Who’s afraid of the ‘Sunday scaries’?

Research linked to this month’s World Mental Health Day has suggested that 67% of UK employees regularly experience the Sunday scaries, an anxiety at the thought of Mondays. Among 18 to 24 year-olds the figure rises to 74%.

The main causes, says the research, are the thought of the ‘to-do’ list waiting for people, along with a lack of sleep. And typical Sunday evening behaviours, the distractions like bingeing on TV programmes or social media, only make things worse, say psychologists.

Soothing scaries

Other factors are important in creating Sunday night anxieties. Like what’s happening at home and feelings of weekends not providing the sense of restfulness and security that they should. And the return of the stresses of Monday morning commuting into the office, what the roads and railways are going to be like.

In response to the study, wellbeing experts have recommended ways in which employers can help counter the Sunday scaries, such as ‘safe spaces’ where staff can talk about their work worries rather than bottle them up; try not to hold too many high pressure review or catch-up meetings on Monday mornings; making people more aware of the mental health support on offer, such as EAPs; and, even mixing-up the working week so that Monday isn’t always the first working day, breaking the routine.

Normal life

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “The Sunday scaries is just another buzzword — but anything that keeps mental wellbeing on the agenda for employers isn’t such a bad thing. It can help make sure people keep thinking about the effects work has on them, and getting early support from services like an EAP.

“At the same time, this kind of term raises issues of balance. Where do HR — and employees themselves — draw the line between ongoing levels of stress and anxiety that can lead to issues with mental health, and ordinary experiences of apprehension. It’s only normal to have feelings of nerves ahead of days when we’re going to be tested and challenged, expected to be producing our best. Often it’s only a sign that we care about our work, and that’s a healthy thing, it’s where we also get the positive sense of fulfilment and achievement from. The Friday night glow.”

Who’s afraid of the ‘Sunday scaries’? – EAPA UK

New WHO/ILO mental health guidelines focus on the workplace

Workplaces amplify issues that have a negative affect on mental wellbeing, says the World Health Organisation: through feelings of inequality, discrimination and bullying. 12 billion workdays are said to be lost annually as a result of depression and anxiety, costing the global economy nearly $1trn.

At the same time only 35% of countries around the world have specific national programmes that support work-related mental wellbeing.

Call to action

The WHO alongside the International Labour Organisation has launched its guidelines on mental health at work, with suggestions of practical actions to take in a WHO/ILO policy brief.

The guidelines recommend in particular that organisations take action on issues such as heavy workloads, pay more attention to the kinds of negative behaviours that create distress among employees, and provide training to managers on how to prevent creating a stressful work environment.

Employers are also encouraged to look again at how to best accommodate the needs of workers with mental health conditions and support their return to work.

New worlds of support

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “The WHO has been providing active advice and guidance on physical health for many decades, great strides have been taken internationally on prevention and cure of physical illness and disease.

“As the WHO interventions have indicated, mental health is now among the biggest threat to societies — and workplaces are at the centre of the issues involved. That means mental wellbeing strategies, linked to practical programmes of support, have to be front and centre of organisational strategy.”

New WHO/ILO mental health guidelines focus on the workplace – EAPA UK

World Mental Health Day takes on discrimination

WHO research suggests that 1 in 4 people in OECD countries think people with a mental illness shouldn’t be allowed to hold any kind of public office.

Ongoing stigma and discrimination are seen as the biggest barrier to making progress on making mental health a global priority: “The stereotyped attitudes about mental ill health, which we call mental health-related stigma, can lead to the discrimination of people who have or are perceived to have mental ill health, which makes it harder for them to earn an income, have a voice in issues that affect them, gain access to quality health care, be part of their community and recover their mental health,” says the WHO.

Mental health literacy

To overcome these ‘invisible walls’, the WHO is calling for campaigns to improve mental health literacy among the general public, tackling general limitations in knowledge and understanding of what mental ill health means, and what it’s like to live with a mental illness.
Its own resources include the QualityRights toolkit, and free e-training course .

In the UK, the Department of Health and Social Care has its ‘Better Health – Every Mind Matters’ campaign, backed up by a number of practical exercises and advice for self-care, including the NHS-approved Mind Plan — a five minute mental wellbeing quiz that covers ‘money, work and housing’ and ‘life changes and difficult times’, leading to a simple and personalised mental health action plan. Its downloadable resources are available from a Campaign Resource Centre.

EAPs make it happen

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “No-one involved with mental health would argue that the issue should be a top priority for governments and societies worldwide. There’s no health of any kind without mental health.

“Great progress has been made in the UK in terms of awareness and stigma in the UK, but as the WHO points out, there can sometimes be a lack of real understanding and empathy. A core issue is one of access to support. It should be a normal part of life for people to be thinking about their mental wellbeing, and to get early help and advice when it’s needed. While access to services is limited, seen as a last resort, help with mental health won’t be made to look and feel ‘normal’.

“This is where EAPs are going to play an increasingly essential role, as early stage support, accessible and reliable for all employees within organisations.”

World Mental Health Day takes on discrimination – EAPA

Is wellbeing becoming a top manager perk again?

A survey among 10,000 workers internationally by the Future Forum research group has signalled a “troubling double standard”: a steady decline in the stress experienced by senior staff, but an increase in anxiety among the majority of workers.

The researchers point to a basic divide in terms of work flexibility and conditions post-pandemic. Exec-utives have been given more freedom to work from home and flexibly, while workers have been ex-pected to get back to the office. As a result, the average employee’s work-life balance score was found to be 40% lower than executives. Full-time office workers were found to have markedly lower mental health scores.

The back-to-the-office effect

After a period of more easy-going attitudes to wfh and flexible working hours, the desire among boss-es to see staff back in the workplace is having disproportionate effects. A Microsoft study has suggest-ed that 50% of organisations want to re-instate full-time office working routines.

Future Forum Vice President, Sheela Subramanian, explained the problem: “Executives are embracing flexibility while they’re telling everybody else to come back to the office. What we’re seeing is just a lot more rigidity, more top-down mandates happening and executives are not necessarily setting that model from the top.”

Keep it clear on wellbeing

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “Wellbeing among staff is the foundation for productivity and performance across the entirety of organisations, not something that can be seen as a perk. It’s going to be important for HR teams to ensure there’s not a quiet drift in attitudes to seeing work/life balance and flexible routines as something that can only work for the few — the few who are typically in the senior ranks.

“The danger is not so much now, while employers are having to compete for skills, but what happens when there is less competition? Support for wellbeing has to be even-handed.”

Is wellbeing becoming a top manager perk again? – EAPA UK

Embrace the wellbeing and productivity consultancy role, says EAPA’s first international President-elect

“Employee Assistance (EA) professionals are traditionally more concerned with ‘rolling up their sleeves and doing the work’ of helping people, than conceptualising and promoting concepts or ideas about what EA can and should be,” says Daryl Joseph of Josal Consulting, newly-announced as the President-elect of EAPA internationally.

“Over time, we have found ourselves in a position where we often overlook our consultative role in the workplace in favour of seeing our primary role as providing short term clinical care to employees.

“EA is the only professional discipline that embodies the skill, experience, training, and resources needed to adequately address the multifaceted challenges of maintaining high productivity among the workforce. In today’s post-covid 19 reality, organisations need the intervention and assistance of EAPs to ensure that their people can work, and work well, more than ever before in modern history. EAPs are quite simply essential in today’s workplaces and societies.”

Changing the workplace for good

Joseph is Managing Director of Josal Consulting [www.josalconsulting.com], a provider that has built up a large client base of employers across the Caribbean over the past 11 years. He formally takes on the global role in 2024 for a two-year period.

The most important job for EAPs now, Joseph argues, is convincing the world of work “just how much EA can actually accomplish if there is cooperation and collaboration enabling us to act fully in the workplace.” EAPs also need to moving forward on integrating technology into EA, he says, particularly when it comes to data science: using data for analysis and decision making.

The other new global board members are Lee Ann Aden (Treasurer), and Bryan McNutt and the UK’s Eugene Farrell as ‘At-Large’ Directors. The main purpose of the international board, as EAPA’s governance body, is to set policy and help shape the direction and development of the EA profession.

Driving forward

An EAPA international member since 2001, Eugene Farrell [https://www.eapa.org.uk/] is now serving his second term as President of the UK Branch.“It’s brilliant to see the EAPA global board expanding and bringing in new expertise and sources of insight — especially now, in what feels like the beginning of a new era for EAPs and their potential in terms of working in partnership with HR to improve productivity.

“With his energy, passion and clear thinking, Daryl will be a great addition to the team as President and in helping to drive future development of our industry.”

Why is sexual harassment still such a common part of workplace life?

The 2022 Gender Equality in the Workplace report has flagged how work is still a place of harassment and gender discrimination.

Randstad surveyed 6,000 employees in May of this year. It found that 32% of women had been affected by sexual harassment; 72% had experienced or seen instances of inappropriate behaviour from male co-workers; and 67% had been subject to gender discrimination of different kinds.

Unsurprisingly, higher levels of each of these issues was found in the traditionally male-dominated sectors such as construction and IT — where around half of women said sexual harassment had affected their career.

Safer at the top

40% of board seats in the UK are now taken by women — up from 12% in 2010. But that hasn’t meant widespread change in attitudes.

“Everything has changed and nothing has changed,” said Victoria Short, chief executive of Randstad UK. Gender equality was still very much a problem at lower levels in organisations and in smaller businesses.

Gender discrimination was still believed to be a prevalent force. 68%, for example, argued it wouldn’t be possible for them to return to work after having a baby to a part-time senior role.

More punishments?

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “A natural reaction to news like this is to crack down on sexual harassment, to put in place processes for more follow-ups and punishments. But relationships at work are complex, and more severe warnings and attitudes can only serve to unsettle a workplace and drive bullying and harassment underground, into more subtle forms. Making it even harder for people to speak up, because they know the consequences will be serious.

“Instead, it’s all about making women, and staff in general, feel more comfortable about talking. Knowing they will be listened to. A confidential service like an EAP means everyone has the chance to express their fears and talk through constructive ways forward without needing to constantly worry about implications: what their manager will think, what colleagues will say, and what does it mean for their career prospects?”

Why is sexual harassment still such a common part of workplace life? – EAPA UK

The 5th annual MAD World Summit is back – in-person – on 11th October 2022 in Central London – the day after World Mental Health Day.

MAD stands for Make A Difference. The Summit is the sister event of www.makeadifference.media and The Watercooler.

EAPA is delighted to once again be a supporting partner of the Mad World Summit on 11 October 2022. With a stellar line up of speakers and exhibitors, this event is dedicated to helping employers to really Make A Difference.

We are pleased to be able to offered a 25% discount to all our members using the code EAPA25 when registering for the Mad World Summit. Find out more information about the Summit below.

Since its launch in 2018 the Summit has become firmly established as the go-to solutions-focused conference and exhibition dedicated to turning talk into action, creating cultures of care and embedding mental health and wellbeing as a strategic business priority.

The pandemic propelled employee mental health and wellbeing to the top of business agendas. Now it’s crucial that it stays there. Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace are more critical than ever before. In just two years, we’ve experienced a decade of change in the world of work. Burnout is ubiquitous, uncertainty persists and now the cost-of-living crisis is biting.

Whilst adapting to meet fast-evolving employee needs and expectations undoubtedly presents challenges, it also opens opportunities for employers to scale-up workplace mental health and wellbeing support, embed preventative and inclusive approaches to wellbeing and set a new benchmark for workplace culture.

At the 5th annual MAD World Summit, we’ll be helping employers to step-up by showcasing what’s working now and exploring what’s needed next to weave mental health and wellbeing into your organisations’ DNA, achieve maximum engagement with initiatives, optimise investment in workplace wellbeing and really Make A Difference.

Business imperatives

The Summit is a great meeting of minds which always features fantastic speakers and attracts employers from a wide range of sectors. There were 700+ attendees at the last event.

Already confirmed speakers for the 2022 event include;

• Sir Ian Cheshire, Chair, Channel 4
• Sarah Newton, Chair, Health & Safety Executive
• Josh Krichefski, COO Global and CEO EMEA, MediaCom
• Jon Slade, Chief Commercial Officer, Financial Times
• Daisy Reeves, Global Inclusion & Diversity Partner, BCLP LLP
• Fiona Adshead, Chair, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition
• Charles Alberts, Global Head of Wellbeing & Employee Experience, Clifford Chance
• Lauren Appleby, Mental Health Programme Manager, Meta
• Theodora Chatzisarros, Fashion, Business Development & Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy Leader, Amazon
• Hannah Pearsall, Head of Wellbeing, Hays
• Yulia O’Mahony, Global Head of Health and Resilience, Philip Morris International
• Ryan Hopkins, Global Workplace of the Future Lead, Finastra
• Geoff McDonald, Global Advocate, Campaigner and Consultant for Mental Health @ Work and former Global VP HR, Unilever
• Amanda Owen MBE, Wellbeing, Health & Safety Director, Heathrow
• Naeema Choudry, Partner, Eversheds Sutherland and member of Business in the Community’s “Better Work” Advisory Board
• Paul Caudwell, Heath Wellbeing Manager, Co-op
• Paul Hendry, Global Vice President for Health, Safety & Environment, Jacobs
• Katherine O’Hara, Therapy Area Specialist and Wellbeing Ambassador, Pfizer
• Somayeh Rahimi, Wellbeing Manager, Computacenter
• Vashti Holland, National Wellbeing Lead, Guide Dogs
• June Clark, Health & Wellbeing Manager, Nestle
• Kerrie Smith, Associate Director, Health & Wellbeing, Mace
• Marina Glasgow, Chief Conciliator, Acas
• Shelley Asquith, Health & Safety Policy, TUC

With plenty more in the pipeline.

The MAD World experience

As Mark Pigou, Co-founder, Make a Difference Media & Events, MAD World Summit and The Watercooler says: “The 5th annual MAD World Summit is the next step in our drive to accelerate the shift from stigma to solutions. With agenda-setting keynotes, themed content tracks, roundtables, workshops, a Think Tank, announcement of the Make A Difference Award winners and a host of exhibitors, there is no Summit like MAD World”.

What’s the real cause behind the wave of ‘quiet quitting’?

Media have jumped onto a TikTok clip which has gone viral, resonating with workforces globally. At a time. “You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” says user @zkchillin.

“You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality that work has to be your life; the reality is it’s not, and your worth as a person is not defined by your labour.”

Not quite quitting

Worries about finances due to the cost-of-living crisis is a factor in declining productivity — staff are thinking more about what they are and aren’t being paid to do.

A survey of 2,200 UK employees by Champion Health, the global wellbeing platform, has suggested that financial pressure is now the highest cause of stress. 71% of UK professionals, says the research, are experiencing moderate to high levels of stress.

The main cause though, argues Anthony Klotz, associate professor at University of College London’s School of Management, is people trying to avoid burnout. “Quiet quitting is effectively redrawing boundaries back to the job description so that people aren’t thinking about work 24/7. Instead, they’re dedicating time and energy to other elements of their lives that are more meaningful, leading to im-proved wellbeing.”

Quietly belong

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “Quiet quitting is a wellbeing issue, a psychological one in particular. The result of years of different stresses and strains that have yet to ease, meaning employees are more questioning of what’s being expected of them and the impact that’s having on their health. What matters most? Career progress or health?

“The solution has to be around the feelings of belonging. Quiet quitting happens because of disen-gagement, a weakening in the sense of community, of people all working together and supporting each other — of the employer having their best interests at heart.

“An EAP and its professional services need to be front and centre of HR’s response. Making sure every-one feels supported, part of something, always able to talk about worries like their finances and be listened to.”

Will employees stay for the ‘breakup leave’?

A survey among American workers has found that ‘hangover leave’ is the most sought after benefit (23%).

The research, carried out by YouGov for an equal pay software company Trusaic, also found support for perks such as ‘breakup leave’ (time off when a romantic relationship ends) (17%), ‘pawternity leave’ (already offered by some UK employers, for when staff take on a new dog), social media detox days (12%) and even compassionate leave after a sports team has suffered defeat in a major event.

Perk retention

The survey is about a wish-list rather than reality, a tongue-in-cheek response from employees about the benefits they’d like to see.

But there’s a serious issue behind the story: in the post-pandemic age of restless employees looking for quality of life and more rewarding roles (combined with angst over the cost-of-living crisis), the pressure is on for HR and benefits teams to keep employees feeling settled and motivated. In the US, 48 million staff moved on to another job in 2021, and there are reports of two jobs for every single candidate coming forward.

How loyalty works

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “With the Great Resignation and the increasing war for talent, there’s a temptation to look to eye-catching perks. Something new and different, without the need for increasing the salary budget.

“What the difficult days of the pandemic showed again and again was how much people appreciated human support from their employer — that they could be trusted to have their back, doing their best to keep them in work, staying in touch.

“Through all the new anxieties, employees want to be sure they can trust their employer, they will be listened to when they have issues, there will be a fair and reasonable response. And EAP services continue to be the backbone for organisations in this way.”

How work is becoming the ‘rock’ in employee’s lives

In a bid to ensure it’s a positive force in employee’s day-to-day lives, Lucky Voice has added a new package of mental health and wellbeing support to its existing EAP offering. It’s just one of the many organisations seeing the EAP as the ideal foundation for spreading both a sense of support and good health.

Lucky Voice — an entertainment brand offering private karaoke rooms, cocktail bars and late night party space — has made available a suite of self-help tools, ranging from managing anxiety to breath-ing techniques. Its team of 87 also have access to a four-week programme to help people make life-style changes, stopping smoking, looking after their diet or alcohol consumption, or how to improve their sleep routine.

Values at work

With the cost-of-living-crisis also in mind, Lucky Voice has also introduced specific EAP support around debt management, household budgeting and dealing with civil disputes.

Charlie Elek, managing director at Lucky Voice, said: “One of our core business values is to have fun, be fun and we strive to offer our employees the same excitement that our karaoke-loving customers en-joy when they pick up one of our mics, and our EAP is very much a realisation of this value.”

Staff retention levels at Lucky Voice are among the highest in its sector — and the business now sees mental health and wellbeing support as a critical way to maintain that situation.

Listening first

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “We’re going through year after year of anxiety. Compared with past decades, new threats and challenges to mental health seem to be coming thick and fast.

“Now is the time when people, more than ever, can find a sense of stability in their everyday work, for their finances and for the basis of their daily routine. Employers have that opportunity to be a positive force in people’s lives — and so build a sense of belonging and loyalty.

“Growing EAP services is a straightforward and essential way of demonstrating understanding and commitment, becoming the glue at the centre of operations that holds people together around a core of good mental wellbeing.”

How work is becoming the ‘rock’ in employee’s lives – EAPA UK