When returning to the office, there’s a silent standoff between employers and employees, which leaves many employees feeling stressed and frustrated. This tension is partly fueled by the significant burnout brought on by the pandemic, which so many employees have never recovered from, and employers’ insistence on getting their “old” work culture back. Employers yearn for the busy boardroom, the staff connections, the collaboration, and real-time communication. Yet while employers are eager to return them to the workplace, many employees struggle with the return.
The Psychological Benefits of a Hybrid Model
In a recent study, half of U.S. workers reported experiencing burnout due to their workload (Benefits Canada, 2022). With people feeling their bandwidths are maxed out, encouraging staff to return to work can feel like another demand they don’t have the capacity for. It is essential to be mindful of our staff’s mental health, as our work depends on our workers’ quality.
As a mental health professional, I believe there are two huge benefits to a mutually agreed-upon hybrid model. The first is that evidence shows employees tend to be more productive while working from home. This is a win-win scenario for staff who crave flexibility and autonomy and businesses that benefit from the increased output. Conversely, a hybrid model also could help buffer staff who work remotely from experiencing further burnout. Early research indicates that people who work in a completely remote capacity are at the highest risk of burnout. Why is this? Employees working from home are more likely to work longer hours, have less emotional support, and experience more isolation than their in-office counterparts.
It’s important to remember that before the COVID pandemic, there was already an epidemic of loneliness. While work colleagues don’t always fall into one’s primary social group category, those informal conversations and work-related discussions that take place in the office form an essential part of one’s sense of connection and belonging. Along with the mental health struggles we have endured over the last few years, we also have endured a social struggle from isolation marked by drastic division, made worse by a rampant cancel culture and the lost art of respectfully agreeing to disagree.
Strengthening Social Skills
I think strengthening our social skills is of utmost importance, as strong relationships are essential to our overall health and wellness. Learning to communicate with people who share different perspectives and opinions is critical for the integrity of our social fabric. Encouraging a return to the office is about much more than a physical change of activity; we are encouraging people to return to society through constructive conversations, relationships, and socialization.
However, as leaders, we must lead by example and illustrate what excellent communication looks like. And as all expert communicators will attest, how you listen is much more important than what you say. We need to listen when staff report overwhelming workloads and exhaustion and understand that phenomena like the Great Resignation and quiet quitting are reactions to an unsustainable work experience. We need to appreciate burnout, which is why people take a leave of absence.
Start by Asking the Right Questions
So how can we ensure we listen effectively and take the right actions? Start by asking the right questions. Are staff reporting burnout or feeling overworked? Are they short on resources, yet their expectations remain unchanged? Do we, as leaders, need to review our priorities? With a shortage of staff and resources, how can we clarify those priorities to ensure no employee is expending energy on non-essential work? What are ways that we can be flexible in the implementation of our return-to-work policy? Can we ask staff to start with one to two days a week and then evaluate this model before insisting on three days or more a week?
While many employees have already been surveyed extensively, the information won’t be helpful if we’re not asking the right questions to ensure we have a deep understanding of their most significant sources of stress from which to determine the best solutions. Be sincere about considering their input, and then continue to survey periodically to know whether these interventions are helpful or if anything needs to be tweaked.
Over the last two years, I have worked with various organizations and industries. After meeting with their executive teams and working with their staff, the common denominator is that people want time to live their actual, personal lives, not just their work lives. They want to be defined by more than their careers, but they need time, space, and availability. While providing bonuses or increasing health benefits is great, it doesn’t fix the problem of being overworked. What matters most to them is the possibility of a healthy life defined by balance, time for friends and family, and an ability to care for their mental and physical health. This is the ethos behind the actions of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation, and it would be folly not to listen.
