The pandemic’s mental health impacts are now widely evidenced. Many have faced isolation, uncertainty and insecurity. For people already living with a mental health problem, access to care and support may have been interrupted, and for some it became harder to do the things they’d usually do to stay well.
Throughout this year, I’ve been working with The Big Life group at Lancaster University Management School to understand how we can best manage our mental health at work. Below, I outline some early findings from workshops we ran with people experiencing mental health problems earlier this year.
Participants felt the pandemic had affected their workplace wellbeing
Many participants reported that their workplace has been more stressful since the pandemic, with participants finding it harder to manage stress and anxiety.
For some, it was “not just the symptoms but the severity of them”. Participants experienced a range of different symptoms including acute depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and, in some cases feeling suicidal.
Experiences of remote working have varied widely
Some workshop participants have found it harder to manage their mental health while remote working. There were several reasons for this, including having limited face-to-face interaction, with some experiencing ‘zoom fatigue’, losing the separation between home and work that working on-site provides, and uncertainties around the future brought about through the pandemic.
For many, working from home also meant having to work harder with less social breaks, with a participant explaining that “being isolated makes it more challenging” while “missing having a chat with a colleague”. Some felt under pressure to take on a greater workload, “feeling the need to make up for not being seen” and subsequently working a longer day than they would have before the pandemic.
Some of the participants have found maintaining working relationships harder since the pandemic, particularly where there have been frequent changes in staff. Getting to know colleagues and building trust had been a real struggle.
On the other hand, other participants suggested that the flexibility of working from home may make it easier for them to manage their mental health conditions. For some, not having to meet with others meant not experiencing the anxiety or racing thoughts which would usually arise through social interaction.
Others found it easier to look after their wellbeing while working remotely; “being at home with the dog rather than being stuck in the office”, and others found it helped them to manage periods of feeling low: “My mood does fluctuate and that helped to work from home, or not having to travel or being seen if I am really having a bad day”.
Talking about experiencing a mental health problem
Participants felt that the question of whether or not to tell colleagues about their mental health problem is “always hanging”, with some feeling more cautious now than before the pandemic. Some were concerned for employees who started jobs during lockdown without meeting their manager in person, with one reporting not feeling that they have “gelled with them, know them or trust them enough to disclose” which meant they felt they had to manage their mental health problem alone.
It was not uncommon for participants to struggle to share experiences such as panic attacks, post-natal depression or bereavement with colleagues due to fear of being “ridiculed” “looked down on” or “feeling guilty for having to take time off”.
It was equally striking that these barriers to talking about mental health were particularly pronounced for participants whose role involves caring for others, as “the job requires strong mental wellbeing, where it’s harder to disclose your own suffering”. A senior member of staff working in a caring role felt that they “couldn’t be seen to be struggling” with their own mental health during the pandemic.
It has been strikingly evident over the course of these workshops that the pandemic has been a driving force behind fluctuations in mental health, and the profound impact this has had on employees in the workplace suggests that this is a conversation senior managers need to continue having in order to make their workforce feel truly supported.
Hadar Elraz is a Lecturer within Lancaster University Management School’s Department for Organisation, Work and Technology.