. And so what we’re seeing is like employees, a surge in employees’ demand and expectation for flexibility and the Microsoft 2021 work index of survey over 30,000 employees, it was like 70% of employees are demanding this hybrid work model.

Speaker 2

And for some employers, of course that’s possible depending again on industry and context, but for some employers that can be quite challenging, particularly those who want their employees showing up on site for things like innovation and that communication piece we spoke about, that it can be so much stronger in person.

Speaker 2

So another trend that we’re seeing in navigating this is like providing supports for remote workers, for managing hybrid setup because McKinsey reports that over 60% of companies don’t have a hybrid plan.

Speaker 2

We’re also seeing that the evolution of the office environment and the actual redesign of the workplace and that employees wanting, if they are gonna return to the office, that they have a lot of the perks or the features that were so lonely about working at home in the office.

Speaker 2

So we’re seeing things like, and I know this seems kind of incidental, but more casual dress code, for example, a shift in having more resiliency spaces available. How to, air quality is at the fore of so many- Ventilation, certainty.

Speaker 2

Ventilation, which was not on anyone’s radar, very few people’s radar two years ago. And so we’re seeing this, yeah, a real certain interest from employers around how can we make that office environment more enticing and not only from the health and safety perspective, as you mentioned before, but it’s like, how do you make create spaces, workspaces that actually really cultivate wellbeing?

Speaker 2

And so kind of dovetails on that ISO safety standards.

Speaker 1

And it kind of changes the whole workplace environment because if you’re working in that hybrid space, you want to bring people in for collaboration, for meetings, but also in those meetings, you’ll need your cameras and microphones because some people will be remote.

Speaker 1

So it’s going to be a challenge for management to manage this as well as contact tracing and managing of hot desks, who’s gonna be in, who isn’t. And so it will definitely be key to start planning how this might look or how it might be managed.

Speaker 1

And it’ll take a lot of flexibility as well and to accommodate for that flexibility and connectedness. I thought there were two key themes in the resource that were common true in terms of.

Speaker 2

lot of trial and error, a lot of trial and error. And I guess the key here is like personalization, isn’t it? Like, you know, some people want to be in the office and thrive there and others, and you know, it’s how to kind of support meeting the diverse needs and preferences is a big challenge.

Speaker 2

And just around the workplace piece as well, and the evolution of the the onsite and managing the hybrid, we are also seeing another big trend is a greater integration of technology in terms of supporting employees’ well-being.

Speaker 2

You know, with the COVID tracker app, for example, we saw how technology can play such a powerful part in promoting health and also supporting individuals through the challenge. So what we are also seeing is this translating into the workplace and employers now, and employees alike being more receptive and open to using technology and technological support.

Speaker 2

So such as even things like online EAP programs to talk with a counsellor, having your webinars courses, trainings, just at the touch of an app. And so we’re seeing how technology can be used by employers as a way to create sort of cohesion between staff that may be working mostly remotely, and those that are working on site.

Speaker 2

So just a tiny example of that will be something like our fittest workplace challenge, where you can have teams of employees that are some on site, seeing each other every day, but working closely with other employees who are working remotely towards a common goal, towards a challenge that’s novel and fun.

Speaker 2

And it seems like something like a two-week challenge, you know, it’s just an accessory. And yet now we’re seeing how actually it can play such a powerful part, a fundamental part in supporting that kind of cohesion collaboration.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely. And again, it’s that lack of connectedness we’ve had over the last year or two, lack of poor communication as well. So you can only imagine the development in, you know, technology for keeping people connected in a hybrid or a moat or, you know, onsite environment that mix is going to be really important, I think, that way as well.

Speaker 1

You had mentioned when we were chatting yesterday about financial wellbeing being a new trend that’s emerging.

Speaker 2

Yeah, so we’re seeing financial well being starting to feature in kind of these more holistic whole person approaches and programs that employers are implementing. So we’re going beyond just diet and exercise and really expanding that so we’re seeing that in 2022 that more employers are looking at supporting their employees financially through information and resources.

Speaker 2

But also looking at, you know, increasing PTO we’ve seen the mandatory sick leave coming in. So really appreciating how something like our finances is such a bedrock or foundation flagstone of our well being.

Speaker 2

And what like the, you know, there’s our national well being survey for example, showed that one of the positive impacts of COVID on well being was for some individuals their finances really improved.

Speaker 2

We have to appreciate is the diversity you know some, some individuals were really hit hard in the last two years on PEP or furlough whatever it may have been. And then other individuals have never been financially sounder so you know it’s back to the point we’re making at the very start, where, you know, you’re, as an employer having to accommodate such a diverse experience in your workforce.

Speaker 2

One large scale survey showed that 37% of technical professionals are living paycheck to paycheck and 57% are struggling financially, or have suffered significantly in the last two years so there is, as I said, a diverse range.

Speaker 2

There are very healthy but there is a worrying percentage of individuals financially struggling as an employer this is something to really factor in when you’re looking at promoting the health of your workforce and when you supporting your staff.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so people are at various stages across the scale of various scales of financial or mental well-being or physical health as well, so it’s, yeah. So I think in that instance you would need a kind of well-being strategy that accommodates for, you know, targets various areas, maybe having financial well-being training, maybe having your fitness workplace challenge, maybe your resilience training skills or mental health training or something that is a pick and mix that each of their employees can kind of,

Speaker 1

you know, opt in for if they find that it’s relevant to them. I think as well, just in terms of global trends and from what I’m reading in reports, is that well-being has to go move beyond your yoga classes and mindfulness classes.

Speaker 1

It has to be more ingrained into a well-being strategy where initiatives have, you know, an overarching theme for the year over the next three or four years and endorsed by leadership as well. It’s a time to really get serious about well-being.

Speaker 1

You know, you can imagine if people are burnt out, if the workload demands are so high, that giving them an extra day or a week off which some in the states have provided, it doesn’t, it falls short of being genuine about well-being because they’re going to come back to, you know, a high workload again or a backlog even, so it’s not really addressing the key issues of why those problems are there.

Speaker 1

You know, it has to be, as you said, a holistic approach and really, you know, looking at the organisational factors, you know, are there policies that could be created that would improve communication or, you know, iron out why workload is so high or demanding or supports for, you know, giving employees autonomy over how they do their work and that flexibility which keeps coming through as well about how important that is now for people who have been through a challenging two years and really want their work to work for them in a sense as well.

Speaker 2

Really, it’s like the systemic, you’re kind of talking about that culture shift, which kind of ties up nicely. And what we saw last year, an increasing number of employers that really want to confront exactly what you’ve just said, the deeper operational issues that are leading to imbalances and well being and kind of diminishing their their employees resources, and mentally and emotionally.

Speaker 2

And so yeah, that sincere culture shift, and the demand for employers really kind of taking that closer look. And the different tiers also like a well being program and offering trainings and information comes in on that, but on a kind of a more Yeah, like, on a more intensive guy.

Speaker 1

I often see trainings where it’s teaching leaders how to be a certain way, but it’s really, it just falls down to simply caring, or at least pretending to care about how your employees are, without being too invasive as well.

Speaker 1

But again,

Speaker 2

Yeah, sorry. As you know, like the work we’ve been doing with Alex Edmonds on our advisory board, he’s pioneered work in this field to show that the companies that really care, that even park the metrics to a certain extent and just choose, you know, place their employees and all stakeholder health and vitality at the fore, they inevitably profit their share.

Speaker 2

They might see in the first couple of years that there’s no immediate return, but the long-term share value in these companies exponentially increases. So it’s like doing good as that kind of core value inevitably will generate a more profitable, sustainable, successful business.

Speaker 2

He has a compelling, some compelling research on it and it’s worth checking out his…

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think overall, there’s so many positives of what’s evolving currently, you know, after those challenging two years, we have this, you know, hybrid model, you know, becoming available, you know, a change, a shake up of the traditional workspace as well, where, you know, our desks are practically our second homes, and, you know, and trying to bring a bit of, you know, bring back that connection and quality connection as well.

Speaker 1

It’s kind of a clean slate, almost, and a real change and aggression in, you know, that work is in some place that’s supposed to be tough and challenging, and you come home exhausted, and you have no energy for your family or friends, that it’s just really evolving now, and it’s a perfect time to really kind of develop a new way of working.

Speaker 1

So it’s, you know, even though we did drill into some, you know, root cause analysis, that overall, I think it’s a really positive shift globally for how we work.

Speaker 2

Yeah. The positive side of disruption. What is it called? Post-traumatic growth. Yes.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So thank you for listening to another episode of ZevoTalks and thanks to Sarah for joining me today. If you’d like to know more about psychological safety at work or managing the transition to hybrid working model or anything we’ve discussed today, you can reach out to us at zevohealth.com.