COVID 19 pandemic has changed the way we work and revealed the fragility of the employees` mental health, especially for those engaged in remote work formats, according to assessments carried on since the pandemic outbreak by EUROFIN, a market leader in Health & Safety in Romania. Fear, anxiety, other strong emotions about the pandemic and all related changes can be overwhelming and lead to burnout – and the percentage is increasing, specialists warn.
According to Razvan Chiru, Managing Partner of EUROFIN, employees’ burnout decreases productivity, it is the biggest threat to workforce retention, leads to decreasing employee engagement and has a negative health impact over the entire workforce.
And burnout has become a global phenomenon:
- To prevent burnout, LinkedIn just gave its entire company a week off. More than 15.000 employees worldwide got a paid week off starting April 5.
- We Have All Hit a Wall” writes New York Times early April. Read more >>
- “Malaise, burnout, depression and stress — all of those are up considerably,” said Todd Katz, executive vice president and head of group benefits at MetLife. The company’s most recent Employee Benefit Trends Study, conducted in December and January, found that workers across the board felt markedly worse than they did last April.
- 80% of USA employees report symptoms of burnout during COVID-19 pandemic. From February to September 2020, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 83% of employees in the United States working in 17 industries reported feeling emotionally drained from their work—a key symptom of burnout. According to a survey of more than 5,000 employees, of those who reported emotional exhaustion from their work, 71% strongly agreed that their workplace affects their mental health.
Preventive workplace mental health measures can make the difference
EUROFIN specialists reinforce the role of managers dealing with team members’ health issues. They recommend leaders and managers to open the door for employees to feel comfortable talking about these problems and build a culture of connection because with so many people working from home it can be harder to notice the signs of burnout or other mental health concerns.
They need to offer flexibility and to communicate more, as well as they need to invest in proactive and preventive workplace mental health trainings or change policies and practices to reduce stress on everyone.
During Covid-19 pandemic, 20% of the Romanians have reported high stress and 48% of them reported high fear. 40% of the Romanian employees report their emotional wellbeing has been strongly impacted by the pandemic (*undelucram.ro survey).
(15.04.2021)