This opinion piece appeared in The West Australian on 06 May 2022. It is written by Debbie Childs, CEO at HelpingMinds.
Rest in Peace work-from-home. Those days are over. This is what Lord Mayor of Perth Basil Zempilas said last week as masks came off in WA. I wonder though, how many people read that and felt their anxiety levels rise?
It was recently reported that BHP is opening their Perth offices to its 4500 workers from May 9, with several added COVID-safe measures. How do BHP staff really feel? How would you feel being ordered back to an office? Do all staff really want to return to the office, some or all the time? Do they want the commute, contact with others and be required to be present in an office with or without masks?
Many husinesses are now ordering their staff back to the office. “It’s time to live with COVID” is the catchcry.
What if you are a carer, have dependent family, elderly parents or a child with a significant illness which puts their life at risk if they catch COVID? Maybe you are immunocompromised yourself? For those people, the back to work order could have significant impacts. A mindset is emerging that considers, in living with COVID we return to “normal”. I ask, what is normal? Don’t we have an opportunity to create a new, better and more caring normal?
Prior to 2019, working from home was a flexible arrangement you could negotiate with your employer. It allowed employees to seek a work-life balance that suited them. In 2020, COVID arrived. Working from home became a requirement, as did home schooling. Both of these created differing levels of anxiety and stress. In WA we were “lucky”, until the start of this year, to have “dodged a bullet” , as our politicians often reflected.
However, the rest of the world has been living with COVID, whereas we are only just starting. In June 2021, research carried out by McKinsey found that one in three people said the shift to returning to the office negatively impacted their mental health. This finding would potentially mean that 1500 BHP employees are anxious about returning to the office next week.
With many Perth employers now directing their teams back to the office we could see about one-third of our teams’ mental health being impacted, either by the requirement or by the mere suggestion. Prior to COVID we were aware that one in five Australians each year would be impacted by a mental health condition in their lifetime. Will the requirement to return to the office now increase this risk? As employers, we should be looking for solutions to ensure our team members are able to deliver their roles effectively, in a psychologically safe space, whether that be in a home office or a city-based office.
Does the thought of returning to the office to work cause you anxiety? Would you like to work from home or, at the very least, have access to a hybrid working model? How, as employers, can we create the safe working environment we are legislated to provide? In coming months and years, will we see an increase in workers
compensation claims because staff are being forced to again work in offices? The era of the autocratic boss has gone. It’s time to embrace the fact our teams bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. The best option is we create psychologically safe working environments which encourage harmonious and productive effort, spaces where people can be inspired and leave at the end of each day fulfilled. That doesn’t have to be in a traditional office. We need to work together as employers and employees to create the environment that is right for our organisation, allowing our teams to flourish whether they are working at home, in the office, or across both.
