How to develop a wellbeing strategy to tackle the effects of Covid-19 on your workforce
A top priority is to support your employees in this sombre reality. In its most simplistic terms, this boils down to the following:
- Gaining an understanding of the deeper impact of Covid-19 on your workforce.
- Developing strategies based on this understanding to support employees’ health and wellbeing.
What is the impact of Covid-19 on employees?
The pandemic has changed physical and cultural environments for everyone in employment. We continue to feel the impact of stress, job insecurity, reduced social contact and increased chance of burnout.
One positive common thread is the awareness we’ve all gained around the importance of living a healthy life and the beneficial impact we have when we support each other. Engaging your employees in honest and open communication to collect information based on their personal stories, will deliver deeper understanding around the level of impact you need to address.
- Mental impact: The deep impact of the pandemic on mental and emotional health has been widely researched and reported. In addition to those coping with bereavement, employees may be feeling the ongoing impact of stress, anxiety and depression.
- Physical impact: There may be cases where those who have contracted the virus continue to suffer with significant chronic physical effects, such as breathing difficulties and fatigue. For others, homeworking has exacerbated the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease arising from a more sedentary lifestyle. Poor posture caused by unsuitable work environments can lead to musculoskeletal problems. In addition, undetected health concerns create a future risk as people shy away from investigating any physical warning signs.
- Financial impact: A widespread consequence of the pandemic is the financial pressure arising from job losses, pay cuts, furlough schemes coming to an end and the looming prospect of rising taxes. From retirement plans going awry to the inability to place a deposit on a first property – the pandemic has created a spectrum of financial concerns across every age group of employees.
- Social impact: The effects of lockdown are wide-ranging on social wellbeing. Isolation and loneliness and the barrier to face-to-face contact impacts directly on mental health. But many people have also been placed in vulnerable positions due to enforced lockdown. In contrast, there are also people living in shared environments or cramped conditions who might be craving their own space.
Developing a health and wellbeing strategy to address the impacts
Once you understand the depth of the impact of the pandemic on your workforce, you can assess the support that’s needed and plan the delivery of flexible health and wellbeing strategies. Consider these six areas when building your strategy:
1. Mental health
Business leaders’ proactivity in creating a supportive and compassionate culture is a no-compromise requirement to mitigate the impact of mental health issues. Internal initiatives such as mental health first aid programmes and resilience workshops deliver real value. Similarly, training line managers so they’re able to identify warning signs and signpost your people towards professional help can be a positive approach. Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) are also a great option that can be offered to support employees in need.
2. Virtual support
Across all aspects of health and wellbeing, valuable support and reassurance can be given to staff through video services. Virtual counselling or video GP services are examples of convenient and accessible ways that employees can seek help at any time, and can provide a quick road to recovery.
3. Physical wellbeing
At its simplest level, proactively encouraging work breaks and physical movement through walking meetings or company-wide challenges, will motivate healthier lifestyles and is complementary to healthy eating advice. Video triage services with physiotherapists encourage early investigation of musculoskeletal issues and can prevent the onset of chronic conditions. These services can also provide valuable advice for how to set up your workspace at home.
4. Financial wellbeing
Tailoring financial advice and budgeting tips to different demographic groups within your organisation delivers greater value than universal messaging. Your benefits providers will have a ready-made resource of financial planning tools and online calculators. Providing access to confidential financial helplines via EAPs can further support individuals, giving them a sense of control.
5. Social wellbeing
While physical barriers are still in place, social wellbeing is taking a hit, especially for those who might live alone. The virtual world and social media are lifelines that can relieve the feeling of isolation. Initiatives like social interest clubs and groups, or competitions and challenges can really help bring employees together, giving them the opportunity for some vital social interaction.
6. Health prevention
Prevention is always better than cure, so motivating people to adopt a healthy lifestyle is a strategy that can be followed by every organisation. Health champions, equipped to drive healthy behaviours can encourage exercise and positive living through tips, insights and incentive campaigns. Authentic communication is critical to a preventative approach to encourage employees to keep tabs on their own health by maintaining regular optical and dental check-ups, and also taking online health risk assessments and screenings. Assisting with the costs through a health plan can also encourage this activity.
In summary, businesses need to listen to their employees to gain a true understanding of the impact of this pandemic on their health and wellbeing. In turn, this information should inform proactive strategies which support your workforce. And it’s important to keep the conversation going. Continual engagement of employees and monitoring of wellbeing is crucial to ensure those strategies are working.
For more on looking after your workforce during this time, take a look at this guide we created with REBA on supporting employee wellbeing in the new normal.
This article is provided by Simplyheath.
In partnership with Simplyhealth
Our health plans make it easy for people to maintain their health&wellbeing.
