Return to Work: How to ensure optimal worker mental health

This feature is the last installment of our Return to Work series. Over the last few weeks, COS has been speaking with safety pros from all industries to help businesses and organizations come up with the best strategy for bringing employees safely and healthily back to the workplace. Previous features can be found on safety strategy, air quality, the hybrid work model, back to the office and video interviews.

Workers in all industries have been affected by the pandemic.

Healthcare employees have been working long hours, experiencing issues such as burnout. Those working in grocery stores or other customer-facing jobs may be stressed due to continued contact with clients, and fears of catching the virus.

For those working from home, there have been different stressors. Young families managing children while maintaining normal nine to five hours may feel overwhelmed. Those living alone may be feel lonely or isolated.

Isolation and loneliness

Indeed, for those working from home, the virtual world has been a solution – but it has not worked for everyone.

“A lot of those watercooler conversations, that social capital that we used to build in the workplace, was lost. A lot of employees have been feeling isolated and lonely during this time,” says Katharine Coons, National Workplace Mental Health Specialist, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).

Coons says that it is probably too soon to realize the full impact of COVID-19 as a lot of research around mental health and the pandemic is still being done.

One silver lining is that the pandemic has pushed organizations to think about employee mental health, says Coons, “because there was a large chunk of this past year and a half where employees were really struggling, and employers couldn’t look away.”

Employers need to be mindful of the fact that people in their organization are struggling, and recognize how challenging this last year has been (and will most likely continue to be over the next few months).

Compassion

Now, with the return to a physical workplace imminent for many workers, this understanding is needed more than ever. And indeed, employee mental health will largely depend on how the employer and organizational leadership approached the topic.

“I think that we need to be approaching mental health and our understanding of mental health and

mental illness the same way we approach physical health and physical illness,” says Coons. “Mental health doesn’t discriminate.”

Part of this is being mindful of the stigma that we attach to mental health challenges. Compassion, empathy and understanding among senior management and leadership is key.

“[They] really have a big opportunity to step up and show leadership in a way of recognizing that mental health is something that needs to be at the forefront of psychological health and safety in general in the workplace. And also appreciate that employees will have different experiences,” says Coons.

“We really can’t apply a one-size-fits-all when it comes to mental health, and even flexibility or accommodation in the workplace,” she says.

Embrace change

So how can employers best proceed to ensure optimal mental health conditions for employees?

If employers are wishing to bring workers back to the physical workplace, Coons says that there needs to be a certain measure of flexibility: “As much as we can, a gradual return to work, as flexible as you can provide to your employees, will be the best option for them to work through that transition,” she says.

Coons also says that employers should have a prepared communication strategy around the transition, saying that that it is important to share return to work details with employees as soon as possible.

“Letting employees known as soon as you can, as early you can, as transparently as you can” will allow them to adjust on their own time as well and have all the tools that they need, she says.

Lastly, leadership should develop options for health and wellness and encourage people to use the resources that are available to them (e.g. EAP programs).

Ultimately, Coons says that this is an exciting time for organizations who have gone through an immense amount of change during the pandemic:

“We don’t have to go back to the ways things exactly were, not everything was perfect before. Employers, managers and senior leaders have a great opportunity to really reimagine what the workplace looks like and really incorporate some new strategies and new elements of a psychologically health and safe workplace.”