Bernie Malinoff is President of www.element-54.com, a strategic research firm which guides client decision-making through consumer insights
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Forty-one percent of Canadians state that their mental health is worse than before the Covid pandemic began two years ago. This sobering statistic comes from a recent study we conducted on mental health among the general adult population of Canada. The pandemic has had an even harder impact on the mental health of women (50% say their mental health is worse now) than men (33%); and by age, 18-to-54-year-olds are more likely to feel worse (45%) than those over the age of 55 (35%).
According to the CDC, mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Mental health is foundational to how we cope with stress, how we connect with others and how we make decisions every day. Because of this, we should be dedicating at least as much time to improving and maintaining our mental health as we do to our physical health. But despite the significant progress made by private and public organizations in raising awareness, and the increasing comfort to talk about mental health concerns more openly, some stigma remains. It’s also easy to miss the small signs of trouble, which if left unaddressed can add up to a more critical or chronic issue over the longer term.
Even if you’re generally an optimist, chances are high that you’ve felt at least a moment or two of despair when one of the many Covid lockdowns were announced or when the latest Omicron variant started making its way around the world. As a team, we’ve all experienced this sinking feeling of “when will this ever end?” which is why I believe it’s important to share what we’ve learned about how mental well-being strategies have evolved before and during Covid times.
Insights from our study reveal that before the pandemic, Canadians engaged in a wider range of activities to help improve and maintain their mental health. Of the 13 different strategies assessed, Canadians were most likely to socialize with friends, family and colleagues (69%), participate in a hobby (61%), exercise (56%) and travel (45%). Some also found comfort in altruistic pursuits such as being active in their local community (23%), volunteering to help a charitable organization (21%) or donating money to charities (20%).
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During the pandemic, exercise (51%), socializing (48%) and participating in a hobby (47%) remained the top three mental wellness strategies. Post-Covid, however, we see a rise in the relative importance of meditation/spiritualism (16%) and taking medication (14%) as ways of managing mental health. These two strategies are now No. 5 and No. 6 in magnitude, respectively, compared to being No. 8 and No. 11 out of 13 activities pre-pandemic. And because of social distancing and travel restrictions, travel (12%), joining a social group even if virtual (10%), volunteering for a charitable organization (10%) and being active in the local community (8%) have all decreased.
From this research, here are three unique ways to support mental health in the workplace. These could be implemented at the departmental level to make it more manageable, but with the opportunity for cross-functional sharing.
1. Host a recurring mental wellness forum. This builds on the importance of socializing but with a specific purpose to share mental wellness strategies. You can think about the right timeframe to host these forums based on your business (monthly or quarterly tends to work well for most). These sessions can be virtual if your company is still largely working remotely and possibly be part of a “lunch and learn” time slot. Team members would be asked to share a mental wellness strategy that they read about (book, blog, article), saw (video, show, documentary), heard about (podcast, word-of-mouth) or are using themselves. This list of strategies could be documented in a shared document for easy reference and ongoing access.
2. Start a mental wellness challenge. This builds on the importance of exercise and the increasing importance of meditation/spiritualism. There are many free or low-cost apps available that provide guided meditation, calming sessions designed to promote sleep and exercise routines for all levels of fitness. Set a motivating but attainable target for the team, without the added stress of competition. Anyone who meets the target set (weekly or monthly) can perhaps earn points toward a small prize at the end of each quarter. The nature of the prize might even be their name put against a charitable donation (which also hits on the altruism strategy). As you may already be thinking, there are many possibilities here, but this should be a good thought-starter!
3. Support your team members’ hobbies. Talk to your team about what they enjoy doing in their spare time. Seek to understand if the pandemic working arrangements have had an impact on their hobbies. This is the first step in determining how your organization or you, as their manager, can best support them. They may need to be creative about evolving their hobbies if pandemic restrictions have fundamentally changed the nature of what they used to enjoy (e.g., travel). On a positive note, working from home and saving commuting time may have increased their ability to engage in some hobbies. But what if their long commute was when they had dedicated time to listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks? What does that mean for them now?
These are just a few ways to support mental health in the workplace. By implementing even one of these strategies, you can help make your employees feel more supported, engaged and ready to face each day.
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Author: Bernie Malinoff, Forbes Councils Member
