Might not be as negative as these writer portray, but one emerging/emerged topic is mental health. @stefan - maybe a future post or pod on how remote workers address mental health issues?From Courier issue this week...
"how to remotely check the mood of your team...For the past few weeks we’ve been digging into how remote working is developing, from presenteeism to building company culture from afar. But without seeing your employees face to face, how can you check up on their wellbeing?
For Dr Nick Taylor, founder of the workplace mental health platform Unmind, software is the answer. ‘An organisation with 100,000 employees is dealing with 100,000 different experiences of working from home,’ he says. After running a survey, Unmind found that nearly 79% of businesses had reported an increase in requests for mental health support over the lockdown period.
At Unmind, employees are asked a series of questions that give each individual a unique score on factors such as happiness, coping and fulfilment. They’re then directed towards curated, bite-size learning programmes that allow them to work on certain aspects of wellbeing. ‘We’re seeing a particular focus on sleep over this period,’ Nick explains, ‘as well as bespoke content that teaches people to navigate the pandemic from a mental health perspective.’
On the other hand, leaders are able to aggregate anonymised data to assess the general mood of the organisation. ‘People need to know that there is true anonymity to the tool, which is why Unmind stands alone rather than being integrated into existing organisational platforms,’ says Nick.
The Unmind team is using the pandemic as an opportunity for businesses to change their approach to wellbeing. ‘A toothbrush is more commonly used than the dental chair when it comes to oral health. In the same way, organisations need to focus on preventative services rather than being reactive to mental health. Every employee will soon be demanding the right to wellbeing tools."
Might not be as negative as these writer portray, but one emerging/emerged topic is mental health. @stefan - maybe a future post or pod on how remote workers address mental health issues?From Courier issue this week...
"how to remotely check the mood of your team...For the past few weeks we’ve been digging into how remote working is developing, from presenteeism to building company culture from afar. But without seeing your employees face to face, how can you check up on their wellbeing?
For Dr Nick Taylor, founder of the workplace mental health platform Unmind, software is the answer. ‘An organisation with 100,000 employees is dealing with 100,000 different experiences of working from home,’ he says. After running a survey, Unmind found that nearly 79% of businesses had reported an increase in requests for mental health support over the lockdown period.
At Unmind, employees are asked a series of questions that give each individual a unique score on factors such as happiness, coping and fulfilment. They’re then directed towards curated, bite-size learning programmes that allow them to work on certain aspects of wellbeing. ‘We’re seeing a particular focus on sleep over this period,’ Nick explains, ‘as well as bespoke content that teaches people to navigate the pandemic from a mental health perspective.’
On the other hand, leaders are able to aggregate anonymised data to assess the general mood of the organisation. ‘People need to know that there is true anonymity to the tool, which is why Unmind stands alone rather than being integrated into existing organisational platforms,’ says Nick.
The Unmind team is using the pandemic as an opportunity for businesses to change their approach to wellbeing. ‘A toothbrush is more commonly used than the dental chair when it comes to oral health. In the same way, organisations need to focus on preventative services rather than being reactive to mental health. Every employee will soon be demanding the right to wellbeing tools."
I really like the toothbrush vs dentist chair analogy here when it comes to workplace mental health!
I am actually in the middle of planning a remote worker mental health article, so this is timely