Wellington Wellness plugs into EAPA network of resources and expertise

A mental health charity with ambitions to evolve its services into an EAP has joined with the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) UK as an associate member.

Wellington Wellness offers support and guidance on issues affecting mental wellbeing, including finances, alcohol and drugs, bereavement and relationships, as well as one-to-one counselling via its network of registered professionals. Mental health workshops are delivered by Wellington on-site for clients. Its occupational health operation provides health surveillance and medical facilities to clients UK wide.

“As a charity, we were set up to offer assistance to those experiencing mental health challenges. We wanted to offer a blended service that would enable us to provide an employee information service with referral to recognised programmes,” said Roseanne Savage, Chair of the Wellington Mental Health and Wellness Trust. “Aligning ourselves with EAPA ensures that our client base will have access to the best possible organisations around.”

The pandemic has meant a jump in demand for counselling services from Wellington Wellness by around 60% and requests for support from companies in general by 20%.

“Now more than ever we want to ensure that we have the best tools for our clients and by being a member of the EAPA we feel confident that we can meet their needs,” added Roseanne.

“The pandemic has been a challenging time for all EAP providers, meaning extra demands on professionals and support staff and the need for adaptability,” said Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair. “For a relatively new entrant like Wellington Wellness there’s an even greater need to be part of a professional support network like EAPA where we’re able to share contacts, consolidate our strengths and maintain standards. We’re delighted Wellington have joined with us.”

What does the future workplace look like post-Covid 19?

Emma Parry, Professor of Human Resource Management, Head of the Changing World of Work Group, Cranfield School of Management, www.cranfield.ac.cuk/som

WFH may have become the norm in the past few months of crisis – but that doesn’t mean a momentous change to how we work just yet.

Despite the common rhetoric around the decline of the physical office over recent years, evidence suggests there were relatively low levels of home working (less than 5%) before the pandemic. Covid-19 has been a shock to that system of assumptions around how work can and should be carried out: many more individuals will have developed the capability to work at home in relation to using relevant technologies; organisations have been forced to invest in remote working platforms and modify formal processes for management. Managers have needed to adapt quickly, with or without training, to suit the sudden, extreme circumstances. With this experience of the challenges involved, it’s likely that more professional development will be needed to develop the specific skills and make managers more able to deal with remote teams, and, in general, become more resilient.

These changes undoubtedly mean that working at home might be easier moving forward. Some employees have discovered they prefer working outside of an office environment, have enjoyed having more flexibility in their working hours and losing the stress of commuting. Others have struggled with balancing childcare responsibilities with work or facing social isolation. Likewise, some employers have learned to manage their employees without needing them to be physically visible. The question is whether WFH produces any longer term benefits, or is something that works for six months but then loses its appeal. We must not forget the evidence of the importance of social interaction at work for wellbeing and mental health. The social environment that a physical workplace offers is an essential part of the employee experience for many of us.

An aspect of working lives more likely to change is the use of international travel – particularly short business trips for meetings or events. The pandemic period has accelerated improvements in technology for collaboration and communication, and may have made video calls familiar and more effective and accepted as a practice. Coupled with increasing concerns about the impact of air travel on the environment, this might well represent a tipping point that will lead to more significant and longer-term change.

The pandemic has meant a steep learning curve: a set of challenges that might lead to increased capabilities and efficiencies in the future. But ultimately organisations are about how people combine. Decisions about long-term ways of working need to be made with a clear head, when the sense of emergency has gone. And for some that might mean the return of a strong feeling for the value of traditional workplaces, people sharing a physical workplace and its community, alongside more opportunities for home working where it’s wanted or just necessary. 

Whatever the detail of practical arrangements are for working post-Covid-19, one long-term need will be for employers to create a sense of physical and psychological safety. Employees need to know their organisation is putting safety first, is committed to staff wellbeing – a critical factor in building resilience to cope with both the recovery phase now and with future shocks.

Employees are feeling the pressure

Fear of unemployment is causing overwork, presenteeism and going into workplaces with cold and flu symptoms.

A Canada Life survey this month has claimed around half of WFH employees feel under more pressure to be ‘always on’. 35% said they had kept on working through illness. The research highlighted how 26% of employees had worked through illness because of high workloads, 16% because of worries over redundancy. Another study of 2,000 employees by Thermalcheck has suggested that one in 14 employees would go into work, no matter now severe their cold or flu-like symptoms were.

The US jobs market has provided evidence of trends likely to be imitated internationally: low turnover as employees stick to their jobs whether they are genuinely committed and engaged or not. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data for March and April 2020 showed a dramatic fall in ‘hopping’ between jobs. 

“As the physical and mental wellbeing of UK employees is stretched to the limit, productivity could be significantly hit,” said Paul Avis, group insurance marketing director at Canada Life. “But with so many people frightened they might lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s no surprise they’re working through sickness and worried about the implications of taking time off.”

Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair, said: “The current jobs market has the potential to make people feel ‘trapped’ in their role – even if they’d previously felt entirely happy with their job. There’s an increased risk of burnout, as well as feelings of disengagement that could turn into a longer-term decline in productivity and alienation.

“Everyone’s feeling the pressure of uncertainty; and for many that means more work, more change and more responsibilities. It all adds to the burden of stress. What’s most important is for HR to ensure employees feel part of a community: challenges are being shared, wellbeing is high on the agenda and the best kinds of support are available. That way, employee energies can be channelled into the recovery period, introducing changes and moving forward together.”

Tracey Paxton, Executive Board Member and D&I Lead, Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) 

Now, more than ever, we need to ensure we provide the right services and support for people from a black and minority ethnic (BAME) background in the right way, with the appropriate skills and knowledge, at the right times. The Covid-19 outbreak has disproportionately affected BAME groups according to Public Health England; and economic recession will only heighten questions around equality of opportunity.

EAPA UK was founded on the principles of fairness and that all regardless of their background should have the same opportunities and access to care and support. As the body representing the interests of the industry, we want to support EAP members in working to eradicate all forms of racism, whether overt, insidious or structural. That means making sure we keep up the conversation with our members, listening and learning how we can all best address issues of racism – how we can become an active part of the solution and bring about long lasting change.

Most importantly, what are we going to do in practice? Members have been in contact to discuss ideas and we’re committed to making them happen. For example: 

• to make EAPs a safe space for BAME members to express the challenges they face without judgement or fear of repercussion;
• encourage the membership to learn and engage more through literature to support greater understanding, awareness and active change of racist and/or discriminatory practice;
• create a culture of challenging racist and/or discriminatory behaviours;
• hold a profession-wide online event, led by members of the BAME community, for a candid conversation about racism and discrimination, and support cultural change within the profession;
• and, promote greater visibility of BAME members across EAPA communications channels in order to improve representation across the website and social media channels.

The profession as a whole needs to know more, find out more, be involved in more research into the reality of the BAME experience in workplaces. Most of all that involves members engaging more with BAME individuals and communities to understand the lived realities of employees and their challenges. And to make sure the conversation is ongoing, that diversity and equality stay on the agenda.

The role of EAP in building organisational resilience

Peter Kelly, Senior Psychologist, Health & Safety Executive

www.hse.gov.uk

Now’s the time for a re-think of what EAPs are for. It’s an opportunity for EAPs to play a much broader role in building organisational resilience – moving away from being a service for people who have reached the stage of illness, to become the pro-active platform of prevention; from a tertiary treatment role to a secondary and primary role.

The initial shock of the pandemic crisis, the shift to remote working and extreme pressures on key workers, was only the first phase. The post-lockdown period and attempts to return to ‘normality’ in countries like China, Italy and Spain has included reports of high anxiety levels in those populations. It’s a perfect storm, the ongoing risks to health from pandemic accompanied by threats posed to the economy. Similar to the consequences of the Second World War, the implications of Covid-19 will be felt for years to come.

The mass return-to-work means a new peak in terms of stress and anxieties for the UK workforce. There are two broad groupings, but everyone is affected. There are the key workers who took on the burden of risk to work through the pandemic period. They had been championed, given extra attention and support, who will start to find themselves still working but without the same recognition. And the other group who’d been feeling safe at home, working or furloughed, who are now going back to a workplace and are feeling newly exposed and vulnerable. If they need to rely on public transport then there’s heightened anxiety even before they get there. There’s a basic sense of relying on the compliance of their employer to guidance and advice, as well as compliance by colleagues and other people around them.

It all means the need for much more than just barriers, screens and more workspace around desks. There’s the need for working environments based around mutual trust and support in order for organisations to be resilient: a workforce willing and able to be adaptable and work through more change and risks and challenges. A psychological safety. Not box-ticking around compliance but a shared sense of responsibility. Employers who are being authentic in their attitudes to staff, willing to listen to concerns and needs, who ensure there’s social distancing but are able to be creative in also making sure there’s still social connection. Putting people and a sense of humanity first. 

In this context, EAPs clearly have an important job to do. While the support in respect of tertiary treatment and advice is a given now and for the long-term, secondary level support in training more line managers to improve competence and understanding of mental health issues and in providing the right kind of support is fundamentally important. At a primary level, helping organisations to develop preventative measures, identify and address particular threats to employees mental health and wellbeing will help to build organisational resilience.

The impact of remote working on employee engagement

A future of remote working and uncertainty is already leading to a looser sense of belonging, according to a string of new studies among UK employers.

Working from home has formally been recognised as being a fundamental part of the long-term response to living with Covid-19 by Government ministers. A survey among chief HR officers this month by HRLocker revealed that around two-thirds planned to encourage their staff to regularly WFH even after restrictions are eased. The main reasons given were the benefits from offering more work/life balance to employees, and the cost-savings to organisations from reduced office space and travel expenses.

The negative impacts on employee engagement from just four months of remote working and furlough arrangements, however, have already started to be seen. 

How to ACE lockdown

Eugene Farrell, chair of the UK’s Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) and Mental Health Lead, AXA PPP healthcare

The ongoing period of WFH and social distancing means much of the bracing novelty of the crisis – that feeling of challenge and worry while also having more time to rest, exercise or try new hobbies – is wearing off. It’s becoming easier at this stage to become demotivated and revert back to old habits, dominated by work priorities and the need for presenteeism.

We might find ourselves dominated by our moods rather than looking at all the different ways we’re getting something out of each day. And so when we get very little back from what we’re doing we don’t feel like we achieved much and we don’t feel good. This creates a cycle that can be hard to break.

Getting the right balance of activities, other than just working, means a healthier basis for every aspect of our lives, work, relationships and home.

Some more thinking and planning can help to change things up, make things more beneficial for us and our family. This is where an ACE approach can help us to increase the quality of our lockdown life, and bring us more satisfaction and motivation that will help to get through all the challenges still to come.

ACE stands for:

Achievement – how much was achieved in the activity? (0 = nothing achieved; 10 = Loads achieved).

Closeness – how was the experience of being close to others? (0 = I did it alone, felt alone; 10 = with partner or family and felt close to them).

Enjoyment – how much you enjoyed doing the thing (0 = didn’t enjoy it at all; 10 = really enjoyed it).

So if we score all activities using an ACE measure we can see how things are balancing out – or not.

For example, if we sit at our desk crunching spreadsheet numbers we might feel we got a lot done. The achievement score is high, but it may not make us feel that good. Working alone means closeness is zero, and enjoyment may vary depending on the work.

If we get fed up and sit alone watching TV all day, it’s a distraction or avoidance behaviour. This will have low achievement, low closeness and low enjoyment. If we plan a family movie night with popcorn and snacks the closeness score shoots up, enjoyment moves up and achievement can feel pretty good too.

Going for a walk with your partner or family would score high on closeness, hopefully high on enjoyment, and although low on achievement it brings us pleasure and enjoyment that is good for us. Setting an aim to achieve 5k in the walk, say, adds in that sense of achievement. 

Thinking more about the things we can do, a positive and varied use of the increased flexibility of time available, we can plan a set of activities that isn’t just about ticking off the achievement task box, and bring more enjoyment to our life as well as quality.

Spectrum.Life takes on active role with the EAPA UK community

Spectrum.Life has become the latest registered provider with the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) UK.

The Irish comprehensive wellbeing provider first started offering its EAP services in the UK in March 2019. Major clients include Accenture, Microsoft, NHS organisations and Vodafone.

Grainne O’Reilly, Head of Marketing at Spectrum.Life, said: “Becoming an EAPA UK member has been a requirement in terms of reputation in a new market for us – and to make sure we’re adhering to every standard of excellence. 

“With this in mind, Spectrum’s clinical excellence lead is going to be involved in the EAPA panel looking at how the industry can adapt and evolve in the new workplace environment.”

The Spectrum.Life offering is grounded in clinical excellence and best practice: every interaction and points of contact to the EAP are with a qualified, accredited and experienced mental health professional; the bank of digital content, fitness videos and nutrition advice, is all clinically approved and reviewed regularly.

The EAP has an emphasis on pro-activity through preventative programmes and ensuring managers and HR are trained in mental health issues and providing support. With Spectrum.Life’s Workplace Wellbeing app, the healthy behaviours of staff lead to rewards and offers from online retailers.

Recent developments include the introduction of increased accessibility for employees and their dependants via SMS and WhatsApp, and a best in class online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to offer outcome based interventions alongside face to face and video counselling. The offerings are being internationalised and localised with clinical advisers available across multiple languages. 

During the Pandemic, Spectrum.Life transformed its entire business to operate and deliver services remotely so that organisations can attend wellbeing events from their homes via live video link. The company has added over 200,000 users to its employee mental health services in Q2, increasing the number of users to 900,000.

“We do a great deal of training with HR and managers on staff mental wellbeing and this has needed to be carried out remotely,” explained Grainne. “All the one-to-ones with counsellors and all our services we provide have become digital. The business has needed to make sure we have updated and re-focused the online content available onto dealing with the specific challenges brought up by the pandemic. We’ve set up relevant weekly podcasts and tip sheets to support people through Covid-19 on topics like getting a good night’s sleep, parenting teenagers and working remotely.

“As a result of employees being at home at all times and having fewer opportunities to make a confidential phone call during the early stages of lockdown, Spectrum.Life identified a drop in utilisation from their service users, – as a response to this they introduced the new offer of access to qualified and experienced counsellors via WhatsApp and SMS, ensuring clients can access the services is paramount.

EAPA chair, Eugene Farrell, said: “We’re delighted that a growing, go-ahead business like Spectrum.Life has joined the EAPA membership.

“With EAPs in the spotlight as being such a fundamental service for employers in their re-building and recovery from Covid-19, the industry has both new challenges and opportunities, and all of our members are needed to help with the conversation and efforts to move forward together.”

Implications for employee wellbeing as organisation prepare for recovery phase

Around a quarter of employees admit to “getting away with” working more than two hours’ less each day while working from home, according to a Mind Gym survey of UK employees this month. 

The research among more than 2,000 staff suggested the fall off in working hours was being caused by a combination of negative feelings around lockdown and burnout. More than a third said they had experienced negative impacts on their mental health and a decline in productivity while WFH from the lockdown.

In the same week, another survey has suggested the opposite: NordVPN found that among its clients, staff were typically working 11 hours a day.

“Employers are entering a difficult crossover period in terms of the leeway given to staff. More people are returning to work, one way or another. Many are still WFH and struggling to control the amount of hours they work,” said Eugene Farrell, chair of EAPA. 

“There’s a sense of the worst of the crisis having passed and an urgent need for organisations to recover and re-build operations. This also means they are looking for employees to be returning to ‘normal’ levels of productivity, and having to be more alert to the potential for anyone trying to take advantage of the exceptional circumstances.

“But who’s in genuine need of concessions, who’s really struggling and in need of support? It’s a minefield for line managers and HR. That’s where professional, independent support from services like an EAP is so important.

“It’s now that HR need to be thinking carefully about lessons from lockdown, and what kinds of measures need to be kept: what has made the culture work through difficult times, and what’s been most important for employee wellbeing – in other words, what has made the organisation more human and more resilient.”

Supporting employees dealing with death and bereavement

Andrew Kinder, Vice Chair, EAPA UK and Professional Head of Mental Health Services, Optima Health, www.optimahealth.co.uk

During the first weeks of lockdown I would regularly see someone parked up along our road, facing the wall where the cemetery is, just focusing on reading their book, perhaps over the wall was the place of their loved one’s grave. Like most places, all the cemeteries were closed. It was the only way to say goodbye.  It was heart-breaking to see.

The gradual loosening of restrictions means cemeteries have thankfully opened up for rituals of bereavement to take place. But in this period of Covid-19 there continues to be a situation of ‘complicated grief’ where people don’t have the usual chances to say goodbye; the sudden nature of the illness, the limitations on visiting homes and hospitals; not always being able to attend a funeral especially if you’re in a vulnerable group, or the eerie experience of a socially distant funeral. The necessary process of grief can feel stunted and unfulfilled.

The awkward and extraordinary nature of bereavement at a time of a pandemic radiates out further across networks of families and work colleagues – it’s not possible simply to express sympathy and return to the flow of normal life; the bereavement is related to us all, the situation we’ve all been in.  

In this and other ways, Covid-19 has led to a collective kind of grief. Because we’ve all lost something from the way we live our lives, and expect changes that mean nothing will be exactly the same as before. Feelings of loss are likely to only crystallise further as lockdown eases and we return to something like normal routines – the differences will bite: not being able to commute on public transport in the same way, to mix at work, or look forward to socialising in the usual ways in the evenings and weekends.

In the Victorian era death was a subject of great reflection, discussion and ceremony, while talking about sex was taboo. Now, in the 21st century, we have the reverse. Death is one of the most difficult things to talk about, an unmentionable that perhaps we feel shouldn’t be dwelled on too long.

However, our collective grief, that sense of dealing together with a common crisis, hopefully means a lessening of stigma attached to bereavement. We’ve all needed to talk about fears and how we’ve been affected. It is understood that there is a process for bereavement, the typical phases – of shock, denial, depression, anger – but it’s not a linear pathway, we move through dynamically, and all have different triggers of memory and what affects us – something seen on TV, a piece of music, speaking to a loved one. Complicated grief only makes it all more difficult. It is worth emphasising that moving through the grieving phases is always helped by talking, and by looking for and focusing on the things that bring comfort: and work and work colleagues are very often part of that.

EAPs are very important at this time as a service for talking, as an outlet that’s confidential, making it easier to find ways of talking about death and bereavement. And while the numbers of cases of the virus have declined, the effects of loss of people we’ve known, of coming to terms with lost areas of people’s lives, the familiar, will be long-lasting.