Written by: Dawn Lee

As we embark on the second half of 2021 and learn how to live with COVID-19, leaders must be aware that the well-being of their people should be the core focus as we continue to battle the effect brought about by the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the need for more support when it comes to mental health and well-being as more people were observed to be calling mental health helplines. Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), a suicide prevention agency received an 18% increase in the number of suicide and crisis-related calls, in 2020.

In times when uncertainty looms over us, worries from financial instability or the loss of a job is a significant source of stress and can be very damaging to one’s self-worth.

Supporting your employees

Is your organization providing enough support for your employees? Are your employees feeling burnt out or require some time away from work? What can be done to understand and improve the well-being of your employees?

Being aware of your employees’ state of mind is important so that necessary adjustments can be made to help your employees and ultimately retain them in the company. The good news is, companies can adopt good management practices to uncover insights and work together with employees to nurture a culture of openness and trust so that people are more willing to voice their opinions and support others.

Here are some ways:

1. Engagement & surveys

Most companies make use of surveys to understand the bigger picture. With the data collected, you can identify areas of improvements and timely information on how your employees feel about their work, their bosses, the management and other critical information you would like to know.

A well-designed survey can provide you with more information than you realise and allow you to turn these insights into action.

Additionally, regularly engagement and check-ins are especially important during this time as most of us are working from home. Bosses may not be able to meet their team members and face-to-face conversations are reduced. Thus, it is very important to have regular check-ins to understand if your employees are facing any issues or find out if there are any pain points to address.

For example, HR can come up with a survey targeted at finding out employees’ mental health-being and use this data to improve on existing practices and measures.    

2. Changes to HR Policies

Companies can also ensure that HR policies are addressing their employees concerns and promote a conducive working environment.

Some companies have expanded their leave policies to allow for more paid leaves or mental health days without the need for a medical certificate to encourage people to take time off when required.

The most recent example would be the recent announcement made by Bumble, who told their staff worldwide to stop working for a week so as to “give ‘burnt-out’ staff” a break. Likewise, LinkedIn gave their full-time employees a paid week off in April to prevent burnout and allowing their employees to recharge. Other companies such as Cisco and Google have also implemented company-wide “mental health days”. Smaller companies can also take action by implementing flexi-work arrangements and giving more off days.

With so many people working from home, perhaps more companies will jump on the bandwagon to provide employees with a better work-life.

3. Providing support tools

With more flexible work arrangements, the boundaries between work, home and stress management have been blurred. Companies need to support their managers by providing them with the tools to ensure that they are aware of what is going on in the company and help them take necessary action if required.

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) have also provided information and guides to help companies kick start various health-related programmes.

Whether your company is big or small, the best way to find out what works is to try out different approaches. Plenty can be done to prevent stress build-ups and burnouts, but at the end of the day, it is important for you to take the first steps and find what works best for you.  

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