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Whichever way you look at it, collectively we’ve been through a huge trauma over the past few years. It’s all well and good trying to crack on now we can all go back to bars and buy overpriced wine, but how often do you take a step back and reflect on the real impact COVID has had on you and those around you?
Even if you're not completely aware of it, there's a high chance that at some point the underlying trauma you've been suppressing will sneak out and demand to be dealt with at the most inconvenient moment.
So when it comes to the workplace, whose job is it to make sure that we’re actually doing okay?
At the risk of sounding dramatic (me?) COVID was fucking terrifying. Yes, we’ve managed to bury a lot of the memories of missing family members or having to accept yet more banana bread from a kindly neighbour, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone away.
Maybe you’re the opposite and you wear the upheaval, fear and isolation like a TFL Baby on Board badge every day, finding it impossible to hide your wavering resistance to a changed world.
Are bosses the new doctors?
(spoiler alert: no)
We can’t assume that trauma’s going away now that COVID is slowly receding in the rear-view mirror.
Last summer, we carried out some research that showed 40% of people felt they were experiencing poor mental health since the pandemic. I’m convinced it’s even higher now as we try to stay positive while navigating a war in Europe, the cost-of-living crisis and huge political upheaval.
New data from The Workforce Institute at UKG published by Forbes at the beginning of this year suggested that 70% of people think their boss had more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor. Does that mean your employer is welcoming you into a cosy dimly-lit room every week to check how you're feeling? Unlikely, but it's not as if they're not aware of the problems.
70% of people think their boss had more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor.
Managers themselves are reporting that they’re having to deal with more complex issues than ever from their teams, whether that’s in the form of anxiety, stress, fractious relationships between colleagues or bad communication. It’s not like they don’t know it’s happening, but is it their responsibility to step in and try and fix everything?
Last month I hosted a webinar with three superstar panellists to try and unpack this exact knotty question - Wez Saunders, the CEO of Defected Records, Rachel Forde, the outgoing CEO of UM, and Rikke Wichmann-Bruun, CEO at MRM. It was a fantastic session and confirmed to me that this topic is, indeed, overwhelming.
Self-care = clever business
There's a clear human case to be made for prioritising employees' well-being, but there's a business case too. The research we carried out last year also showed that whereas pre-pandemic, work was often people's prime priority, self-care has overtaken it as the number one concern post-COVID.
This provides a huge opportunity for clever businesses to show how their values can align with their employees in the most positive way possible. If companies can empower employees by equipping them with the right tools, they will have a head-start over other businesses by demonstrating they are the best place to work.
So, whose job is it to keep everyone happy and mentally healthy? Undoubtedly everyone has their role to play, but when we polled our audience during the panel, half said it was the manager's role to take charge of employee well-being, 27% felt it was the employees themselves who are responsible, while 23% thought C-suite executives should step up.
I agree that managers need to play a crucial role. The first thing that needs to happen is for managers to be given better training and resources to deal with employee well-being as a whole.
Businesses need to start prioritising their training budgets to support employees, and organisations have to start communicating these needs more effectively.
Managers need to understand why it's important and what the organisation's role is in supporting them, because these things don't happen automatically. As nice as it would be if every office in the country had a mental health fairy flitting around ensuring everyone is okay, we live in the real world.
However, if there's a real-life silver bullet when it comes to employee well-being, it's getting people to communicate better. If you can create places where people understand how to communicate and manage people well, that's a massive step in the right direction.
If there's a real-life silver bullet when it comes to employee well-being, it's getting people to communicate better.
As Rachel succinctly puts it, “if you rise through the ranks and become a manager, then you have to manage people. So you may have got to that position because of your skill set, but suddenly you’re not only having to deal with your own workload, organisation and self-care, your whole team need motivating and help with performance and guidance. That guidance point is key. As organisations and leadership, we do need to do the training.”
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Understanding the 'self' in self-care
Even though I agree that managers have to do their bit, I am also very aware their mental health also needs to be protected. They're already at huge risk of burnout, and everyone needs to feel safe in this setup.
The C-suite have got a big responsibility to create the intention and purpose behind employee well-being, as well as an environment where people can operate from a place of safety.
However, if managers say they don't have time, then it's then down to the executives to make sure it's a priority. Once again, this puts middle managers at the coalface and they are handed the responsibility of putting these measures in place.
As Wez put it during our discussion, "creating the well-being sessions, the relationship with you (PUSH) and psychological safety training have been key to people learning about these things. I didn't force the management teams to attend them, but I have had to significantly encourage people's attendance."
Finally, we come to the employees themselves, who also have to do their bit. An employer/employee relationship isn’t - and shouldn’t be - a parent/child relationship. Enabling employees to take care of themselves is a big piece of the puzzle.
Rikke had some brilliant insight into this. "I think it's important [that employees] should expect their leaders to really understand the value of self-care. But also understanding the importance of the 'self' in self-care. You're accountable for taking care of yourself. What we should do is make sure you're empowered to do so, that we allow you to do so, and that you have the tools to do so."
Rachel describes what this looks like in practice. “It’s ok not to be ok. Take a day, there are things you can do for yourself to take responsibility over your own self-care. But as leaders, we have to create it at a company level and create that space to let it be ok.”
Let’s not over-complicate this!
If any of this sounds complicated or onerous, it shouldn't. Because actually, it's fucking simple!
As humans, we operate from a place of fear or a place of safety, and when we’re in fear mode, we simply don’t work as well. Therefore, for organisations to be genuinely productive and high-performing, they need to be safe spaces.
If that still feels like too much effort or a distraction from your wider goals, let's listen to the wise words Wez had to say on this. "I think as managers, these issues are going to continue for decades, and we need to equip ourselves now because the effort we put in now will become effortless in time. The long-term evolution and development [is] not only for ourselves but for future managers. It's really important to open up this dialogue now.'
For organisations to be genuinely productive and high-performing, they need to be safe spaces.
This isn't a one-size-fits-all problem, which is why we offer both a Mental Health for Managers and a Management Behaviours programme, to allow everyone to play their part.
It's a no-brainer, and it might be the most important thing you do for your team this year.
Find out more about how PUSH can help you support mental health for managers here.
If you enjoyed this article and want to delve deeper, we have a wide selection of resources available in the PUSH Perspectives section of our website.
For more like this, subscribe to our newsletter.
Whichever way you look at it, collectively we’ve been through a huge trauma over the past few years. It’s all well and good trying to crack on now we can all go back to bars and buy overpriced wine, but how often do you take a step back and reflect on the real impact COVID has had on you and those around you?
Even if you're not completely aware of it, there's a high chance that at some point the underlying trauma you've been suppressing will sneak out and demand to be dealt with at the most inconvenient moment.
So when it comes to the workplace, whose job is it to make sure that we’re actually doing okay?
At the risk of sounding dramatic (me?) COVID was fucking terrifying. Yes, we’ve managed to bury a lot of the memories of missing family members or having to accept yet more banana bread from a kindly neighbour, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone away.
Maybe you’re the opposite and you wear the upheaval, fear and isolation like a TFL Baby on Board badge every day, finding it impossible to hide your wavering resistance to a changed world.
Are bosses the new doctors?
(spoiler alert: no)
We can’t assume that trauma’s going away now that COVID is slowly receding in the rear-view mirror.
Last summer, we carried out some research that showed 40% of people felt they were experiencing poor mental health since the pandemic. I’m convinced it’s even higher now as we try to stay positive while navigating a war in Europe, the cost-of-living crisis and huge political upheaval.
New data from The Workforce Institute at UKG published by Forbes at the beginning of this year suggested that 70% of people think their boss had more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor. Does that mean your employer is welcoming you into a cosy dimly-lit room every week to check how you're feeling? Unlikely, but it's not as if they're not aware of the problems.
70% of people think their boss had more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor.
Managers themselves are reporting that they’re having to deal with more complex issues than ever from their teams, whether that’s in the form of anxiety, stress, fractious relationships between colleagues or bad communication. It’s not like they don’t know it’s happening, but is it their responsibility to step in and try and fix everything?
Last month I hosted a webinar with three superstar panellists to try and unpack this exact knotty question - Wez Saunders, the CEO of Defected Records, Rachel Forde, the outgoing CEO of UM, and Rikke Wichmann-Bruun, CEO at MRM. It was a fantastic session and confirmed to me that this topic is, indeed, overwhelming.
Self-care = clever business
There's a clear human case to be made for prioritising employees' well-being, but there's a business case too. The research we carried out last year also showed that whereas pre-pandemic, work was often people's prime priority, self-care has overtaken it as the number one concern post-COVID.
This provides a huge opportunity for clever businesses to show how their values can align with their employees in the most positive way possible. If companies can empower employees by equipping them with the right tools, they will have a head-start over other businesses by demonstrating they are the best place to work.
So, whose job is it to keep everyone happy and mentally healthy? Undoubtedly everyone has their role to play, but when we polled our audience during the panel, half said it was the manager's role to take charge of employee well-being, 27% felt it was the employees themselves who are responsible, while 23% thought C-suite executives should step up.
I agree that managers need to play a crucial role. The first thing that needs to happen is for managers to be given better training and resources to deal with employee well-being as a whole.
Businesses need to start prioritising their training budgets to support employees, and organisations have to start communicating these needs more effectively.
Managers need to understand why it's important and what the organisation's role is in supporting them, because these things don't happen automatically. As nice as it would be if every office in the country had a mental health fairy flitting around ensuring everyone is okay, we live in the real world.
However, if there's a real-life silver bullet when it comes to employee well-being, it's getting people to communicate better. If you can create places where people understand how to communicate and manage people well, that's a massive step in the right direction.
If there's a real-life silver bullet when it comes to employee well-being, it's getting people to communicate better.
As Rachel succinctly puts it, “if you rise through the ranks and become a manager, then you have to manage people. So you may have got to that position because of your skill set, but suddenly you’re not only having to deal with your own workload, organisation and self-care, your whole team need motivating and help with performance and guidance. That guidance point is key. As organisations and leadership, we do need to do the training.”
Understanding the 'self' in self-care
Even though I agree that managers have to do their bit, I am also very aware their mental health also needs to be protected. They're already at huge risk of burnout, and everyone needs to feel safe in this setup.
The C-suite have got a big responsibility to create the intention and purpose behind employee well-being, as well as an environment where people can operate from a place of safety.
However, if managers say they don't have time, then it's then down to the executives to make sure it's a priority. Once again, this puts middle managers at the coalface and they are handed the responsibility of putting these measures in place.
As Wez put it during our discussion, "creating the well-being sessions, the relationship with you (PUSH) and psychological safety training have been key to people learning about these things. I didn't force the management teams to attend them, but I have had to significantly encourage people's attendance."
Finally, we come to the employees themselves, who also have to do their bit. An employer/employee relationship isn’t - and shouldn’t be - a parent/child relationship. Enabling employees to take care of themselves is a big piece of the puzzle.
Rikke had some brilliant insight into this. "I think it's important [that employees] should expect their leaders to really understand the value of self-care. But also understanding the importance of the 'self' in self-care. You're accountable for taking care of yourself. What we should do is make sure you're empowered to do so, that we allow you to do so, and that you have the tools to do so."
Rachel describes what this looks like in practice. “It’s ok not to be ok. Take a day, there are things you can do for yourself to take responsibility over your own self-care. But as leaders, we have to create it at a company level and create that space to let it be ok.”
Let’s not over-complicate this!
If any of this sounds complicated or onerous, it shouldn't. Because actually, it's fucking simple!
As humans, we operate from a place of fear or a place of safety, and when we’re in fear mode, we simply don’t work as well. Therefore, for organisations to be genuinely productive and high-performing, they need to be safe spaces.
If that still feels like too much effort or a distraction from your wider goals, let's listen to the wise words Wez had to say on this. "I think as managers, these issues are going to continue for decades, and we need to equip ourselves now because the effort we put in now will become effortless in time. The long-term evolution and development [is] not only for ourselves but for future managers. It's really important to open up this dialogue now.'
For organisations to be genuinely productive and high-performing, they need to be safe spaces.
This isn't a one-size-fits-all problem, which is why we offer both a Mental Health for Managers and a Management Behaviours programme, to allow everyone to play their part.
It's a no-brainer, and it might be the most important thing you do for your team this year.
Find out more about how PUSH can help you support mental health for managers here.
If you enjoyed this article and want to delve deeper, we have a wide selection of resources available in the PUSH Perspectives section of our website.
For more like this, subscribe to our newsletter.
