After six months of working from home, the stretch is over. Newspaper headlines with 'Loneliness grabs home workers' throats', the risk that we are massively 'digital conveyor belt workers' become and that 'over half of young people anxious or stressed by corona'.
Despite that some companies meanwhile see precisely a great opportunity in the new work-from-home system, a great risk lurks. Initially showed research indicated that managers were particularly concerned about employee productivity and engagement. Overwork and loneliness followed much later. Meanwhile, those psychological effects appear to be much more worrisome.
The average worker is gradually turning into a Zoombie. Every day I talk to people who are glued to their screens from morning to night. Switching nonstop from one conversation to another. In the same chair, in the same room. Without any further physical movement, interaction or communication.
The fear of corona, job insecurity and lack of physical contact has caused many employees to experience a continuous sense of stress. As a result, they create tunnel vision and stop thinking logically.
You then often reach for the most obvious things. In this case, work even harder, because at least you know it is expected of you. As long as you are visible, at least your boss can't judge you for it.
Thanks to the crisis, it is often extremely hectic with little time for personal attention. Video sessions are almost exclusively about the company. The contact we have is becoming more superficial. The fear that someone is really going to tell us how he or she is doing is something we don't know how to deal with at the moment.
This causes a great lack of Vitamin A (attention). While we as humans need it so much. Without that attention, another essential factor in human well-being disappears like snow in the sun: trust. That lack of trust in turn causes an enormous load of negative stress. In other words, a negative spiral to the bottom.
You can count on your fingers that this does not go well for long. The recent test study by the NCPSB (National Center for Prevention of Stress and Burnout) also shows that. Here they do not look at a snapshot, but also provide a look ahead. This is done on the basis of indicators that identify possible stress and burnout-related symptoms.
According to the NCPSB, we are currently experiencing 4 million Dutch workers, nearly half of the working population, who may drop out due to burnout-related symptoms. This "partial" lockdown can thereby destroy more than your company and your employees care about.
Advices that I see providing space are:
- Stop using continuous Zoom (or whatever video calling app). Alternate digital sessions with regular phone calls and keep those phone calls nice and walking, outside in nature. Exercise and fresh air are good for your body and brain.
- Try to change environments throughout the day whenever possible, but either way don't stay in the same chair all day.
- Make sure meetings last up to 50 minutes instead of 60, giving you the opportunity to stretch your legs, drink water and reactivate your brain.
- Turn everything off at the end of the day. We miss our drive home for this, so go play with the kids, run an errand, clear out your stuff. Make the kitchen table become the kitchen table again.
- Do something for another person. By doing so, you stimulate your brain in the same way you would if you were actually seeing someone.
- Provide positive energy. A great example is the **rapping Master Martijn**who created a TikTok account during the first lockdown in order to stay in touch with his students.
- Stop constantly following the (negative) news. You're not going to change anything about that anyway.
It remains to be seen whether the costs of this partial lockdown outweigh the benefits, but for now, we have to go with it. Hang in there.
