‘It’s a huge opportunity to create the workplace that we really want to be at, and create the team dynamic that we really want to have’
With COVID-19 having an impact on all workers at the same time, every employer could be dealing with troubled employees.
Mary Ann Baynton, director of collaboration and strategy for Workplace Strategies for Mental Health, compliments of Canada Life, in Toronto, spoke about the serious issue with Canadian HR Reporter recently.
“In normal times, we would expect some employees to be dealing with a life-altering stressor but what we’re faced with now is every employee is dealing with a life-altering stressor for a year,” she says. “It’s really going to take a lot of collaboration and engagement to determine what’s best for your team.”
We’re not going back to the way things were, we’re going back to the way things will be, says Baynton.
“It’s not just a bit of a challenge, it’s also a huge opportunity to create the workplace that we really want to be at and create the team dynamic that we really want to have. This is a huge opportunity to reset.”
Baynton will be giving a keynote speech, “Navigating the perfect COVID storm – anxiety, burnout, stress,” during the upcoming HRD HR Mental Health Canada online event on May 11.
For HR professionals, it’s important to understand that the effect of the pandemic lockdown has been unique for each person, says Baynton.
“What’s important is not to paint all employees with the same brush.”
For example, some people will come back to work excited to be socializing again and getting out of their home, she says.
But for others, that return-to-work scenario will bring “real anxiety and stress about the social interaction; some will be very sad to leave their home and have to go back to the commute,” says Baynton.
Mary Ann Baynton
“The fears and concerns obviously can be about exposure to the virus or to other illnesses but it also can be [about] starting over — that social anxiety for people who have been used to working on their own and now they go back to what may have been the office politics from before [and] maybe they liked working without somebody looking over their shoulder.”
Watching for mental exhaustion
Employees are facing these stresses on a daily basis and this means there is a real possibility of mental exhaustion. But there are obvious things to be watching for, according to Baynton.
“There’s several signs of burnout but what you want to look for is a reduction in energy, reduction in focus, and reduction in motivation or enthusiasm for the work; those are the three main signs that we can see from outside.”
To help workers cope, it’s important for HR professionals to first talk through that anxiety with employees, she says.
“We have a checklist we’ve created about how to talk about fears and concerns around returning to so-called normal work, and how to work with the employees to find solutions. That conversation helps to engage employees in envisioning a brighter, safer future for themselves at work.”
The other point of the conversation is then coming up with very practical and useful solutions, says Baynton.
The level of burnout is growing among workers, found a recent Microsoft survey, and 80 per cent of Ontarians believe there will be a mental health crisis post-pandemic, according to another report by the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Reorientation, reintegration
Once employee fears have been addressed and workers come back into the workplace, there might have to be a period of acclimatization for certain employees, says Boynton, and it’s up to HR to lead that training initiative.
“When we have people off on leave for 12 weeks or more, then we are supposed to be looking at reorientation, reintegration and even retraining. And so all of those things could become an issue here. Just because we’ve done the work for many years, it doesn’t take us long to forget all of the steps when we come back. If all they’re doing is working on a laptop, they’ve adjusted their workspace. Now, they’re going to go back and they have to adjust again,” she says.
On the brighter side, it’s possible that the pandemic has really changed the way many employers and team leaders talk about coping strategies and well being, says Baynton.
“It’s one of the hidden silver linings here is that we all understand that our mental health affects our energy and focus, and our energy and focus affects our productivity.”
