Two years after the pandemic, Generation Z workers suffer from greater levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of emotional and social well-being than any other age group. They also have the most proletarian optimistic outlook for life among any group of people.
US Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy was bold to refer to the situation as a “youth mental health crisis” in a public health advisory released on December 7, the previous year.
To compound the situation, despite the apparent emphasis on staff health at work after the pandemic hit, a study from Deloitte entitled ‘A call to responsibility and accountability found that two-in-five Gen Z workers felt their employers had not done an excellent job in assisting their mental health.
What’s happening there? What can companies do? Assist especially as the shift to flexible and hybrid work is becoming more commonplace?
Beamery’s philosophy of well-being
Abakar Saidov, the Chief Executive of cloud-based software for managing talent provider Beamery, believes that the lockdowns that are only beginning to ease in some regions of the world have thrown the spotlight on a variety of concerns:
- Context is essential. Gen Z is a significant population. THE Gen Z population consists of younger workers in their first or second job. It is necessary to consider issues like their housing together, who they are living with they live with, what their income is, and what they’re able to spend their time doing. If, for instance, you live in a shared apartment working from home, and you do not have a space outside, it may be challenging to shut off. If you’re a few years in your profession, you’re more secure and can work with colleagues.
However, employees who’ve just been employed for a few years typically aren’t well-versed in becoming influential professionals. Gen Z staff have been very interested in going back to work to have more connections and receive mentoring, support, and guidance from their supervisors.
The role of the line manager in encouraging the well-being of employees is crucial, Saidov says. This is why the company has invested in helping them acquire the abilities they require to help employees of any age. He explains:
- There’s always been a variety of aspects that make a great manager, but the shift to hybrid working implies that they must be integrated. One of them is looking after your employees, making sure they are valued and feel they’re learning and developing, and ensuring that your team delivers. Managers must communicate better on and off the internet in a hybrid or remote setting since employees will not be at the office all day. Couples must find ways to collaborate efficiently, which requires paying attention to how they interact with colleagues. It’s also essential to consider improving people’s skills and invest in their career paths more systematically.
Listening is essential.
Since the transition to flexible and hybrid working is likely to take twelve to 24 months before it can be settled down properly, Saidov expects “quite a bit of trial and error” before employers can make it work. He believes that staff feedback will play a crucial element in the process, not the least because any information will be incorporated into training for management.
However, this notion of being attentive to your employees’ needs is vital in many other situations for staff development and learning. Growth and advancement in career. Saidov explains:
- It is essential to pay attention to your customers’ requests and be responsive to their demands. It’s about people feeling heard and supported and feeling a strong sense of connection to the organization and its mission. It’s essential to create a space where people feel safe and secure with their openness. There isn’t a solution to the problem of mental well-being.
Initiatives the company has implemented to assist in this area. However, they also have “Spark hours,” in which employees are allocated three hours on a Thursday every two weeks to participate in various activities, for example, focused work or learning the ability to understand that doesn’t have to be connected to their daily duties.
Alongside their annual vacation, they are allowed to take four days each year to improve their mental health and well-being. The “Be Amazing at Beamery each month, a monthly allocation of $225 is given to spend on any item that will assist them to “become their best self.”
Salesforce’s approach to promoting mental health
Another company that takes the mental well-being of employees very seriously includes Salesforce. It also discovered that a few of its new employees and employees under the age of 35 had difficulty during lockdowns because of problems like loneliness and having fewer interactions with their managers and colleagues as is usually the norm.
According to Terri Moloney, Director of the Employee Experience, the business experienced the company experience a “bit of a spike in attrition” because it was more difficult for employees to “connect, and so there wasn’t the same loyalty or the same experience.” Another issue was that young employees are more resistant to discussing their struggles than their elders since the latter tend to be “new, don’t know anyone, and don’t want to say they can’t cope.” Moloney says:
- Knowing what employees struggle with is difficult. However, we conduct employee surveys every year and wellness surveys frequently daily, which allowed us to respond quickly to develop programs and resources for employees and enable managers to be fully engaged.
These initiatives included providing all employees the option of accessing an online and dedicated wellness coach, on-demand classes, and an incentive scheme for well-being that allows each employee the opportunity of spending E100 ($110) every month as they wish, such as massages, gym memberships, and other such things.
At the end of last year, the business also introduced “async week” to 23,000 of its 754,431 employees worldwide to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of not attending meetings for five days. The only exceptions to the no-meeting policy were training events or customer meetings and seminars to address critical business concerns. However, people could still communicate via tools like Slack and email.
To help them prepare participants, they were given a handbook with tips, goals, and expectations. The frequently-asked-questions document advised them to think about specific issues before the meeting, for example, ‘what’s a necessary appointment? How do I not feel lonely? How do I ensure that projects stay on course? What do I need to consider? Moloney describes the study as follows:
- Around 80% of respondents enjoyed it because it allowed people to think and have breaks whenever they wanted. It helped create an enlightened approach to work, where they could work at their speed and pace. Technology can mean that there are many things to be done constantly that you’ll need an interruption. The trick is to keep it interesting to allow individuals the space and time to succeed.
My perspective
Health and mental well-being are complicated and delicate topics that must be addressed carefully. This is why Beamery and Salesforce Beamery and Salesforce did not pick them out as Gen Z workers for ‘special treatment in the sense of a special. However, they did create programs for people of all ages. Groups could modify to cater to their individual preferences, which is sensible.
