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. 

The increasing pressure of work under lockdown

Whether they’re furloughed or working from home, the pandemic is ratcheting up pressures for UK employees.

A Canada Life study has flagged increasing ‘presenteeism’, with more than a third of staff surveyed saying they’d continued to work while they were ill. Around a half had felt a greater need to be ‘present’ while WFH. Staff pointed to the pressures from higher workloads during lockdown, a lack of feelings of security and the threats from redundancy.

Another study, this time for KnowBe4, has pointed to furloughed workers unable to detach themselves from their responsibilities. 70% of people in their survey admitted to having been checking their work emails; 40% to responding to work emails: worried they were missing out on time-sensitive messages; wanting to avoid returning to an email mountain on their return to work; or just afraid of falling behind. Employees most likely to break furlough rules because of their anxiety worked in HR, education and IT.

“While HR are still able to contact staff to check on how they’re doing and keep them informed of developments in the organisation, furloughed staff who take part in any business activity are jeopardising their employer’s entitlement to state aid,” says Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair.

“During this time of so many different pressures: around finances, insecurity, isolation, physical and mental health, an EAP is an invaluable resource. For anyone, furloughed or otherwise, at home or on the front line, there’s someone to talk to, with the expertise to unpick all the tangles of personal and work issues.”

Preparing for the return to work

While the official lockdown is easing, the return to workplaces is cautious and will come with substantial changes according to a new People Management poll. 

Of the 500 HR professionals surveyed, 55% believed staff would continue working from home. So far, only 4% of the employers had asked any staff to return to work since the change on 11 May. 24% were waiting for explicit guidance from the Government for its specific sector before changing their work-from-home regime.

In terms of post-pandemic plans, 67% plan to alter their workplace layout to help ensure social distancing (40% aim to promote back-to-back rather than side-to-side or face-to-face seating); 54% intend to stagger shift patterns; 53% fewer and shorter meetings. 19% will introduce temperature checking at entrances. Only 6% are considering the introduction of their own regular Covid-19 testing.

“Whenever the majority of employees eventually return to their workplaces, they are going to find themselves in a different environment, with different practices and routines,” says EAPA chair Eugene Farrell.

“We know from long experience that one of the most important sources of reassurance and comfort for people suffering from any form of psychological stress is a sense of normality. Being back at work. Chatting to colleagues. Falling back into comfortable routines with their little ups and downs. But this isn’t going to happen in any easy kind of way.

“In other words, going back to ‘normal’ work will be another jolt, a new realisation of the extent of the effects of the crisis. People will have to get used to more change and uncertainty before they can settle again.

“Under these circumstances, any existing worries, pressures from home or work, can be exacerbated. Nothing is so simple as dealing with one single issue – and that’s where EAPs come into their own, in unpicking knots of personal and work-related challenges and providing a breadth of knowledge and expertise to help people keep moving forward, to feel stronger and more secure in coping with each change and new development.”

Eight Key Strategies to Prepare and Support Employees Returning to Work

Caroline Ribeiro-Nelson, Executive board member of EAPA UK, Head of Free Choices: Mental Health & Well-being Consultant, Psychotherapist, Coach & Trainer

The easing of lockdown and a gradual return to work means employees and businesses are faced with a major new challenge. How can they prepare for a safe and effective return to work? 

Sustainable strategies demand the recognition of a number of factors: understanding and responding adequately to stakeholder expectations; the safety requirements for physical and mental health; as well as addressing the psychological impact of this crisis. All of these are crucial in supporting employees to re-enter and engage confidently with their work. 

A significant starting point is the acceptance that a return to work, for many people, will not be ‘business as usual’. Working practices will need to change. It is also important to be aware that individuals will react very differently to challenging events, so leaders and managers need to be prepared for a range of different responses.

1. Acknowledge employee needs and the impact of the crisis: leaders and managers need to keep in mind the range of psychological and emotional consequences of the present crisis: making a clear acknowledgment of the situation, its impact, and the continuing risks helps to express the that a sense of responsibility for the workforce has been recognised and helps to enlist joint co-operation.

2. Check-in and offer emotional support: leaders and managers should also take time to check-in on employees and find out how they are doing. Empathy is an essential part of how to express a genuine understanding and interest in the experience and welfare of others. Listening, acknowledging how the situation could be impacting people and offering appropriate support services helps to reduce feelings of fear and promote a sense of security.

3. Ensure you have open and continuous communication: one of the most helpful and essential processes, particularly when dealing with crisis situations, is providing employees with relevant information on their work, as well as the business status, keeping people regularly updated. In seeking to reassure and reduce anxiety and uncertainty, employers can provide support by giving a clear explanation of changes to work routines and expectations, along with details on how the situation is being managed.

In responding to the Covid-19 crisis it is particularly important to communicate clearly the health and safety measures put in place to protect the welfare of employees. People need to have confidence that someone is taking responsibility and that action is being taken to address the situation in the best way possible.

4. Understand expectations and remain flexible: there is a need to listen, acknowledge and wherever possible try to accommodate reasonable expectations. That means respectfully expressing what can be done rather than focusing too much on what cannot be done. Being flexible and making reasonable work adjustment are vital to being supportive, as well as gaining optimal engagement and productivity. Businesses should consider the possibility of flexible conditions relating to work hours, working from home, employee roles and tasks, time off, adaptation of working practices and provision of any necessary resources. 

5. Review and establish your business processes: businesses should ensure that comprehensive and up to date policies and procedures are established, specifying defined regulations and resolution strategies. Enabling businesses to perform at optimal level involves having people and operating systems that are adaptable and flexible, that can be part of a problem-solving approach. Employees are then fully informed and can function within an effective structure with clear guidance. 

6. Match present demands and needs with appropriate responses: following any crisis, businesses should be committed to getting things back on track as safely and quickly as possible. Identifying the present demands and needs of employees and responding in a direct and practical manner actively supports this process. It also contributes to building a strong and positive company culture based on a sense of trust and psychological safety.

7. Navigate a new course: if businesses are to maintain direction and respond successfully to the needs of employees and the demands of the situation, then an openness to different ways of doing things is an absolute necessity. Progress can be held back by insisting on sticking to a rigid course and not adapting working practices. Recognising when something is no longer necessary or fit for purpose and altering direction serves to constructively optimise an employees’ return to work. Leaders and managers can develop and implement changes through lessons learnt, good practice, continuous feedback and a clear complaints and corrective measures process.

Connect and utilise external professional services: post-crisis, people can often feel fearful or apprehensive about returning to work. Collaborating and building new partnerships with relevant professionals and organisations can help with innovation, a greater sense of safety, engagement and increased productivity, as well as bring about the creation of stronger and more effective support structures. Most importantly this can promote the positive health and wellbeing of leadership and employees.

Round-up of latest benefits research 

A quarter of employers have increased spending on their existing EAP, extending the range of services to help staff through the fall-out from the pandemic.

The survey by the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) found that more employers were either introducing (13%) or increasing availability of virtual GP services (8%).

Employers have also been looking to provide support around financial wellbeing. 62% of survey respondents are offering financial education, 31% financial advice. A number of employers have reported they are looking to set up a hardship fund for staff affected by the harsh economic climate.

New research by Willis Towers Watson [https://www.wtw-healthandbenefits.co.uk/news/news-releases/employee-benefit-programmes-covid-19] backs up the argument that benefits strategies in general will be affected for the long-term. It found that 42% of companies have made or plan to make changes to benefits offerings as a direct result of Covid-19: 60% want to enhance their wellbeing programme, 58% their mental health and stress management offering, 26% are aiming to improve annual leave entitlements. 

Employers pointed to the importance of benefits communications in the coming year – with EAPs being flagged as the biggest priority for awareness-raising activity (79%).

At the same time, a minority are looking at reducing benefits. The most likely to be negatively affected in the wake of the crisis are annual leave (8%) and retirement benefits (5%).

Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair, said: “The new focus on EAPs isn’t a blip. All the evidence from employers and their conversations around needs for now and the future reflect a fundamental, lasting change. Mental wellbeing across the huge number and variety of people affected by the pandemic needs professional support. Employer awareness of psychological health has become a pillar of organisational stability and performance. 

“But, as the Willis Towers Watson research shows, there continues to be an issue around the awareness of EAPs. Many employees haven’t considered using the service before, they’ve let information pass them by as ‘not for them’, and aren’t aware of the full spectrum of expertise and support available to them and their family members. Now’s the time for EAPs as a sector to come together to build understanding for the new era to come.”

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on male mental health

Andrew Kinder, Vice Chair, EAPA and Professional Head of Mental Health Services, Optima Health 

Covid-19 could well be the breakthrough in male health we’ve needed, the extreme set of circumstances that makes opening up a necessity and talking to professionals as well as family and friends the essential norm.

Traditionally men have been the ‘hard to help’ group. Whether that’s GPs or EAPs, the experience has been the same. Women are more likely to share issues with people in their networks and more likely to book themselves in to access professional support early. Men tend to wait until a condition is chronic and there doesn’t appear to be any other choice. 

The typical ‘macho’ self-image that can go along with masculinity, that sense of invulnerability, has persisted through the pandemic with reports suggesting men are more likely to be breaking lockdown and social distancing rules. But Covid-19 has also meant men have experienced months of a new virus which has no absolutely no respect for masculine attitudes, no matter how strong or determined. Men have also appeared to be more susceptible. Being unaware of underlying health conditions, poor physical or mental health in general, has become nightmarishly threatening. And, perhaps most importantly, men used to feeling in control of their lives, their career, their independence, have lost potentially much of this.

This combination of risks and disruptions to normal routines is a unique opportunity for changing behaviours among men in particular. More men are reportedly seeing how getting help is a sensible, reasonable thing to do. Getting help early certainly makes a real difference. The Covid-19 period hopefully looks to be encouraging men to face up to their feelings, realising there is no way of putting them to one side and just getting on with things. Because it’s clear how everyone is sharing the same anxieties, having to cope with fear and uncertainty over the future, whether within families, through work conversations or over social media. That gives the potential that much of the stigma of talking about feelings has fallen away.

Getting more men to be aware of their mental health is vital, not only for working through tough times, but for their physical health and resistance to the virus. We know that people’s auto-immune systems are weakened by stress and anxiety: good mental health means stronger immunity.  

For men it’s important they stop putting energy and angst into what they can’t control (so many things when it comes to current living and working conditions). There’s no purpose or value to worrying about future plans, even job security. Instead mental attention needs to be focused on what can be achieved today and tomorrow, what is going to help: a virtuous circle of physical health, good exercise, diet and sleep routines to begin with. Learning a new skill, focusing on what tasks can be done at work, finding a new hobby is ideal. With online content there’s also so much choice – and now’s exactly the time when men shouldn’t be bothering with conforming to gender stereotypes. Trying cooking, arts and crafts, playing an instrument can all contribute to building up mental wellbeing. As a consequence we don’t dwell but stay in control of what we can, and enjoy being the best we can be. 

The recovery period is also going to be the right time for men to start putting together a list of the people they can get help from, whether just in their heads or on paper: the list that confirms how they don’t have to go through problems alone, there’s always someone to talk to. It’s a chance to think more widely. Friends and family, the EAP, but also work colleagues, line manager, union rep. 

Conversations asking for help don’t have to be by phone or in person. Increased use of video calls and messaging by IT in general can make getting support easier for men. The anonymous nature of an EAP is, in itself, an important factor.  As men seek support for themselves they can also look to provide support to others.

Let’s just hope that the lessons from Covid-19, the experience of needing and finding reassurance, the rewards of being open about feelings, are the beginning of hopefully a shift in male culture, not a blip. The cataclysmic nature of global events seems to make that very likely.
You can read more about supporting male mental health in Positive Male Mind. Written by Andrew Kinder, Professional Head of Mental Health Services, Optima Health and Dr Shaun Davis, Global Director of Safety, Health, Wellbeing and Sustainability at Royal Mail, the book seeks to end the stigma around mental health vulnerability in men and includes a section on addressing male mental health in the workplace.

Long-term impacts of Covid-19 on mental illness

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is warning of a coming ‘tsunami’ of mental illness due to issues piling up through lockdown [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52676981]. 

Many people, especially children and older people, have not been able to access usual forms of support, the organisation has argued. School closure and fear of visiting hospitals means help hasn’t been available. In the College’s survey of 1,300 mental health doctors, 45% reported a fall in routine appointments being attended, while 43% had seen a rise in urgent cases. Psychiatrists fear that people don’t realise their services are still open for business.

Meanwhile, online training provided by the Zero Suicide Alliance charity to help prevent suicide has been accessed by more than 500,000 people in the UK in the last three weeks. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52702048 

“The frontline for fighting back against Covid-19 is not only in the hospitals but across all the helplines and services that provide mental wellbeing support,” says Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair.

“With EAPs open to 14 million employees and their families, the services are playing a critical role. Employees still working or furloughed need that open channel for advice, dealing with issues early and at any level, as well as being a channel that can lead to more in-depth professional counselling.

“Given the scale of the mental health challenges coming, EAPs are a key part of the national response, backing up the resources provided by the NHS and private practices. Together we can make a substantial and lasting difference to how the nation recovers and becomes stronger for the future.”

The impact of living under lockdown

New data from the Office for National Statistics shows how the impact of Covid-19 continues to change, week to week, meaning an evolving picture of experiences and attitudes.

Coronavirus is still the major feature in people’s lives in the UK, says the new survey, but general levels of ‘worry’ have started to decrease: three-quarters of adults said they were very worried or somewhat worried about the effects on the pandemic on their life, compared with 80% last week. Concerns over getting groceries have fallen from 37% to 28.5%; and on the sense of wellbeing from 48% to 42% of people surveyed. People seem to be feeling better about their finances: the number of people unable to save any money has fallen from 30% to 25%; and struggling to pay bills from 16% to 10%.

“In-between the headline figures, though, are signs of issues employers need to be aware of,” says Eugene Farrell, EAPA chair.

“There’s the increase in those working more hours – rising from 10.4% to 14.1%, for example. It’s difficult to fathom why. It could be a concern over future work, maybe poor discipline or perhaps employers driving harder? Levels of uncertainty over job security are still high. More people continue to be furloughed: up from one in five employees to to nearly one in three.

“The long-term impact of Covid-19 is increasingly a concern. The proportion of people who feel able to make plans has fallen from around a half to 44.3%. Around 40% of parents are worried about how home schooling is affecting the wellbeing of their children (up from 32%). There’s a realisation that returning to a form of ‘normality’ will take longer than previously thought. Around half of adults believe it will be longer than six months, compared with one in three after the first week of lockdown.”