How returning to the office can support employee mental health
Oct 05, 2023
As employers call their workers back to the office this fall,
many employees will arrive grumbling and frustrated to be back to the pre-pandemic grind. But done right,
in-person work can be a solution to the mental health strain and job
dissatisfaction that's plagued the workforce for years.
Research
by ResumeBuilder estimates that 90% of organizations will return to the office
by the end of 2024, and of those who already have a RTO mandate in place, 72% say they
see improved productivity, retention and workplace relationships. But those
benefits don't just support a company's bottom line, says Laura Putnam, workplace well-being expert and
author.
"There's
no doubt people want to be able to continue to work remotely, but there's
definitely a disconnect between what people think that they want, versus what
in the long run might be good for them," Putnam says. "It's not
enough for people to be socially connected just outside of work. It's
absolutely essential that work time is also a time for people to be connecting
socially."
Workplace
connections can foster friendships, which can improve physical and mental
well-being. In-person work can also help make connections with managers and
higher level executives, offering opportunities for career development and
greater job satisfaction, Putnam says.
But
employers need to approach return-to-office requests the right way and be
prepared to do the work to improve company culture overall. Putnam shares why
in-office work is so important to combating loneliness and improving employee
well-being, and how employers can facilitate connections while maintaining
employee autonomy.
There
seems to be a disconnect between employees' desire to work remotely and
organizations' return-to-office mandates. Who is in the right here?
We as
human beings have this incredibly deep need for autonomy — we want to have
flexibility in terms of how we work, when we work. But working from home may
not be good for the employer, or for the employee, especially over time.
Employees are less likely to be connected with others and this is contributing to a rise in loneliness. There just isn't the
opportunity for the kind of connection that really can serve as the glue for
that kind of social fabric that we can experience when we're at
work.
"Watercolor
cooler talk" has historically been seen as being unproductive, but it's
actually incredibly important in terms of providing opportunities for employees
to be able to connect with one another as human beings, to connect with their
managers and even to executives. When these interactive interactions happen, it
can boost creativity, but it also can really boost engagement with work. There's Gallup research showing
that employees who have not just a good friend at work, but a best friend at
work, are seven times more likely to be highly engaged.
What is
the impact on employees who are missing out on those social connections in the
workplace?
We've got this rising loneliness epidemic, which certainly was happening
pre-pandemic, and three months ago, the Surgeon General released a report on
loneliness and warned that remote work will only add to the loneliness
epidemic. Loneliness is not only bad for our mental health, but it's even bad
for physical health — there are studies showing that the effects of intense
loneliness are on par with the physical effects of smoking 15 cigarettes a
day.
There
is also evidence to suggest that when people aren't connecting at work, they actually get out of the habit of
connecting outside of work. And so while intuitively, we might think, "If
people are working remotely, they're going to make that much more of an effort
to connect with one another outside of work," actually, the exact opposite
has been happening.
How can
employers facilitate those connections without angering employees with
stringent return-to-work mandates?
I see a lot of superficial perks, like, get a free lunch when you come into
work. Ultimately, those really don't work in the long-run. What really works is
an assurance that employees will continue to have this level of flexibility
that they've been afforded through remote work. That means having conversations
with employees and helping them to better understand the residual effects of
working from home, and how, yes, coming into the office is good for the
company, but it's also really good for people to socially connect. It's good
for learning on the job, and for an increase in job satisfaction.
How can
managers facilitate those conversations and build an in-office culture that's
beneficial for employees?
Instead of micromanaging, really help employees to have more control over how
they manage their day. And employers have to be willing to do the work.
Research overwhelmingly suggests that things like rising burnout, loneliness,
anxiety and depression have more to do with the workplace itself. Is toxicity
tolerated? Is there a lack of communication from one's supervisor? It's things
like work overload and unreasonable pressure. The reality is that no
mindfulness app or platform can stand up to the weight of somebody having to do
three jobs and having to tolerate a toxic boss.
This is
a conversation that I had with employers over and over again: Are you looking
for check-the-box kinds of solutions, or are you actually going to dig in and
do the work? A willingness to look at deeper systemic issues across the
organization is going to help, and then doing the work to really empower
leaders and particularly managers to understand the critical role that they
play.
Source: Employee Benefits News