How to support teams through continued uncertainty  

April is Stress Awareness Month, offering a timely reminder of the negative impact that poor mental health has on the productivity of your people.

The current timeline of the twenty-first century, characterised by disruption ‘with disparate origins and complex consequences’, is proving to be far from conducive to creating a stress-free environment. A study by the CIPD found that nearly four-fifths (79%) of respondents reported some stress-related absence in their organisation over the last year.

The question is no longer whether organisations should support their teams. The coronavirus pandemic (and the subsequent ‘Great Reshuffle’) illustrated that employees have a choice when it comes to their career, and they remember how organisations did - or didn’t - support them during times of crisis.

The focus has shifted to how organisations can support people who are already ‘tapped out’ physically, financially and emotionally after two years of back-to-back disruption. Operating in a hyper-connected world, employees are increasingly at the mercy of events that are beyond their control, including geopolitical instability and climate change.

With disruption an unfortunate guarantee in the new world of work, organisations must shift from ad-hoc reactions and survival strategies and instead ingrain resilience into their operations, allowing them to continually evolve in the face of uncertainty.

Learn from previous crises

The pandemic offered a steep learning curve for many organisations, who were required to adjust to rapidly changing expectations from employees, including financial, physical and mental health provisions.

While each event requires a tailored response, some common coping mechanisms resurface. An enduring lesson from the pandemic is the importance of clear, timely communication during a crisis. After two years of communicating changes in legislation and amends to public-health guidance, employers should have an indication as to how frequently your employees expect or need contact, as well as their preferred method for receiving news, such as statements from the CEO or informal discussion forums to share their thoughts.

Whichever method you select for your organisation, you’ll need to communicate three vital points of interest to your teams:

• Messages to employees in locally affected areas, whose physical safety may be threatened by the crisis.
• Messages to employees regarding the support systems available to help them cope with the crisis.
• Messages that inform employees about the actions the organisation is taking in response to the crisis.

Determining who creates, sends and responds to these messages' links to a second key lesson: the importance of carefully crafted teams to act as the nerve-centre of your organisation. These high-performing, cross-functional teams can increase your agility in responding to disruption or devastation.

Leverage your technology

HR tech has an important role to play in helping businesses to meet employee expectations of health and wellbeing provisions.

Primarily, tech offers a means to stay connected. Leaders can lean into the capabilities of virtual assistants and chatbots to engage with their workforce.

Advances in Artificial Intelligence also permit for a greater level of understanding amongst teams. AI-enabled workplace analytics that analyse company data can help identify those who are struggling. ‘Running silently in the background’, these tools can detect earning signs of stress or burnout that may be missed by managers when working remotely.

Armed with an array of data, managers can reconnect individuals with their peers, or signpost them to relevant support services to help mitigate or manage the impact of the crisis on their wellbeing.

Leaders should also look to their technology ecosystem in order to support employees in their ability to create a disconnect between work and home, which becomes increasingly important during times of instability or uncertainty.

Over the next twelve months, it is expected that market-leading tech providers will offer innovative ways to help workers forge a better work-life balance in a bid to combat rising stress levels.

Microsoft have paved the way, after research indicated that the average user of the ‘Teams’ collaboration platform sent 42% more chats after working hours during the pandemic. In response, they added a number of wellness features, including ‘Viva’ to help individuals to better manage their time.

More recently, they have introduced a ‘Virtual Commute’ function, which activates a multi-stage process at the end of the working day to review completed tasks, reflect on how the user is feeling and offers a guided meditation session to ‘close out work’.

Create an outlet for action

Organisations are often best placed to generate the momentum required to coordinate the additional financial, material or human resources that a crisis demands.

By centralising your response to devastating or disruptive events, organisations can channel the collective power of people in driving forward progress*.

And this action will likely have a positive impact on your teams. Often, people are able to regain some sense of control over a situation simply by knowing they have made a difference.

Naturally, some crises will impact the operational and financial capabilities of companies. In lieu of acting, organisations could instead consider how they can empower teams who are eager to contribute. This could include distributing a list of charities to allow individuals to make personal donations or allowing employees additional time off to support volunteering efforts.

Sharing the burden of stress

Stress Awareness Month aims to highlight the importance of connectivity and cohesion in promoting good mental and physical health.

The pandemic demonstrated the role that organisations must play in creating strong communities. As we collectively navigate an uncertain future, the leaders who proactively manage or mitigate the effects of stress will benefit from happy, healthy teams, with improved retention rates – allowing them to thrive in the world of work.

* Hays plc have set up the Hays Helps Ukraine Fund to provide humanitarian aid and employability support for the refugees of the conflict in Ukraine, welcoming contributions from Hays employees and related parties.