Workers are learning quite a number of lessons because of the pandemic, and one of them has to do with making mental health a priority. For a long time, the work sector has been focused on productivity and targets, which is great, but it needed a pandemic for more people to see that we can’t really separate well-being and mental wellness from career success.
There is a recent McKinsey & Co. report showing that more employees prefer to work from home three days a week post-pandemic. They want more flexibility in terms of work arrangements, further stating that if their current company will revert back to full on-site work, more than a quarter of those surveyed will find another job that offers greater flexibility.
And yet there are leaders like JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon who wants his employees to gradually start reporting back to work so that by September or October this year, “it will look just like it did before.” He argues that an exclusive WFH arrangement “doesn’t work for young people…doesn’t work for those who want to hustle…doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation…and doesn’t work for culture.”
On the contrary, there are companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter who have decided to give their workers a choice. Those who want to continue working remotely may do so, but those who feel that they can be more effective working on-site would be welcome to report back to their offices. These organizations are also open to hybrid virtual-working models, something that the McKinsey survey respondents prefer. They believe that this would promote work-life balance.
The challenge for companies today lies in the provision of resources and tools that are related to mental wellness. More employees are going to look for this benefit now since we have all learned (and continue to do so) quite a few things during this pandemic. Organizations need to find ways to focus on the mental health of their employees in the way they design policies and create their mission and vision.
According to the aforementioned report, workers also prefer companies with a clear vision. This simply means that uncertain policies and a vague communication style are red flags. For example, there have to be strong and clear policies on the number of working hours, reimbursement for remote work, collaboration tools, expectations from work collaborations, and so on. Things like this need to be clearly communicated to employees or prospective workers.
In the final analysis, having a solid mental health policy is not just good for the employees, it is also beneficial for the organization because it all eventually leads to greater productivity and efficiency. The loss of productivity due to the poor mental health of workers costs companies globally around a trillion dollars per year—a compelling reason to put mental health on the list of company priorities, now and after the pandemic.