The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has seen unprecedented changes in all areas of life, spending time apart from family and friends, changes in how we shop and when we can go out. However, one of the most notable changes in daily life is the new way of working. Kitchen tables across the country have become offices and video calls are now the only way to keep in contact with colleagues. Staff are experiencing new anxieties and stresses concerning their jobs, whether it be due to working in an environment which is not conducive to productivity, trying to juggle their own work responsibilities with home-schooling or becoming furloughed, which raises concerns about the security of their job in the future.

As a result of the SARS outbreak in 2003, there was an increase in post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, and was deemed by researchers at the time as a ‘mental health catastrophe’. Given the information we have on this, it is important that we put measures in place for individuals to access so that the same type of catastrophe can be avoided, post coronavirus.

As staff move back into the workplace, their mental health and well-being is going to be of more paramount importance than ever. Although moving back into the workplace may be an added piece of normality for many, the return to work may look very different to how it was before the pandemic. Social distancing from co-workers, alternating shifts in and out of the workplace and potentially wearing PPE; all of these changes will undoubtedly worry some staff members and may exacerbate any pre-existing anxieties that they may have.

An increase in stress and anxiety levels may be seen across all work settings, office staff re-adapting to working back in an office setting with more regular working hours, retail staff starting back at work after multiple months off, and front-line staff, who have had high exposure to the stress of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

It is vitally important for employers to stay aware of their team members well-being in order to maintain overall staff health and optimise their performance at work. By staying transparent as a business regarding mental health resources that are available, it will become easier for staff members to reach out if they feel that they are struggling.

According to recent studies on the topic of mental health and well-being within the workplace, mental ill health was listed in the top three causes of short-term absence in the workplace by 1/3rd of the respondents. Despite this, only 2/5’s of these workplaces had a formal strategy in place for addressing this. Placing a formal well-being plan in the workplace will be most effective for individual businesses as nationwide mental health resource are already becoming overwhelmed with the consequences of Covid-19. It is estimated that mental health problems cost the employer on average £42 million annually, with half of this cost a result of presenteeism – employees remaining at work while suffering with their mental health and therefore leading to a decrease in productivity.

By promoting positive well-being and mental health within the workplace after coronavirus, there will be a strengthening of teams and an increase in productive work, which will help to build businesses back to how they were before the outbreak. It is important that each individual employee feels that they are appreciated and that their individual circumstances and experience of the pandemic have been recognised. The return to work will indeed bring its own stresses and uncertainties for businesses and their staff alike, however, this can be, and should dealt with in the best possible way.