The Lessons We Learned: What the Pandemic Taught Us and How It Shapes the Future of Our Wellness

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

After a year of the pandemic, the balance between mental health and work has become more important than ever. To help maintain this balance, there are important things we’ve learned from this pandemic that can help shape the way we implement wellness programs in the workplace. Looking to the future, how will these needs change? I often hear people use the phrase “when things go back to normal.” But I believe that is a limited and not future-focused mindset for entrepreneurs who must always be agile and forward-thinking when developing and implementing strategy. Those who are focused on going back to the old ways will definitely miss opportunities to benefit from what we have learned over the past year. Here are three lessons we learned and how they can help us improve the wellness programs in our industries.


Company Flexibility

In the business world before the pandemic, it was not unusual for a company to be in a set routine. Whether it was employee or client expectations, corporate processes, or even meeting structure, the pandemic turned all of these upside down. Working remotely caused many businesses to shift to a more flexible as they recognized the situation in which COVID-19 put them. In fact, according to USA  Today, a whopping 30% of employees suggest that they will quit if they have to return 100% in person when the pandemic ends. We’ve learned a lot about what we can do and cannot do remotely. It makes sense to gain real data from your team, in the form of surveys, focus groups, and meetings to understand what “the office” will look like in the future. The drastic change in economy and society meant that businesses needed to assess and make decisions quickly as the world shut down in the blink of an eye. Going forward, businesses would do well to come up with some action plans that can accommodate for large changes like this in the future. Wellness programs will need space to be flexible and creative in how they improve company culture and employee well-being.


The Rise of Technology

Working remotely changed the way many businesses communicate with one another, whether on the inside or outside between companies. Conference room meetings changed to Zoom meetings, touching base took place over the phone instead of in an office, and happy hours happened at home with your own margarita maker. We’ve had the benefit of using many different internet-based platforms to communicate. While this has made working from home a much more tangible opportunity, with it comes an increase in social anxiety and isolation, meaning wellness programs must accommodate this aspect of mental health.  Technology changes the way that wellness programs will be implemented, while changing the issues they address. While working in-person increases productivity and a sense of community, working from home and the pandemic opened up a new world of mental and physical health problems, forcing wellness programs to jump ahead of the curve for the future. In response to this rise of technology, they will need to develop ways of identifying, communicating, and finding solutions to these problems.  It is important to ensure your wellness programs are able to anticipate and keep up with dynamic trends that continue to shape our workplaces and our world.


The Company Leaders’ Role in Employee Mental Health

If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s that mental health has a vital place in the work environment and company leaders have the power to mitigate those struggles. Working remotely due to the pandemic left a lot of people struggling with mental health. Wellness programs may need to become more prevalent in corporate settings, have a wider range of employee health to cover, and require training for leaders in companies to handle mental health in a way that is constructive for employee/employer relationships. A new study suggests that depression symptoms have increased three times higher since the pandemic started. The pandemic is a traumatic event and although not everyone will develop severe depression, it is important to be aware of high functioning depression which can be just as troubling. Many professionals and entrepreneurs will have at least one episode of depression during their lifetime and may not present any symptoms at all while at work. This invisibility is dangerous and proves why wellness programs are so important. Proactively, they must encourage your team to manage their mental health and build awareness around symptoms and challenges can help them better take care of themselves. When company leaders emphasize the vital nature of wellness programs in their workplace, this ultimately improves productivity, prevents burnout and retains quality team members.


Conclusion

Pandemic or not, the future is always uncertain, so it is important to continue developing your company’s approach to mental and physical health trends. We have learned that company flexibility improves employee health, that the increasing presence of technology in our workplaces causes problems and must be monitored closely, and that company leaders have power to spearhead employee health and create healthy atmospheres at work. Such lessons are not limited to a pandemic, but have a lasting impact on the future of our companies and our perception of health. Don’t think that the solution should be limited to implementing wellness programs solely, but by developing ways to holistically capture employee and client wellness through communication, facilitating feedback, and understanding that we are all in this together.


tamika Stewart