COVID-19 is the most wide-reaching public health crisis our world has faced in a long time. It has significantly impacted every aspect of business’s operations and refocused many companies’ duty of care agenda. 

For a long time, duty of care has been considered important for businesses, focusing on known risks emerging from health, safety and environment issues. With the pandemic, new areas of concerns have been identified such as the link between mental health, lockdowns, and the associated uncertainties of the pandemic. Thus, we cannot talk about duty of care today without addressing one of the most pressing issues of the current context: Mental health and resilience.

Employees contend with increased workplace stresses related to working from home, work/life balance, fear of being laid off, loss of control over how work is done, and anxieties around getting infected with Covid-19. In the U.S alone, Pew Research reports that over a third of Americans experienced high levels of psychological distress during the coronavirus outbreak. The implications of these stresses can lead to very serious health issues such as change in sleep and diets, alcohol and substance abuse, depression as well as suicidal ideation.

Anxiety and depression are the two main manifestations (symptoms) of stress and they are exacerbated when employees work on isolation or during extensive business travels.

The pandemic is far from over and it is essential for all businesses to start supporting their employee’s mental resilience as part of a proactive duty of care plan.

1. Instil a culture of health and wellness across the company – Create a safe environment that promotes well-being for all employees across departments and functions, raising awareness and educating employees with tailored wellness campaigns.
2. Provide psychological support – Provide resources to support staff in a variety of ways such as confidential emotional hotline and training sessions to learn how to better cope with negative emotions, stress or anxiety; identify the triggers and develop healthy habits.
3. Make sure that everyone is aware of the resources available – When people are experiencing mental health challenges such as distress, burnout or anxiety, they are not always in the frame of mind to know where to go. Raise awareness and educate them to ensure resources are front of mind and easy to access.
4. Make resources available 24/7 – Make sure that your people know that help is available and easily accessible, no matter the time or day.

De-mystifying mental health issues and bringing them to the forefront of discussions inside and outside of the workplace is a fundamental step in addressing this epidemic. Organizations must build a culture of health for their employees and destigmatize mental health issues to allow employees to feel safe and comfortable to come forward and ask for help.

To raise awareness around mental health, International SOS Spot the risk – Mental Health open access platform provides information and build awareness around the indicators and influences on mental health. Click here to access to the questionnaire (free of charge). https://spottherisk.com/