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Later it occurred to me that mental health should be handled the same way in the workplace. No two people are the same or have the same mental health issues. What I could accomplish work-wise during the time I was medicated and seeing a therapist might not be the same as someone else in therapy. One person might need some time away from work during a crisis, while someone else might need work to be the thing that keeps them living with some day-to-day structure. There will not be one solution that fits everyone. In any of these situations, it will be essential to allow employees to find what works for them and their work. Providing some flexibility will go a long way toward keeping an employee engaged instead of making them feel unsupported and looking to go elsewhere. It might also go a long way toward helping them heal as well, to know they have a consistent source of income that is not at risk.
Consider the message this sends to employees. This decision was made at a level above the person who is left to explain it to you. No one from that level wants to explain it or answer your questions. That’s not a trustworthy organization. That’s a leader hiding from people being impacted by their decisions.
That’s not a leader I’d want to work for. Some might even argue that they aren’t a leader at all.
When you lose that trust, you’ll lose the retention battle.
Most of these sound awful, and the ones that are “not so voluntary” attempts to make sure workers are engaged sound even worse.
Actually, I suspect they are doing a lot more harm to engagement than good.
There are ways to network during this time. They’re different, they’re a little more work, and they take some getting used to. But they don’t need to be ridiculous, and they definitely don’t need to be forced.
In fact, this is a great time to simply send someone a note asking for 15-30 minutes of their time. Most of us are pretty open to doing exactly that with coworkers or peers in our industry. I’d be happy to find some time to have a conversation with you about my industry, or mental health, or blogging. Or even to just have a coffee or beer with virtually. We don’t even need to be on our webcams if you don’t want.
See, isn’t that better than having 50 people on mute while the CEO talks, or getting randomly matched with coworkers?
Ugh, the introvert in me shudders to think about some of these. Please, don’t. Just ask someone to get a coffee like we used to.
I mean when surveys show that Americans, who have always been kind of lame about taking vacations, are getting even worse, it’s pretty clear the idea of work-life balance is just not getting any traction. According to Generali Global Assistance’s annual “summer holiday plans” survey, the average American vacation length will be about 1.4 weeks, down…
In my opinion, most managers are in an untenable position. The people reporting to them are expected to be engaged, productive, and successful. That requires managers who care about them and provide flexible solutions that block any obstacles to their work being done in an engaged and productive way.
But wait—the C-suite is one of those obstacles! Layoffs, ridiculous RTO mandates, demands to “do more with less,” and a focus on shareholder profits above everything else don’t encourage employee engagement. They destroy it, but managers are expected to toe the line and support what’s happening.
That seems pretty stressful to me.