Working well

x Sponsored content on Research Live and in Impact magazine is editorially independent.
Find out more about advertising and sponsorship.

“You are not ‘working from home’; you are at your home, during a crisis, trying to work.”

As organisations moved to remote working, guidance issued by a Canadian government agency to its employees was quickly shared on social media networks. It’s a distinction to which many will relate.

Whether you are a parent juggling childcare with your job, jostling for workspace with housemates, or feeling isolated without the presence of colleagues, working remotely is not without its struggles for mental wellbeing.

The good news is that the importance of looking after our emotional health has risen up the agenda in recent years, with charities, governments and forward-thinking organisations taking the lead.

For the second year running, Opinium has conducted a study on mental wellbeing in the market research industry, supported by MRS. The results of the survey of 1,143 UK researchers, sent out by MRS to its database, suggest improvement in people’s openness to discussing mental health and acknowledging issues.

More than half ( 57%) of those who reported experiencing mental health struggles said they had told someone in their workplace about it, compared with more than a third ( 36%) in the first survey conducted in 2019.

Last year’s research found that 40% of respondents said they didn’t take time off because they didn’t think their mental health issue was a valid reason to do so; however, this year, the figure was lower, at 28%.

Additionally, two-thirds ( 66%) of respondents said they feel their current workplace takes the health and wellbeing of employees seriously – an increase from 56% last year. However, the proportion of respondents reporting that they had struggled with their mental wellbeing remains high – 83%, compared with 85% in the 2019 research.

This research is all the more pertinent in 2020. With the UK entering a recession for the first time since the 2008 financial crash, and the pandemic forcing an overnight change in the way most businesses operate, the industry is under pressure.

Covid-19 is one of the top stressors identified in the research. For 40% of respondents, the impact of the pandemic on the company was one of their key sources of stress at work – third after workload and deadlines.

“It’s a pivotal moment for our industry and society as a whole. Covid-19 has impacted not only the way we live, but our expectations of, and priorities for, the future,” says James Endersby, chief executive at Opinium.

The study uses the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, a method designed by the University of Warwick with funding from NHS Health Scotland. These scores remained stable this year compared with the 2019 research, despite the pandemic; the overall score among those in the market research industry was 46.1, compared with 46.3 last year.

For some in the industry, working from home has been a positive experience. For example, 62% said that not having to commute has improved their mental health and 59% reported that they are more relaxed. However, almost half of respondents ( 48%) found it hard to draw boundaries between work and rest, and 28% said it was harder to keep in touch with their colleagues.

There was some division over the effects of working from home during the pandemic – 37% said it has improved their mental wellbeing, while 33% said the opposite.

Despite its challenges, there is an appetite for remote working among a vast majority of respondents, with 96% wanting to continue working from home ‘in some capacity’ in future.

“People who are offered flexible working hours have higher mental wellbeing versus those who are not. We see that with most of the initiatives, but some have more impact than others,” says Sophie Holland, senior research executive at Opinium.

“Having an individualistic approach to how we return to offices, and taking everyone’s individual circumstances into account, is important. The pandemic hasn’t gone away – it’s about employers being mindful of that going forward.”

Recommendations 

Opinium has developed three recommendations for employers; the first is that companies should not get complacent. While the data shows that progress has been made in helping employees better manage their mental health in the workplace in the past 12 months, there are plenty of areas for improvement. For example, 31% of respondents said they wouldn’t know how to approach the topic of their mental health at work if they were struggling.

Where programmes and initiatives have been implemented – such as enforced mandatory breaks, mentoring schemes and ‘duvet days’ – the research found that employees have reported benefits to their mental wellbeing. The report recommends that organisations continue to offer such initiatives or consider introducing them.

Opinium has also recommended that employers learn from lockdown and consider making some of the temporary changes to working patterns permanent, to allow for greater flexibility.

Endersby says: “Our response to the challenges posed by the crisis – to the pressures and concerns they place upon both the mental and physical wellbeing of our colleagues and friends – will continue to have widespread and long-lasting repercussions.”

A mindful approach

The Mindful Business Charter was developed in 2018 by companies in the financial and legal sectors, with the intention of removing unnecessary sources of workplace stress and promoting better mental health and wellbeing at work.

The framework provides a set of behavioural principles to reduce avoidable stress. It is based on four pillars: openness and respect; smart meetings and emails; respecting rest periods; and mindful delegation.

Examples of principles in the framework include:

• Discuss with colleagues, clients and contacts their preferred method of communication
• Be respectful of others’ time by planning meetings properly
• Avoid over-use of email and don’t copy people into emails they don’t need to receive
• When sending emails outside of business hours, be clear in the title whether it needs to be actioned promptly or consider sending pre-timed emails (so emails are not received late at night or at weekends).

Firefish Group recently signed up to the charter. “It provides a practical, flexible framework to reduce unproductive stress and support the wellbeing of the whole business – and I hope, in time, some more of our clients,” says group chief executive Jem Fawcus.

“Unnecessary stress is completely counterproductive for everybody. A productive business is not a stressed business.”

This article was first published in the October 2020 issue of Impact.