Psychological health & well being of your employee - New Normal Pandemic effect

In the current pandemic crisis, all of us know what we need to do to keep ourselves healthy & fight the virus. There are guidelines on dos & don'ts to avoid the spread of the virus & how to keep oneself safe.

The world decided to go for lock down and now to unlock slowly, keeping the health issue focused. The economic activities are no exception; they, too, have to go through this process.

The enterprises are ensuring the action plan i.e., sanitise, social distance , PPE, etc., to ensure the health of their employee.

While all enterprises are ensuring to take care of their employees' physiological health, it is equally vital for them to take care of their psychological health & well being.

The current pandemic crisis impacts almost every individual in some way or another, and physiological health must remain sound.

Irrespective of the size of the company & nature of the business, each enterprise has some significant change in their way of working. These changes are impacting the employee of all categories. Almost every employee will be encountering challenges on both front 1) personal – the way of living is changing and 2) professional – the idea of working is changing. The change may lead to some psycho-social risk as below can affect the employee's psychological health and well being .

• Uncertainty: Expectation in the new way of working? How long will the current changed arrangements last, what is the impact on pay or working hours with this change?

• Work Load & Work Pace: In the changed scenario, there could be too little or too much work for an individual. The enterprises are working on short term deadlines, and the employee is not able to meet the pace as it may be taking a long time in the changed scenario.

• Working Hours: Unpredictable working hours, reduced or extended working hours, new shift patterns

• Role Ambiguity: Change in the role, Lack of Clarity on the part in the new way of working, New Roles emerging in the changed way of working.

• Lack of Social Support: Remote working, physical isolation, communication issues

• Job Insecurity: Concern about possible job loss, domestic financial issue

• Work & Home Life Balance: caring responsibilities, family emergencies, needing to work outside regular working hours.

• Specific requirements: illness in the family, staying in the vulnerable area or with group

• Lack of Control: Changes in the risk level can be affected by surroundings, leading to sudden reinforcement/easing of restrictions or way of working/living.

Many of the enterprises are managing the risk explained above by ensuring.

1. Promotion of a culture of trust, care, and support

2. Acknowledgement of the fact that the individual employees experience different issues and that the difficulties are valid and to be respected.

3. Flexibility in working hours

4. Regular one to one meeting to discuss issues & anxieties and agree to work out a win-win solution.

5. Transparency in communication.

6. Giving consistent,clear and accurate information about the current situation of the enterprise

7. Inclusion in the decision-making process, especially on the changes to be brought in the system to meet the new challenge thrown by the crisis.

Most of the enterprises are taking due care and have drawn an elaborate action plan to ensure their employee's physiological health; this is to highlight the need for a similar effort to ensure their psychological health and well-being.

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