Although businesses are re-opening post-Covid and organisations have started their return-to-work plans and reassessed business continuity measures, the journey can be a complex process, where every step has to be devised strategically. The pandemic appears to be heading towards a gradual decline, with a significant fall in new cases and fatalities, and countries are beginning to revive, repair and restore their economies.
Indian organisations are also gearing up towards normalcy and hence need to focus on restoring pre-Covid productivity levels. Encouragingly, many organisations have come to the aid of their employees and are lending a helping hand by offering various beneficiary initiatives, as also specific strategies, designed to ensure the overall well-being of the workforce. This includes vaccination drives, safe travelling options, workplace measures, provision of counselling, etc.
Getting back to work amid Covid-19 and the resulting mental health issues and their impact on productivity is going to be an ongoing challenge. Organisations need to continue their focus on these issues as they get back to normalcy. Covid patients who have resumed work might still have lingering symptoms and therefore organisations need to provide access to an onsite clinic to monitor and safeguard the health and wellbeing of their employees. The spectre of Long COVID, (defined as “a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems, 4 or more weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19”) looms large. A growing number of those infected and “seemingly” recovered, are reporting a continuation of fluctuating symptoms like extreme fatigue, headaches, cough, palpitations, mood swings, sleep disturbances and most significantly – brain fog. Symptoms are unpredictable with alternate periods of recovery and relapse with many reporting worsening of symptoms. Cognitive symptoms like attention deficit, inability to concentrate, spatial disorientation can all result in acceleration of mental ageing by 10 years.
Recent studies by the National Institutes of Health in the US shows almost 30% of those who get infected suffer from Long COVID. In a recent global survey of workforces, 42% of employees reported a decline in their mental wellbeing since the start of the pandemic. 28% reported having difficulties in concentration and 20% are taking longer to complete their tasks. 15% have trouble thinking, reasoning or deciding. The impact of this on workplace productivity can be significant. A recent report from the CIPD UK shows that almost 2% of the population is affected with long COVID and those between 35-69 years were most susceptible.
Apart from consequent absenteeism, the damaging effect of presentism in such cases could cause irreparable damage both to employees as well as employers. This will require organizations to be mindful of hours at work rather than hours-away-from work to ensure proper recovery and the return of healthy and engaged employees. Not providing the required support may lead to attrition and a significant loss of talent. In an already depleted skills pool across several industries, this can increase recruitment and training costs.
Leaders and managers must be enabled to step in and act as facilitators and support their teams as they brace for returning to offices after 2 years. They must factor in future health events in all business continuity planning. Adequate training of managers to correctly identify employee issues and providing them access to expert professional guidance is a must. Human resource teams will need to work on developing and disseminating communication based on expert medical advice, enabling flexible return to work policies and employee assistance.
The most important stigmata of the pandemic are mental health and emotional struggle. Even if individuals who suffered from COVID-19 have recovered, they still have a higher probability to experience emotional health issues. Employees should be provided with a way to confidentially discuss their emotional health issues away from their managers and teams. This could be done in-house or through independent expert support (EAP) activated by the company and the availability of such a service should be widely communicated. As part of employer duty, providing easy access to quality care treatment for long-COVID employees is crucial.
Source: fiomfacedaily.com
