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SINGAPORE: Along with employees reporting a decline in mental health in 2020, managers now face new challenges as we begin the new year.
According to a Qualtrics study in Singapore in April 2020, 26 percent of surveyed employees reported a decline in mental health.
Of these, 25% reported a decrease in mental well-being due to stress, 22% due to anxiety, 19% due to job insecurity, 7% due to fatigue, and 6% due to work from – Home Fixes (FMH).
That massive jump to the WFH could have a lot to do with it. According to a study by Mercer South and East Asia in April 2020, the WFH arrangements have been especially difficult for managers, with 39% reporting that they were less effective at work than before, compared to 22% of not managers.
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WHY THE WFH CAUSES STRESS AND FATIGUE
What is the relationship between working from home and mental health? A 2017 study on the job connection I made with Professor Remus Ilies of the National University of Singapore might have the answer.
In order to understand employees’ attitudes towards using ICT devices to attend to work matters remotely, the study examined how the use of technology for work can affect work-family boundaries and personal well-being.
(Photo: Unsplash / Brad Neathery)
This experience sampling study surveyed 115 full-time employees in Singapore and showed that job connection alone had no significant effects on well-being.
However, the relationships changed when we looked at the fit between employee values and the current work arrangement.
Work connection led to greater well-being (including greater job satisfaction, less burnout, and less conflict between work and family), when engaging in such behavior was voluntary.
When connection to work through ICT devices was involuntary, employees experienced lower levels of well-being.
In other words, when employees log on to work issues remotely on their own, that brings them greater satisfaction.
It is plausible that this is because employees feel empowered, motivated, and in control of their job tasks and career paths. Choosing when and where to do your work can also account for conflicts in your personal and family schedules.
However, when this was unintentional, his mental health and personal well-being suffered. The work-family conflict and the feeling of exhaustion worsened and job satisfaction decreased.
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A 2020 study I did with Ivey Business School assistant professor Lucas Monzani found that when being connected to work is perceived as an obligation or an additional demand, technology is not as welcome by employees.
Did the employee feel like they had to respond to that email while attending to the crying child at home? Did the person have to take that phone call when they were making lunch? Depending on the signals that employees of your organizations receive, the use of ICT devices for remote work can be useful or terrible.
ALL ABOUT FIT
In most cases, alternative work arrangements were made possible for the employees in this study. The organizations provided resources such as laptops, cell phones, and flexible work hours.
One might think this is the one-size-fits-all answer: Provide the resources and employees will use the technology to get to work. But the answer goes beyond providing resources.
It’s about staying in shape. Did employees want to connect to work remotely, because this gives them greater flexibility to fulfill work and family tasks? Or did they want to keep their jobs and family life separate?
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For others, having a difficult time cut off for work gives them the freedom to fully immerse themselves in family and social activities.
WHEN FLEXIBLE WORK IS NOT A CHOICE
But the COVID-19 pandemic and the WFH’s mandatory arrangements for nonessential services resulted in employees not having many options to be digitally connected to work.
Their values weren’t aligned with the company’s new ones and they didn’t have time to adjust.
You could say that this arrangement was only mandatory during office hours. In fact, many knowledge workers have been involved in flexible work or remote work in one form or another before the pandemic, but the reality is that very few of them did it full time.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5 percent of workers worked practically full-time, while this figure was 6 percent in the European Union.
(Photo: Unsplash / Chris Montgomery)
The sudden switch to full-time remote work meant that employees rapidly lost the ability to appreciate face-to-face interactions with colleagues, leading to feelings of isolation and deteriorating mental health.
Employees entered an organization thinking they fit in well with the company’s culture of teamwork and work-life balance, only to find themselves alone and having to mix work with family.
GUARANTEE FIT
So how should managers get into 2021? The answer is to secure the fit.
The COVID-19 pandemic has tested the ability of companies to be agile and adopt digital technology. When hiring new talent, recruiters must ensure that agility and stamina are among the top selection criteria.
Agility and resilience can be assessed using personality tests and competency-based interview questions. When workers are agile, they can respond to job challenges flexibly and creatively.
For example, they can better accommodate the WFH arrangements by creating their own personal boundaries, such as working from a quiet space in the home away from distractions.
Also hear from property experts discuss whether the outlook for Singapore’s residential market has changed with COVID-19 and why they say it appears to be holding up exceptionally well:
For their current talent, managers need to ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary training to perform their job duties effectively using ICT technology and devices.
This goes beyond technical skills and should include soft skills like effective virtual communication, email etiquette, and ground rules for video conferencing.
RESOLUTIONS FOR MANAGERS
Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all answer is a first step. Managers should take the time to understand the needs and preferences of employees regarding the use of technology to work from home.
Often it will be helpful to accompany the provision of resources with clear communication.
For example, managers could allay employee concerns by saying that a mobile phone at work does not mean that the employee should be available 24 hours a day.
By delineating specific hours or tasks for which the mobile phone will be used, managers help reduce anxiety associated with connecting to work, as employees know they have opportunities to disconnect and rest from work.
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Managers themselves must embrace technology to do their jobs more effectively.
With more trust, empathy, and clearer (virtual) communication with employees, companies can still stick to their annual resolution – next year will be the best ever.
Can you say no to going back to the office? We posed this question to a CEO and HR expert on our Heart of the Matter podcast:
Dr. Rashimah Rajah is a professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of NUS.
