Supporting NHS staff on the frontline: the experience from an EAP

Kate Nowlan, CEO of CiC and EAPA UK member talks about the experience of supporting workers on the frontline during this global pandemic.

EAPs have been in the thick of the pandemic response since the beginning of lockdown in March; each call opens up another individual perspective on a global crisis, another tangle of anxieties.  All providers will have had their own particular challenges as call volumes fluctuate and companies seek increased support delivered in new ways. 

At CiC we deliver EAP services to well over a million employees across the globe, and to every sector.  NHS staff in the UK approach us for support with issues of bereavement, exhaustion, anxiety, fear of contamination, lack of PPE and overload.  The hospitality sector need a listening ear as they worry about financial matters, mortgage payments, the risk of redundancy, homelessness.   Staff from every industry phone in to talk of feelings of isolation, finding comfort from the support an experienced clinician provides.  Global news agencies and NGOs express their need for support when being evacuated from overseas postings or when stuck abroad far from home and family. Working from home has presented a vast range of challenges, and the EAP provides invaluable help – signposting to financial and legal advice or family care experts as well as providing much needed emotional support.  Home life is different now.  Fractious relationships might lead to domestic abuse, isolation can lead to severe depression.  Parents struggle to combine home schooling with work demands.  Teenagers fret at the loss of freedom.   

The beginning of UK lockdown initially led to a marked drop-off in EAP call volume for CiC. The implications were still being worked out, key workers were intensely busy, working from home was a novelty – and for some people a welcome change, a break. For those with immediate issues there was the challenge of how an EAP could be accessed, getting the space at home to make the call. But that has been followed by a sharp rise in  the requests for help, both from employees and family members, as the full impact of the changes to everyday lives has become a reality.   Finding space to make confidential approaches to the EAP has not been easy for many, and we know that callers may take their mobiles to their cars or phone from their daily exercise routine to access support.

Clinicians answering phones have seen recurring issues over the past weeks and the role of the EAP has never been more critical.   The use of our Managerial Adviceline has increased dramatically as managers look for new tools and techniques to supervise a remote workforce and boost wellbeing.  Helpsheets on sleep, nutrition, exercise, childcare are requested alongside those that will provide resources to help with stress, anxiety or abuse.   We see an increased demand from the NHS – and also engineering and media –  for training that helps prepare staff for bereavement, a form of ‘grieving in advance’ or anticipatory grief. It’s the kind of critical incident support that would normally be delivered on site, but is now happening via online platforms.

The basic bedrock of a classical EAP is the provision of face to face counselling, on site critical incident support and regular account management meetings with key contacts.  All EAPs had to flex their interventions as a matter of urgency – improvising and innovating with different products.  Face to face sessions came to an abrupt end and the use of Skype, What’s App, Webex , Zoom became commonplace methods of communication almost overnight.  Clinicians adapted superbly to the new way of working, ensuring that callers received the same professional help that customers had always expected.  But online communication also has its down side.  Employees began to complain of burnout.  Sitting in front of a screen for hours on end, and experiencing severe exhaustion symptoms after relentless Zoom video calls.  Restful breaks – needed more than ever – have become harder to take.  It became clear that companies needed regular support from their EAP to help with the range of issues emerging as the crisis progressed.  CiC, along with other providers, has developed and delivered succinct, targeted, live web sessions for customers to focus on sharing an understanding of the changes and looking for resilient responses where possible. Organisations have found these an invaluable way of addressing this difficult topic with their people, helping them to feel they are being offered robust support and opening the channels for communication of potential risks and improvements.

The sudden changes in all our lives – WFH, being furloughed, the degrees of social isolation – have led many people to re-think everything.  A counsellor remarked: “…being isolated and with less work responsibilities has somehow forced some people to reflect about their life…as if  the crisis has taken away all external noise. And for the first time some can think about their life with a clearer perspective.” 

EAPs have come into their own during the Covid19 crisis.  There has been a popular myth these past few years that we have had our day, and there were those who predicted the gradual demise of the programmes that began life in the US in the 1930s.   In these strange times as we prepare for a New Normal we know that the companies we look after rely on us more than ever to deliver the highest quality mental health services.  Our clinicians and therapists are professional, expert frontline workers and their constant dedication to providing the very best emotional and psychological support to employees all over the world cannot be underestimated.  It is a privilege to belong to the world of EAPs.

Kate Nowlan, CEO, CiC, www.cicwellbeing.com

Supporting the new Every Mind Matters campaign

Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters campaign has taken centre stage in the response to COVID-19.

New data from the ONS has shown how over 4 in 5 of the UK population are worried about the impact of coronavirus on their life, with nearly half reporting high levels of anxiety. 

The Every Mind Matters website now includes new NHS expert tips and advice, highlighting all the practical ways people can look after their mental wellbeing and prevent concerns from turning into more serious conditions: support for specific issues such as anxiety, stress, low mood and trouble sleeping and the value of simple activities such as mindful breathing, reframing unhelpful thoughts, and muscle relaxation. Site users can also generate personalised mental well-being advice through the Every Mind Matters ‘Mind Plan’, a free interactive tool.

Awareness of the advice has been boosted by TV advertising and social media video narrated by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

EAPA chair Eugene Farrell says: “Our experience via EAPs has long demonstrated the critical importance of mental wellbeing to employee health – what starts as the smallest of worries has the potential to escalate into debilitating health issues with a ripple of effects. As the recent data shows, the fundamental and inescapable impacts of COVID-19 on so many lives is a huge threat to the state of the nation’s psychological health.

“But as the Every Mind Matters campaign shows, we’re also increasingly aware and accepting of the issues, there are more open conversations, more willingness to make use of expert services like an EAP. By working together, making use of the expertise available and keeping on talking, we can come out of this period even stronger than before.”

The NHS-endorsed content for Every Mind Matters’ COVID-19 response has been developed in partnership with clinicians, academics and leading mental health charities and social enterprises including Mind, Mental Health Foundation, Samaritans, Rethink, Mental Health First Aid England, the Royal Foundation, the Centre for Mental Health, Time to Change, NSUN, and What Works Wellbeing.

www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters

What have we learned from the Coronavirus pandemic so far?

Eugene Farrell, Chair, EAPA UK and Mental health lead, AXA PPP Healthcare

Coronavirus and the pandemic changed our world suddenly. Forced isolation and the collapse of normality brought uncertainty, fear and panic. But it’s also meant we’ve learned a great deal about ourselves in a short space of time.

Most of all, our lives have slowed down. Feeling comfortable with this new found space – where every minute is no longer filled with activity – is alien to many of us. We’ve had to learn how to make use of time as a newly abundant commodity. Doing nothing doesn’t come easy to many people, there’s always the temptation to fill the void, there’s frustration. Often without realising what’s happening, we’ve learnt to go with the new pace of life and make choices about what to do rather than activity ruling our time.

That’s meant some unexpected gifts: time with family; the chance to learn the value of togetherness. Yes we might sometimes feel we need space, but this time is strengthening our connections and tolerance and. A stronger sense of community has been created around us, locally and within each household, checking on neighbours, reaching out rather than standing back and letting others do things. We’ve seen how a sense of responsibility for each other and willingness to help without seeking return can be been rewarded with feelings of self purpose and meaning, and how that’s reward enough. Volunteering on a scale not seen for decades has created a new pride in doing good. Healthcare workers have a new status. We have an awareness of how many of those workers normally invisible to us, in the lowest paid roles, are doing jobs essential to keeping things moving.

Priorities have been transformed. Social isolation has fostered re-connections with family and friends as we realise the sheer importance of all the people in our lives, that we may have taken them for granted. It has taken the removal of something for us to realise how much it meant. And who would have thought we could teach a nation how to connect digitally in such a short time? Just being able to see the faces of loved ones, to hear them and just talk has taken on new value in our lives. We’re realising that we don’t need so much ‘stuff’ and are getting past the usual cravings and desires for material things. Needing to simplifying our lives has shown what’s essential and what’s not – as well as appreciating those things we no longer have access to.

Our daily routines have become more human and more healthy. What was once a privilege of those with plenty of free time, taking daily exercise has become a ritual part of our days. We’ve also learnt how we don’t have to join a gym or drive to a beauty spot – a simple walk or bike ride together, just being in each other’s company, is enough. There’s been time for introspection and reflection, to think about ourselves, listen to our thoughts, rather than being immersed in the usual noise of demands and distractions from everything external going on in the world. And that’s important for learning to be more comfortable in our own skin, with just being us in the here and now, without all the show we put up for others. Many of us have been spurred on to try many new things, like proudly showing our fresh baked bread or cakes, drawings and paintings. Giving things a go without the fear of failure and realising that we can let go of the fear of judgement has been obvious in social media posts, no longer looking to present a picture of having perfect lives.

Many of us have learned from the home-schooling experience: how much of a skill it is to keep up the motivation in our little (or sometimes quite big) darlings – a skill that teachers have mastered. Maybe we will see a new respect and understanding for all teachers and the fantastic work they do, and kids will have learnt to value the time they have with them.

How many of these powerful lessons will stay with us post-lockdown? That will be up to each one of us. But our greatest failure will have been to let all the potential positives of lockdown slip by, this time, this space. We must not look back and wish we’d done more, made more of it, that we’d seized every day.

EAPs essential to support UK workforce during lockdown

EAPs and wellbeing services have become essential planks of support for the UK workforce during lockdown, according to the insurance industry.

A senior roundtable event this month, capturing the experiences of heads of group risk, confirmed that added-value services like EAPs will be a central feature of their business offerings for many months to come.

EAP providers have coped well with the sudden spike in demand from employees, they agreed. Aviva, for example, has reported a tenfold increase in the volume of calls made to helplines part of its EAP offerings (delivered by EAPA member Care First). “Service standards remain at the level we expect,” said Aviva’s head of group protection Jason Ellis. “Suppliers have been able to maintain levels of business continuity.”

Roundtable members pointed to the likely trend for more smaller businesses without specialist HR functions to be looking for EAP, as well as other mental health and wellbeing services, to help staff deal with the longer-term implications of the pandemic. 

“The EAP has sometimes been treated as a service that stays in the background, a fall back for dealing with an occasional crisis. But now the EAP is coming into its own, demonstrating its essential worth and capability,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell.

“EAP professionals of all kinds have stepped up, alongside other frontline key workers in the UK, to deal with the surge in demand, and all the complexities and tragedies that calls to helplines inevitably bring.

“Employers have become increasingly conscious in recent years of the VUCA environment (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) affecting every kind of private or public operation: the potential for radical disruption, the need for resilience and adaptability. Covid-19, though, has brought the theory into focus in ways and at a level that no-one would have predicted.

“Whatever changes the pandemic brings about in terms of increased levels of remote working, more autonomous systems and use of Artificial Intelligence – work will remain all about people and the ability of people to give the best of themselves through times of challenge and complexity. 

“Employers and line managers can’t be expert advisors and counsellors. EAPs can.”

Why it’s time to learn ‘IT distancing’

This week, Professor Monideepa Tarafdar from Lancaster University Management School writes for EAPA UK about the impact of remote working and the need to focus specifically on IT-related wellbeing support for employees.

Remote working was a novelty to many people at the start of the lockdown – but all predictions for post-pandemic life point to WFH becoming far more common as organisations of all shapes and sizes look to improve their resilience (and cut costs).

For employees, a working life based around remote technologies will bring more flexibility, more freedom, time, and the chance to have a better quality of life. It’ll also bring much greater risk of ‘technostress’.

Over the past decade we’ve been researching the phenomenon of the ‘dark side’ of IT. The past 30 years has seen dramatic spikes of change from technology: the replacement of job roles and routines in the 1990s and 2000s, followed by the stress created by the rush of technology: email overload, faster turnaround times, higher expectations, the need for constantly updated skills and knowledge. Employees have come to gain reassurance, stimulation and a sense of purpose from streams of new messages, information, surprises, mixing work with personal interests. These aspects find heightened and urgent existence in the context of the relentless current world pandemic.

Psychologically, we are social beings – perhaps we’re still cave people trying to live in a digital world. So the shift to WFH as a more regular ‘norm’ will come loaded with challenges to employee wellbeing. From our studies we’ve seen how technostress has been an issue for around 40% of the working population – and with far more people expected to use technology remotely (and forced to during lockdown), we’d expect this figure to rise to more like 80%.

WFH technostress, in particular, is caused by feelings of being invaded. That laptop and smartphone are the unavoidable presence of work and all its demands and responsibilities – a constant reminder and source of guilt, that you should be checking what’s happening, doing more. Home is no longer a retreat. There are fewer natural breaks, the periods when you’re walking to and from meetings, having a quick catch-up with colleagues – moments way from screens that add up over the course of a day in the office. Homeworkers have more time, and that time tends to be filled up with more online meetings and other tasks. It also means more multi-tasking, more windows open at any one time, more gadgets switched on and flashing with new notifications.

It’s important that homeworkers are equipped with tactics to counter technostress and its impact on concentration, engagement and mental health in general. That means adopting ‘IT distancing’, making sure that daily routines always include regular breaks away from any kind of IT device, including personal smartphones and tablets, or making sure there are non-IT related tasks to spend time on. Breaks should be both planned and spontaneous. Very importantly, they should involve non-digital distraction. Employees need to know they are in control by initiating their own strict rules for when email is turned off, when checks take place and when they don’t; when a phone can be left behind. Moreover, when employees do experience stress, then just talking to someone with the same frustrations about using IT is a valuable and constructive way to get the negative emotions out of the system.

Human brain chemistry isn’t going to evolve to meet digital demands anytime soon; and IT is only going to become more essential to everyday lives. For HR teams that means recognising that access to remote technologies isn’t just an enabler. IT can mean stress, isolation, insecurity. People will need more than IT support; they will need IT related wellbeing support.

In the coming months and years we will all need to combine awareness of technostress as an issue (making use of some practical coping tactics) with cultivating a sense of acceptance of technology, our control of it and our skills to make best use of what it can offer.

Monideepa Tarafdar is a professor of information systems at Lancaster University Management School and a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Information Systems Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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The impact of WFH on employee mental health

The UK’s working from home regime is a threat to the state of employee mental health says new research.

A survey by Opinium in April 2020 among 1,250 UK employees found that more than a third of home-working employees had already experienced a negative impact on their psychological wellbeing from the new arrangements. 46% felt isolated; 36% were concerned about what the longer-term implications of WFH would be for their mental health. 

Particular problems are being faced by home-workers who live alone (with around half struggling with mental wellbeing); as well as those trying to juggle work with home-schooling children (41% reported an increase in their stress levels). 39% have problems managing different caring responsibilities and 30% struggle with not having a dedicated workspace. 

“Working from home isn’t a ‘bad thing’ in itself – it’s going to affect employees in very different ways depending on circumstances,” says Eugene Farrell, chair of EAPA UK.

“The research also points out how around half of the homeworkers also found the new arrangements made them feel ‘more relaxed’. No commute. More time and flexibility. 

“What’s essential is that all employees, especially those working remotely, feel there’s always someone they can talk to about the inevitable anxieties that come with change – worries exacerbated by disconnection from a familiar workplace, ways of working and face-to-face contact. WFH might seem a blessing one day and a nightmare the next – and HR need to be ready.

“EAPs are a crucial service during lockdown; a way to provide blanket coverage for dealing with all concerns; helping to fill in that sense of distance and dislocation; personal, human and confidential.”

Here’s the link to the full report – https://www.opinium.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-surge-in-working-from-home-The-effects-on-mental-wellbeing-1.pdf

Keeping employees connected to EAPs is crucial to maintain a positive outlook during lockdown says Eugene Farrell, chair of EAPA UK.

Good communications will make an EAP the heart of a positive lockdown culture: a place of transparency, empathy and support.

First of all that means being clear and explicit about what’s available. When we’re under stress it’s not so easy to process and pick up on details. EAPs are running a full range of remote services, phone and video conversations, instant messaging and a stock of video and podcast – much of it now tailored to remote working issues. Some services will suit some people more than others, and it’s important employees see they have options.

HR comms need to re-affirm that services are there for everyone, for concerns of all kinds, not just for people who’ve reached the stage of dealing with a crisis. Because the extraordinary pressures and uncertainties mean that all of us are affected and have anxieties to work through.

Employees experiencing stress-related conditions may have turned instinctively to the internet, a GP or healthcare specialist. During lockdown, EAPs need to be appreciated as a first line of support with experts equipped to deal with complex cases.

The breadth of issues that EAP advisors and counsellors can help with also needs to be spelled out. Over the past two months, EAPs have been dealing with contact from employees – many of them key workers – worried about every aspect of COVID-19 and its implications, physical and psychological: fears of having symptoms of the condition itself; dealing with the financial consequences; caring for family members; coping with working from home; juggling responsibilities; coping with social distancing and relationship issues relating to lockdown.

With such personal and sensitive issues coming to the fore, HR need to emphasise the confidentiality involved with EAPs, the protection of privacy involved.

Most of all, every opportunity and channel needs to be used to flag the availability of the EAP – regularly via all IT platforms, email, SMS messaging, WhatsApp groups – as individual circumstances and people’s ability to cope changes day by day.

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EAP’s are playing an important unseen role right now

Eugene Farrell

As chair of EAPA UK, I have been proud by the ways in which providers of EAP services have stepped up, adapting and responding, to play a critical role in supporting employee wellbeing through the Covid-19 crisis.

The UK EAP market continues to play an important largely unseen and crucial role behind the scenes in supporting key staff in their vital work for the health and protection of our nation. Without fuss or attention, services continue to be available 24/7 and employees can be safe in the knowledge that when they need emotional support their EAP will be there for them. It’s been incredibly heartening to see how providers of EAP have really stepped up quickly using their expertise to provide information and materials on adapting to home working, managing remotely and indeed the damaging emotional effects stemming from lockdown, job strain, grief and loss. Many have been very quick to develop and launch webinars and training to help employers and employers adapt to the changing situation.

EAP’s provide support to many types of employer across the country, and whilst key workers require important support to help them deal with the pressure and strain caused by this crisis, we also support employees who too are feeling stress and pressure from working in an unfamiliar way, surviving lockdown and in managing strained relationships. Added to this the uncertainty in future employment when there is so much bad news about our economy and the almost daily loss of big name employers and it is clear that paying attention to the mental wellbeing of employees both now and over the longer term is going to be critical.

EAPs have suffered in the past in being a low-cost underused service, where the true value is just not clearly seen. But in the face of this crisis, I have been impressed at how quickly, and quietly, EAP’s have adapted to ensure employees can get timely access to services when they need it. Many EAP’s are working flat-out, but it’s what we do and we are adapting our services to make sure we can support employees in the best possible way.

The future of EAP services may never be the same again, we have to wait and see, but what we can be sure of is that employers of all types have seen the value that EAP can bring at a time when they have needed it most. I really hope they remember that, and that the expertise of EAP as a profession will be recognised and more so that the essential need for emotional support and ongoing mental health of our nation will see a valuable place for EAP.

I also play tribute to the many counsellors and psychologists within the networks who have been providing support as part of the EAP service delivery.

In the face of this crisis, EAP’s can be justly proud of what they are doing in supporting our workers and employers in the most difficult of times.

Understanding and responding to the Covid-19

Caroline Riberio-Nelson

EAPA member, Caroline Ribeiro-Nelson writes for EAPA UK on understanding and responding to the Covid-19 crisis and what you can do to support your employees.

We’re not just WFH. The idea of working from home suggests some kind of security, a place of safety from which employees are carrying on business as usual (and fortunate to still have paid employment). Except nothing is normal, and the prospect of normal is faint and obscure.

The Covid-19 lockdown has been a traumatic event – and worse, has come with a barrage of uncertainties affecting everyone, with none of the usual consolations around when and how events will reach their conclusion. The stress, fear, anxiety and shock experienced as very typical reactions are extremely unsettling and can potentially overwhelm our ability to cope. This can harm us physically, emotionally or psychologically, impacting our mental health, as well leading to difficulties in every day functioning at work.

Our ability to manage and overcome the impact of the Covid-19 period will

depend on how well we understand its impact, along with our ability to respond adequately and constructively.

Symptoms like problems with concentration and sleeping, loss of appetite and mood swings are all a natural response to an unusual occurrence. In order to recover, people require time to process the experience, to work through, manage and make sense of what has happened, allowing them to feel better and return to their previous state. At the end of the crisis most people will usually see a decrease in these symptoms over a space of two to four weeks. However, the on-going impact and severe far reaching effects of this crisis can lead to extended difficulties (indicating post-traumatic stress disorder), which are likely to require a longer recovery time, clinical intervention or professional support.

As a first port of call for employees looking for some sense of reassurance, employers and managers need to recognise and understand the human impacts of Covid-19 lockdown. They need to be alert to levels of anger and irritability, communication failures, reduced work performance due to difficulties with concentration etc, in order to provide appropriate support.

• Show empathy and understanding for those affected: listen without judgement and avoid making assumptions, ask open questions.

• Differentiate between what needs immediate attention and what is important. Initiate a plan and clear steps to address urgent issues.

•  Wherever possible maintain as normal a routine and structure as possible, making reasonable allowances for those impacted by the incident.

• Seek advice and support from other teams and departments in your organisation, such as occupational health, human resources or your EAP provider, as well as from government and health organisations.

Positive steps that individuals can take include:

1.  Build Resilience by ensuring daily routines include a mixture of relaxation and distraction (from games and hobbies) as well as physical exercise. Spend quality time with family members. Check in regularly on loved ones, neighbours and those close to you to foster a strong sense of community.
2. Connect and communicate via establishing regular communication between team members with remote chats and meetings, sharing ideas and team building. Get support when needed by talking and connecting with people and professionals who can support you to deal positively with your mental health and concerns.
3. Cultivate being constructive by considering all the ways you can learn from the lockdown experiences. Recognise that crises pass.
4. Limit exposure to media and avoid continually consuming news or talking about the crisis.
5. Stick to a plan and maintain a regular daily structure and routine. Set clear boundaries and realistic expectations, which help keep you focused and limit disappointment.

More information and advice is available in the EAPA UK factsheet on Understanding and responding to the trauma of the Covid-19 crisis.

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

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Employers must support the emotional wellbeing of their staff now to prevent serious issues down the line

This week, EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell looks at the interim findings from a new Homeworkers wellbeing survey being carried out by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES).

The instant WFH revolution has shown how adaptable the UK workforce can be when it’s under pressure. Legions of people who’ve rarely, if ever, needed to work from home have quickly adjusted to new surroundings, routines and online catch-ups. We’re IT-ready – and we’re fighters. 

That’s on a practical level at least. People are seemingly able to cope with the sudden merging of home and work lives, shutting out all the distractions. But, as a new survey among homeworkers this March has highlighted, WFH isn’t necessarily as simple and convenient as it appears.

Homeworking poses a range of questions about effects on wellbeing. Being at home, for example can encourage people to fall into a sedentary routine where there’s less structure and sense of time. Taking breaks are an essential part of physical and mental health. 60% of the 500 homeworkers contacted by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), however, admitted to not being active.

While being in the workplace can sometimes be a source of stress, it’s also the best distraction from worries, providing focus and direction, company and conversation. At home the worries can pile up. 

41% were anxious about family member health during the pandemic; 23% said they were worried about family finances; 21% about their job security. As a result, sleep is affected: 40% said they weren’t waking up feeling fresh and rested, 64% that they were losing sleep. 

Eventually, with ongoing periods of uncertainty and stress (and what also may be experienced as a form of trauma) there is an emotional toll. 40% of the homeworkers said they were not calm and relaxed; and 60% fatigue were suffering from fatigue. Over time these are the kinds of symptoms that can build into more damaging psychological strain.

One reassuring aspect from the study is that employers are staying in touch. 83% of homeworkers are reporting contact with their boss up to five times a week. 64% said there was an EAP available to them to provide advice and support. The question is around the quality of the contact from line managers – is it just a tick-box email or call?

Given the potential for feelings of isolation, uncertainty and mounting stresses, there needs to be increased effort from managers to reach beneath the surface and really understand how people are coping and to offer help and support, to look at workloads and the potential for overworking while WFH. Now, more than ever, the role of the line manager is about looking after people first and the work afterwards.

The benefits of providing good levels of support and contact will work both ways. Employees that feel safe, secure and valued will do good work – and in the post-Covid-19 period the organisations that have looked after their people will reap the rewards in terms of engagement and commitment to the future agenda.

These were just interim findings from the IES study and it’ll be fascinating to see what the wellbeing picture looks like over the course of the lockdown and which groups of employees cope best.

The IES Homeworker wellbeing survey is still open and if you haven’t already, please share with your teams and clients and participate in the IES research: https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=158514663787.

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