This is the tenth blog in a series written by Mary Ann Baynton, Director of Collaboration and Strategy for Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.
Building resilience whether we liked it or not
While burnout was pervasive during the pandemic, there was also evidence of widespread resilience.
Many people experienced personal growth during the pandemic, with some also reporting changes in life priorities as a result (Withiel et. al., 2021).
It was a game changer for both employers and employees.
“The pandemic shed light on and exasperated social isolation,” said Amanda Muhammad, a consultant in Dallas, Texas who focuses on stress management and psychological safety. “It also provided more time to think, reflect and evaluate both life and work. We saw the brevity of life as so many were lost, and we began to demand different outcomes for ourselves and from our work.”
A 2022 study of European workplaces acknowledged the pandemic’s mental health risks. It also suggested that the pandemic might have positive effects. Some of those could include increased resilience and “social cohesion” for handling difficulties in various settings, including the workplace. Teams also showed clear responses to stress. They adopted “fun” work activities, to help enhance team solidarity. Employees reported using exercise, entertainment, and work as social outlets to manage the stress of the pandemic. These strategies provided a distraction and helped support a more positive mindset (Lovreglio et. al., 2022).
Many learned that it was fine to admit they might not be okay.
Cliff Lonsdale has spent much of his career as a journalist. “The pandemic, in an odd way, helped to concentrate us on the idea that we needed help as much as everybody else,” he said. “I’m not glad the pandemic came along, but it was a side effect. It was okay to talk about mental illness or mental health because everybody was affected. If you weren’t, you were a little strange. It was an equalizer. It made it harder for journalists to say, ‘All these people I’m reporting on are affected by this pandemic mentally and physically, but I'm not’.”
Forcing employer awareness of mental health
One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it raised employers’ awareness. Many now see how employee mental health affects performance and productivity as well as well-being. This happened because a pandemic caused every one of us to experience a life-threatening event at the same time. Every one of us had some impact to our mental health.
It is fair to say that the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) influenced many workplaces during and after the pandemic. Expert interviews identified that organizations that had already begun to implement the Standard were better equipped to respond to this life-altering event.
Liz Horvath is Senior Advisor, Workplace Mental Health, Mental Health Commission of Canada. She said, “Employers felt that their employees were better able to cope with the pandemic because they already had certain things in place due to aligning with the Standard. There was better access to benefits and employees were better able to talk about what they were going through.”
“As the pandemic unfolded, we saw a shift from ‘What policies, strategies and programs do we put in place to support psychological health and safety?’ to ‘What are we doing to protect the mental health and well-being of our employees during this time?’” said, Sarah Jenner, Executive Director of Mindful Employers Canada. “The focus shifted to getting vital resources and support directly into the hands of employees, where it needed to be.”
The Standard specifies that meaningful participation of employees in assessing and addressing psychological health and safety is required to ensure effectiveness. It is not just an administrative process.
This shared experience transformed many leaders’ relationships with their teams. One employee said that seeing their leaders on screen with their kids or pets made them more relatable. It humanized them.
Rachel Lewis is an occupational psychologist specialising in work, health and well-being at Affinity Health at Work and Birkbeck, University of London. She said, “During the pandemic, leaders were more visible than ever before. What was seen as ‘fluffy’, became a strategic imperative. Strong leadership is now seen as open, authentic and able to demonstrate vulnerability.”
Christine Hildebrand, Vice-President of Health and Ability Strategy at Canada Life, talks about the extra steps leaders had to take when they couldn’t be with their teams every day. “Leaders had to be more intentional in their efforts to assess how well their employees were doing, where before some of that would have been natural or organic just by seeing someone in person every day. The pandemic changed that.”
Advancing psychological health and safety
Some workplaces scrambled to create pandemic rules for their staff. Those with mental health and safety policies knew to assess their situation against the pandemic’s evolving impact on regulations and their work. They followed the Standard’s recommendations. Leaders went to their employees, asking what they needed to support their psychological health and performance at different times during the crisis.
They knew to communicate often and effectively. They showed they valued employee feedback and were using it.
Some believe these approaches are now the new positive norm and there will be no going back.
“Today, if employees feel they’re not being treated well, they are more likely to leave,” said Jason Van Schie, psychologist and founder of FlourishDx . “They may say, ‘The employer sees me as a number and if they’re not going to look after me anymore, I’ll go somewhere where they will’.”
Amanda Muhammad, owner of Mako Mindfulness adds, “A lot of companies were forced to slow down and consider how to support and retain employees by taking care of them. Employees were watching how their organizations responded to this crisis and whether they lived their stated values.”
Those that understood what workplace psychological health and safety meant at all times – and not just in a crisis – were acting intentionally in a safer way than if they had been unaware of its meaning.
The facts don’t lie. There’s been a lot of progress in the area of psychological health and safety as a result of an event where every employee’s mental health couldn’t be ignored.
If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that it is indeed time to put psychological health and safety on the agenda of every workplace.
Our next blog post, “Rethinking mental health?” credits the pandemic and the National Standard for helping to improve awareness of stress and mental health at work. Explore the History of psychological health and safety and read all of the blogs in this series.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Canada Life or Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.