Lacking Routine And Work-Life Balance

Leaders and HR Managers are having similar conversations across organisations around building hybrid workplaces and how to boost optimism as we go into winter during a second lockdown.

From what I hear many people are enjoying remote working and have extra time on their hands to pursue family life or other interests and hobbies.

However, for those who do not welcome increased family time or even solitude, this extended time being at home has been extremely disorientating, leading to feelings of helplessness or overwhelm, as the boundary between home and work continues to get blurred.

Lacking a routine or work-life balance has resulted in 66% of people more likely to work nights and weekends when working from home, 54% have more distractions at home including children or if working at home with a partner having to negotiate physical space.

And, finally 28% of people surveyed are starting and finishing work later, when working from home. Encouraging people to stop working on time or have a break and change their routines is key for work life balance.

There are a number of other factors increasing anxiety in the hybrid workplace, including not using up annual leave. Many organisations are starting to have conversations with their employees around presenteeism and using up leave instead of carrying it over.

If you think about burnout or stress, and the occupational aspects of wellbeing, presenteeism is a really easy way for managers who are trying to reduce or prevent stress, anxiety, or burnout to manage in a proactively in the hybrid workplace.

Psychological Safety & Personalised Wellbeing

Psychological safety and personalised approaches to support employee wellbeing is another key aspect of building the hybrid workplace.

There has been a lot of work on the physical health and safety of employees when returning to the office or remote working. Perhaps, because it is much harder to think about psychological safety and wellbeing as there are far more nuances.

Mental fitness or providing more tailored support around nutrition, exercise, sleep relationships and financial wellbeing have been a priority for many during the pandemic with yoga, meditation and mindfulness featuring as the top initiatives for many employees.

I’ve certainly seen a lot of organisations working with financial wellbeing providers to think about how to support their workforce around financial wellness. As well as many discussions around belonging and value, particularly in light of black lives matter. And, the crossover of wellbeing with diversity and inclusion.

Supporting Leaders To Increase Self-Awareness

I think a big question for organisations as we are go into this second lockdown and as we adapt to the hybrid workplace – is how we can support leaders to increase self-awareness and develop leadership capacity.

Moving away from skills and knowledge, or the usual occupational role development we traditionally see in professional development to how we prioritise leadership programmes that develop personal efficacy and good interpersonal skills – including compassion, empathy, patience and resilience.

For me, probably one of the most important things for leaders and where the biggest opportunity to reduce risk factors to mental health is how we raise awareness of burnout, reduce isolation and prioritise selfcare.

Personal development plans in the hybrid workplace should be personalised exploring the ‘whole self’ including opportunities for deeper purpose beyond wellness and traditional management programmes but tailored supported reflection to increase self-awareness, resilience and wellbeing.

If you would like to learn more about building the hybrid workplace join our monthly masterclass ‘The Wellbeing Toolkit’ here