Mental Health During COVID-19

Haven’t we heard a lot about mental health ever since COVID-19? It has been almost 10 months since Work from home became mandatory and of course the new normal.

The thought of being able to work at your own home, in your own space, at your convenience looked fancy initially, but the dark side of it was realized only when we knew that it is here to stay for long, longer than we had expected or wanted.

COVID-19 has highlighted the concerns related to mental health more than ever.

With a slew of unforeseen statistics showing the effects of the crises on almost everybody, Forbes stated that. More than one-third of Americans have displayed clinical signs of anxiety, depression, or both since the coronavirus pandemic began.

After the pandemic had started, many organizations had increased their focus on workplace mental health. But unfortunately the poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association.

They found that a third of employees worry about retaliation or firing if they seek mental health care, and thus only 50 percent were talking about their concerns and admitted that they are facing any mental health issue.

So, what can an HR do to support employees as they face this change, uncertainty, and upheavals?

To answer this, it is important to understand that the role of HR not only includes supporting the team members with their day-to-day task, but it now includes supporting their mental health also.

The positive part is that the skills that make you an effective HR are the same that make you a Supportive HR too

1. Awareness: Besides making the employees aware of the transformed ways of working, it is important to make them aware of the problems associated with it and mental concerns too that they are likely to face. Being aware is the first step toward coping up strategy for any mental health issue.

2. Open Culture: Like dedicated hours for other activities at the workplace, the organization should also dedicate a specific time of a week where employees can freely and openly communicate among themselves about the issues they are facing. Such activities make one feel that they are not alone, or the only one facing such issues.

3. Support: Being supportive of the employees who are vulnerable is now the need of the hour.

To deal with the pandemic blues, organizations can therefore create an internal mechanism. To provide counseling facilities, webinars, videos by other employees. Explaining their strategy to cope up with such situations and support them

4. Reform: Pandemic made us realize that change is the only constant and hence things. And processes followed also need to be updated as the situation demands.

Reforming the performance review system and directing it towards compassionate feedback could bring some help.

Also, with many people facing difficulty because of tech advancements. Employers should be concerned about supporting learning instead of evaluating against strict targets.

As much as we all want things to be back the way they were, it still seems a long way to go. So, let us turn this into an opportunity to create the mentally healthy workplace we always dreamed of.