“What mental health needs are more sunlight, more candour, and more unashamed conversation…” – Glenn Close.
What are you feeling? A simple question, yet many find it difficult to answer since the pandemic and the impact that it has had on our daily lives. The unclear and uncertain times we find ourselves in have impacted the most intricate and important details in our lives which has left a mark on global health and emotional well-being.
Mental health is something we all seem to put on the backburner in the workplace. An uncomfortable concept that no one really wants to talk about. When mental health becomes a challenge, it is swept under the rug. Once it is exposed, it seems to be associated with feelings of embarrassment and shame. We do not prioritise our mental wellness, and it profoundly impacts our professional and personal lives. McKinsey’s latest research indicates that 62% of employees on a global platform consider mental-health issues the key challenge they have experienced during the Covid-19 crisis. The same report highlights that employers are scrambling to keep up and meet employee’s needs. However, 96% of companies on a global spectrum have provided additional mental-health resources to support employees. Although employers are trying to drive the mental health bus, only one in six employees reported feeling supported by these additional mental-wellness-support systems that have been in place.
Mental health should be unleashed in the workplace. Organisations need to create awareness, educate, and have leaders speak up about mental well-being. Once awareness has been created, definite actions and resources need to be provided to ensure that employees are supported. The awareness of mental health should cut the red tape and allow us to pull out the white flag and surrender when faced with related challenges. We are human above everything else. Our personal and professional lives are so deeply intertwined that it is almost impossible to treat them as two siloed entities. We can no longer treat these two integral parts of our being as mutually exclusive when they undoubtedly and significantly influence one another.
Company leaders need to be the driving force that propels awareness and action towards mental health in the workplace. The more we talk about mental health in an open and empathetic manner, backed up by significant action, the sooner leaders will be able to break the stigma related to mental illness. And this will provide employees with the platform to access support and guidance.
Some leaders have managed to get it right. Lenny Mendonca, the former chief economic and business advisor to California governor, Gavin Newsom, openly stepped down and attributed his resignation to his struggles with debilitating depression. Three weeks prior to his step-down, he checked into a hospital for an overnight stay. Mendonca recalls saying the following to his team while in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic: “I told myself and my team that we all have to operate at 120 per cent… This meant 80-hour work weeks and barely sleeping.” Upon reflection, he soon realised the repercussions of his actions. He wrote: “What does it say about me that I have a mental health issue? It says that I am human.”
What exactly happens to humanity when we live in a pandemic? What happened to our people? When humans go through a crisis, it triggers a variety of physiological and psychological responses. Some of these responses include heightened sensitivity and distress. During a crisis as big as the pandemic, people experience a mass-scale trauma response: collective fears and existential threats that disrupt our equilibrium. Being isolated from loved ones weakens the bonds we previously had, which often provided a sense of emotional support. With this comes collective panic, prompting a “flight and affiliation” response where individuals desperately seek out familiarity in terms of physical spaces and contacts. We are collectively grieving. We have lost our sense of security. This triggers feelings of shock, terror, denial, depression, and anger. Does this not sound like a crisis of humanity to you? We can no longer choose to ignore the cries of people in need.
People are crying out for help. “I’m completely burned out.” “I’ve lost my sense of optimism.” “My mental health has significantly deteriorated. Coping with the pervasive anxiety and worry during this pandemic takes up a lot of bandwidth. Needing to work through that means I am expending more energy than normal to manage the noise in my head. It is exhausting. I am too tired to work out, I am too tired to FaceTime with friends or family, I am too tired to cook healthy meals.” – 36-year-old woman who works as a manufacturing manager
The list goes on. People are not only experiencing normal burnout. It is so much greater than that. It has been termed “Pandemic Fatigue”. Research conducted reveals the detrimental effects of the pandemic, with 75% of employees in the United States reporting symptoms of burnout. The Asia-Pacific region reports nearly a third are experiencing burnout. In European countries, employees who rate their mental health as “very poor” are more than three times higher than prior to the onset of the crisis. Mental health issues are reportedly going to steadily rise as we navigate our way through the pandemic. If this is what the rest of the world is experiencing, what do you think the South African workforce is experiencing?
A recent study conducted by Harvard Business Review included a new survey that was completed by 1,500 people across 46 different countries. The results indicate that the vast majority of people are struggling with general workplace well-being as they are still finding themselves while stuck in the midst of a pandemic. The struggles we are experiencing are affecting our mental health. They involve other key concepts like burnout, unsustainable workload, decreased or absent sense of supportive community and the overwhelming feeling that you are no longer in control of your personal and work lives.
This extensive research study uncovered multiple responses, themes and subthemes. The data revealed key themes and insights. An overwhelming number of people indicated a decline in mental health and experiencing challenges of feeling lonely and isolated. On the bright side, the study also uncovered that some individuals experienced an increase in their well-being. This could be a great start for organisations to pinpoint aspects and concepts that should be practically applied in the workplace in their fight against mental illness. The illustration below clearly indicates that 85% of people feel that their general well-being has declined since the onset of Covid-19. A staggering 50% of that decline is attributed to mental health.
Source: Harvard Business Review. (2021). What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-being, in 12 Charts. Retrieved from What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-Being, in 12 Charts (hbr.org)
Not only do we find ourselves amidst a pandemic, we really find ourselves in the middle of a mental-health crisis. We have reached a crossroads where it is not just about coping. As Albert Einstein said, “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”. Businesses and organisations have the opportunity to do more than just help their people cope. They have the power to allow their people to flourish even in a pandemic. The way we have responded to the pandemic can only lead you to wonder about the possibilities and changes in our everyday lives and the way we work in the future. There is hope. However, there is one thing that organisations need to make a priority now more than ever –their people.
Source: Harvard Business Review. (2021). What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-being, in 12 Charts. Retrieved from What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-Being, in 12 Charts (hbr.org)
Not only do we find ourselves amidst a pandemic, we really find ourselves in the middle of a mental-health crisis. We have reached a crossroads where it is not just about coping. As Albert Einstein said, “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”. Businesses and organisations have the opportunity to do more than just help their people cope. They have the power to allow their people to flourish even in a pandemic. The way we have responded to the pandemic can only lead you to wonder about the possibilities and changes in our everyday lives and the way we work in the future. There is hope. However, there is one thing that organisations need to make a priority now more than ever –their people.
By Nadia Daniel
Sources:
Forbes. (2021). Building The Foundation For Mental Wellness In The Workplace. Retrieved from Building The Foundation For Mental Wellness In The Workplace (forbes.com)
Harvard Business Review. (2021). What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-being, in 12 Charts. Retrieved from What Covid-19 Has Done to Our Well-Being, in 12 Charts (hbr.org)
McKinsey & Company. (2020). Mental health in the workplace: The coming revolution. Retrieved from The revolution in mental health care | McKinsey
McKinsey & Company. (2020). Tuning in, turning outward: Cultivating compassionate leadership in a crisis. Retrieved from Cultivating compassionate leadership during Covid-19 | McKinsey
McKinsey & Company. (2021). The priority for workplaces in the new normal. Retrieved from The priority for workplaces in the new normal? Well-being (mckinsey.com)
