KR HR & TRAINING NEWS ARTICLES

The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 is loneliness. Coming out of a pandemic with its series of lockdowns and increased homeworking, this is a topical subject.

Our HR Coordinator Kimberley shares thoughts around how employers can support employees’ mental wellbeing in the new hybrid world of work.

The theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is loneliness. In 2017, the New Economics Foundation estimated that loneliness costs UK employers up to £2.5 billion every year whilst the Mental Health Foundation found that that almost a quarter of UK adults experienced loneliness as a result of covid-19 restrictions potentially raising the personal and professional cost of loneliness even higher. Whilst the lifting of restrictions means many workers have returned to working with their colleagues in person, many employers and their employees are getting to grips with a new hybrid working model as individuals increasingly expect more flexibility in a competitive job market.

Flexible hybrid models of working alleviate many of the more traditional stresses and concerns of workers balancing work and personal demands, not to mention savings on the costs of commuting, but may not completely expel the mental health concerns surrounding loneliness, as experienced by many during the periods of pandemic enforced lockdown.

There is a risk that remote workers may feel isolated from colleagues in the office and may be unintentionally excluded from development opportunities due to their physical absence at impromptu meetings as people chat over coffee or bump into each other in the hallway, resulting in an unbalanced sense of moral between those working remotely and those working together in a collaborative space.

HOW CAN EMPLOYERS HELP TO REDUCE LONELINESS IN THE NEW HYBRID WORLD?

Mind recognises that building good relationships is key to improving your wellbeing and preventing loneliness. Peer support from colleagues is an effective measure to prevent loneliness at work. Finding ways for colleagues to continue to collaborate, professionally and socially, is important when considering a hybrid working model. Promoting socialising when gathered together at the main place of work is a simple, but effective tool and encouraging team lunches, catch-up coffees, or tea-time briefings can help ensure all employees are welcomed into the team.

Similarly, setting up peer buddy systems for new or at-risk workers can help develop meaningful relationships between colleagues that are able to overcome the challenges of remote working, giving them confidence to start a video call or drop each other a message when not physically working together.

Finally, using technology, where available, to allow those working remotely to virtually join meetings gives team members the confidence to work remotely without the fear of missing out.

Embedding the above successfully will require a new skillset – and mindset – from your line managers in terms of managing hybrid teams, role modelling behaviours and being able to identify signs and symptoms of poor mental health. Talk to us about how to develop your teams to thrive in the new hybrid world.

For more information and tips on managing loneliness visit Mind’s website: www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/loneliness/tips-to-manage-loneliness

Gov.uk offers some suggestions for tackling loneliness in the workplace: www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-and-loneliness/employers-and-loneliness#loneliness-and-employment–what-we-can-do

The Marmalade Trust is a national loneliness charity. Various practical guides, including one for employers, can be found on their website: www.marmaladetrust.org

Take a look at the Mental Health Foundation’s report on loneliness in the UK.