How well are you caring for the emotional wellbeing of your team in difficult times?
If ever there was a year to test the mental health of our employees then it is 2020. Even the most sunny side up of us have had moments of struggle through lockdowns and job uncertainties. Back in March many organisations kicked in with actions to ensure employee wellbeing during lockdowns but as the impact of Covid 19 continues are these really effective? In a recent poll I ran 83% of working mothers said that “mental and emotional fatigue is setting in now” and anecdotal feedback from those that I coach is that their threshold for burnout is fast approaching. Initiatives taken by employers are well intentioned but are they doing enough?
Having led a team which dealt with the emotionally difficult job of dealing with often disturbing content on the internet I consulted with peers around the world on what they did to keep their team from emotional overload. Here are the top five things we put in place to ensure employee wellbeing during mental overload:
Alternate 1:1s with team members were a wellbeing discussion. Managers were instructed to put away the action items and have a more relaxed discussion around how direct reports were travelling.
An external coach held completely confidential sessions with team members each quarter. The flexibility to discuss wellbeing matters as well as performance and work gave the team someone beyond their management and peers to use as a sounding board.
In lieu of standard EAP providers (who often had fairly average feedback) we engaged personally selected counsellors to refer team members to.
Team members were regularly encouraged to seek counselling where they showed signs of strain either at work or in their personal lives, to the point that over 80% of the team took up this offer. Sometimes employees were actually requested to go to counselling by their manager. During a time of significant emotional load as some of the team responded to the online events of the Christchurch terrorist attacks those team members were mandated to go to external counselling.
All employees were given access to a fully funded mindfulness course which they could access online or at a location close to home or work so that it could be done at a time and in a learning style most convenient to them.
So yes, the counselling budget was high. But that is only part of the story. By far the greater challenge as a manager is spotting when one of your team is struggling. Often this does not come in the form of a clear disclosure. Line managers therefore must be aware of the “iceberg” effect - that the behaviour being displayed above the water is often symptomatic of the emotions taking hold underneath the water. This is something that my team was well trained in as part of their conflict resolutions skills dealing with difficult customers. It is equally necessary when working with staff who are struggling. So when a team member is showing signs of unhappiness, stress or anxiety it is always best to focus on the behaviour, not the person. “You are really negative at the moment” is not helpful. “You seem to be struggling right now, what is going on for you?” is less accusatory and more inclined to an atmosphere where someone will open up.
Herein lies the problem facing many managers right now. You cannot expect that atmosphere to be created overnight. If there has not been a culture of psychological safety where team members feel that they can speak up and be honest without it being held against them and worse still, will not be kept private, then they will not start now, no matter how many emails and newsletters you send reiterating that their wellbeing is important to you.
So this is where leadership teams need to step up:
It's obvious - but have you reviewed your policy for employee welfare and updated your plan in light of the Covid 19 impact?
How have you involved your people in the design or redesign of that policy and plan? Have you really stopped and asked them? Or have you rolled out an annual survey with little direct feedback and worse still lack of timely follow through?
Do performance appraisals of managers and in fact all team members address how they positively contribute to the team culture and support of their colleagues ?
Where managers, or in fact leaders, are not showing the right EQ for the difficulties of people management this year, what are you doing to address that? Too often weaknesses in managers and executives treatment of their team are overlooked for strong balance sheet performance
Is employee wellbeing a standing agenda item at management and executive meetings? In fact where does it factor on the board meeting agenda?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as defined in the Business Dictionary is "a company's sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates”. In 2020 perhaps leadership teams need to be focusing their CSR efforts more internally on how they can help communities by better supporting their employees and their families. Until then no amount of sponsorship of grassroots soccer teams or donations to community organisations can have the impact on the daily lives of our community than truly looking after your team will.
