Hospitality sector
A mix of longer working hours, staff shortages and abuse from customers “who have been more demanding” has had a significant impact on workers’ mental health. The sector has also seen high rates of drug and alcohol misuse which were thought to compound this situation.
Retail sector
Similarly, high absence rates were the result of employee burnout, mental ill health and stress albania phone number library from the effects of customer abuse when attempting to enforce rules such as social distancing and the wearing of masks.
Working from home
The situation for those able to work from home has also been testing, with evidence of presenteeism and individuals ‘working too hard’ to prove their productivity. Participants also described growing tensions around returning to the workplace due to health and safety concerns, and a general desire to maintain their new working arrangement.
Acas’s framework for positive mental health emphasises the shared responsibility of employers, managers and individuals in promoting wellbeing at work. Our roundtable uncovered some of the primary issues facing each of these important workplace actors.
Leaders
The noticeable boom in social activities at work at the beginning of lockdown appeared short-lived, and feminism and advertising: it’s booming we heard similar stories at our event. Participants recalled that as time progressed, support from senior leaders began to diminish as focus aero leads shifted to other business priorities.
There were also a number of longstanding issues. For example, time and financial constraints, both associated with the lack of a dedicated HR function, occupational health provider or employee assistance programme (EAP). And fundamentally, despite a desire to support, a gap in knowledge of the ‘how’.
For others, there was concern that some SMEs defaulted to the legal minimum – how to avoid an employment tribunal – as opposed to adopting a proactive approach. Indeed, organisations noted a lack of integration of mental health and wellbeing into all aspects of working life.