By Dr Kate Daley, Interim Psychology Lead at Unmind
Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, the majority (68%) of British employees had never worked from home. It’s been over a year since the first national lockdown, and as we begin to look forward to our ‘new normal’, a new YouGov report shows over half of Brits (57%) would now prefer to be able to continue working remotely. And while working from home has clear advantages (lie-ins and lunchtime walks, anyone?), it also poses potential mental wellbeing risks, especially when it comes to loneliness and isolation. A study conducted by the RSPH revealed people who switched to working from home as a result of Covid-19 experienced health and wellbeing impacts, with 67% stating they feel less connected to colleagues.
To anticipate those wellbeing challenges, it can be helpful to focus on adapting existing, potentially unhelpful habits developed since lockdown, in order to form the right habits. Some studies suggest it takes an average of 66 days for a routine to become a habit, which might feel like a big investment of time. But, there are a number of things employers can do to support employees in embedding behaviours into their daily work patterns so they can turn their existing habits into more positive ones – which will help them to thrive in a post-lockdown world.
Proactivity is the key to this new era of work
One of the most effective steps HR leaders can take to promote employee wellbeing is putting in place a proactive mental health strategy. To mitigate against negative cycles of low resilience, high stress, and low performance, companies need to act early and focus on prevention, and help factor healthy work habits into daily work routines.
Small steps can make the biggest difference; and we’ve seen great examples throughout the pandemic of ways in which employers have tried to be more proactive. Freshfields, for instance, has embedded a ‘Take Ten’ initiative, where employees are encouraged to shorten meetings and to use the time saved to take a screen break, stretch, complete an Unmind tool or go for a brisk walk.
How to personalise and scale up initiatives
It’s fair to say that one size will never fit all with employee wellbeing, so initiatives like Freshfields’ Take Ten might not be suitable in every organisation or scenario. Broadly speaking, mental wellbeing is influenced by seven key areas: fulfilment, coping, calmness, happiness, connection, health and sleep. These seven elements feed into our physical, social and psychological wellbeing, or the ‘whole person’. Taking a whole-person approach enables employees to pick and choose the relevant support based on their personal hopes and fears about returning to the workplace. This can then be applied consistently, until it’s embedded as habitual behaviours.
For a remote workforce, it’s even more important for employers to promote a healthy work-life balance by focusing on the physical separations, as well as the mental. The Virgin Media team actively encourages employees to use the time previously spent commuting to do something for themselves – such as going for a run, having a more relaxed breakfast to fuel them up for the day or even simply calling a colleague or friend for a chat. It’s these sorts of personal touches employers should be embedding into the company culture, which can make all the difference to ensuring employee mental wellbeing stays healthy, and potentially unhelpful habits are re-formed.
Company size isn’t a barrier
For larger companies, a personalised approach may seem more challenging. But mental health platforms can offer employees a safe space to learn about and nurture their own mental health, without the fear of judgement and stigma. At the same time, HR teams and line managers have access to aggregated anonymous wellbeing data, which monitors and measures workforce sentiments, and can help inform their decisions on applying or adapting mental health initiatives in a company to offer personalised support to each employee.
The adage, ‘We’re in the same storm, but not the same boat’ sums up the current tone of society quite nicely. That is why HR leaders must take a more individualised and proactive approach to employee wellbeing, by introducing company-wide initiatives – that can be adopted on a personal basis – to transform existing unhealthy habits, to healthy work habits. As society starts to reopen, these healthy habits will help us not just to survive but thrive while our Covid-19 experiences fade into our memories.
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Source: http://hrnews.co.uk/why-forming-healthy-work-habits-are-vital-to-life-after-covid-19/
