Employers predict WFH is here to stay

The number of employees WFH is expected to double compared with pre-pandemic figures, according to a CIPD survey of employers.

The findings come in the week when the Prime Minister announced that advice to employers was changing from 1 August. Rather than encouraging people who could work from home to do so, organisations should now make their own judgment on who was safe to come back to workplaces. Whitehall is expected to set an example by returning “thousands” of civil servants back to their usual office desks.

Surveying 1,046 UK employers, the CIPD found that 37% of staff were expected to be WFH on a regular basis once the crisis is ‘over’. This compares with 18% of employees who had been WFH regularly before lockdown restrictions were imposed. Employers predicted that the proportion of staff WFH full-time will increase from 9% pre-lockdown to 22%.

Current employment legislation requires new employees to have worked for their organisation for at least 26 weeks before being eligible for flexible working. In the wake of its findings on the importance of WFH, the CIPD is calling for a change in legislation to make the ability to request flexible working a right from the first day of new employment. At the same time, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly been talking in terms of WFH becoming “the norm”.

“Home working has clearly been an important and sensible part of keeping more people safe during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said EAPA chair Eugene Farrell. “It’s also seen as an opportunity to help with workforce diversity, helping people with caring responsibilities, mobility issues or health concerns to have more of a level playing-field in their access to work. But as a long-term trend WFH is not an easy solution.

“Different people and personalities have responded to the lockdown experience of WFH very differently. A great part of the appeal of jobs and careers is how they provide a balance – time away from home, social contact, a stimulating mix of changes of scenery, challenges and rewards. Most of all, a structure. 

“While a relatively short period of WFH felt like a break for many employees, with no commute and more free time, a full-time or regular reliance on being at home will be a test of psychological and physical resilience, intense pressures on home life and relationships, a real need for employees to find ways to create their own new balance. Whether people are returning to workplaces or staying at home, support services like EAPs will be invaluable in helping people stay on top of multiple challenges and reach a workable, positive new way forward.”

Support for employees facing multiple debts

Rachel Duffey, CEO of PayPlan, explains how the free FCA-regulated debt advice provider is supporting employees across the UK with debt problems and how demand is likely to change. 

PayPlan has been providing free debt advice for over 25 years. We started out by working solely with police officers and now work with the free advice sector, creditors and employers, to help people with multiple debts.  

As well as advising people over the phone, we’re also adaptable in our digital approach. Digital communication like email, WhatsApp and, more recently, screen share facilitates have made the debt advice process more practical and less daunting.

The reasons that people find themselves in debt have been subtly changing over time. What hasn’t changed though is that people in debt experience huge levels of stress. They often don’t know where to turn for help and, as a result, often find it difficult to see a way out.

Of course, Coronavirus has resulted in huge changes to our lives and the economy. These changes are rapidly intensifying how we are helping people today and what the next few months hold.

PayPlan’s approach for clients impacted by Coronavirus

Almost two thirds of people who contacted PayPlan from March to June this year told us that Coronavirus has contributed towards their financial difficulties. 

Not only have some household incomes been negatively impacted due to a reduction in income, but there is a real sense of people wanting to take stock of their finances; doing some serious financial preparation and making repaying debts a priority. 

Advice becomes more difficult if there is a delay in seeking help. These delays could be caused by taking payment holidays when in fact debt advice would have been more appropriate or a spike in redundancies when people were expecting to go back to the same wage as pre-lockdown.  

The longer a person’s debt problem is left to grow, the harder it is to give advice. There is a danger that payment breaks and a lack of job security could contribute to a wave in demand for debt advice in the autumn.  

Flexible Debt Management Plans 

Now, more than ever, it is important that we can keep people engaged in the debt advice process and can give robust advice for people whose situations are likely to change in the future. 

With this in mind, we are seeing more flexible Debt Management Plans to help clients deal with their debts today, while they are facing uncertainty about their future circumstances.

Each person who comes to PayPlan receives a full regulated advice session, including our usual detailed assessment of income and outgoings. We keep in regular touch with our clients, so if their circumstances change, we can adapt our support for them. This includes managing the transition to higher payment levels and realistic repayment periods, when things improve.

For clients who genuinely don’t know what the future holds, we are providing short-term support to help them manage payments at an affordable level. Again, we are keeping in touch so that we can re-advise once their situation becomes clearer.

Business and self-employed debt advice 

Our business focused team now offers an additional level of support for freelancers, those in the gig-economy, with buy-to-let properties and people with small businesses – whether they are a sole trader, limited company or partner.

We don’t yet know exactly how lockdown will end, but even the strongest businesses are likely to experience a slow return to previous trading levels. That, coupled with the upcoming phasing out of furlough, dwindling government grants and normal expenses resuming means that for many, this period will be at least as tough to survive as lockdown.

Meaningful partnerships and support for vulnerable clients

Anyone in problem debt could be identified as vulnerable. So, it’s hugely important that we make each interaction count and every single person who seeks advice receives compassionate support. 

Every frontline PayPlan adviser receives intensive vulnerability training, and our particularly vulnerable clients receive specialist support from the vulnerability team where we have a variety of professional skills like mental health first aiders and support workers. 

We choose to carefully partner with trusted providers to ensure everyone gets holistic care. Our referral networks include organisations like Gamcare, national domestic abuse charity, Refuge, Samaritans, National Bereavement Service and Victim Support.

A clear and secure debt referral process

Debt advice only works if you engage effectively and can break down the barriers that individuals have in seeking advice and taking the next step to becoming debt free. We do this by working closely with our referral partners to implement secure referral routes and by delivering simple, effective and fair solutions.
If you’d like to find out more about how PayPlan works with companies to provide employees with free debt advice, visit: www.payplan.com/payplan-partners/employer-resources/

Is it time to review your return to work policy?

A third of employers lack any early intervention policies to help staff back into work after longer periods of illness.

With Covid-19 requiring weeks – or even longer – for recovery and self-isolation, employers internationally have been revising policies around what is allowable in terms of sickness absence. But this hasn’t led to a more active approach to making sure short-term illness doesn’t result in long-term issues, according to a new study by Group Risk Development (GRiD).

Its research found that even after six months of ill health, disability or injury, there were no back-to-work schemes in place to help with a return. 32% also didn’t have any policies in place to provide any financial support after six months. 

More than half of those who don’t provide early interventions explained this was due to the costs involved; 33% said they didn’t believe it was their responsibility to become involved with. 

Of the employers who do provide early interventions, only a half make them available to all staff. The most common services provided are counselling (46%), graded return-to-work plans (43%), access to rehabilitation specialists (39%), line manager training (34%), access to medical specialists (31%), providing a second medical opinion (28%), payment for treatment (27%) and physiotherapy (24%).

Eugene Farrell, EAPA UK chair, said: “Early intervention is critical. The chance to talk through issues – and long-term sickness tends to mean a cluster of problems – is invaluable in terms of both coping and making plans for the future. This is the way to head off behaviours and attitudes that only lead to worsening physical and mental health.

“As we’ve seen so often, having support from an employer through difficult times makes employees feel valued and part of a community rather than just left to cope on their own, disconnected from their work role and all of its challenges and rewards.

“The post-pandemic period should be a time for employers to not only think about the impact of sickness absence but their culture and what services and offerings will help to create the best possible environment for dealing with illness, recovery and motivation to keep contributing.”

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.