Surviving the new coronavirus strain: How can UK employers support employee wellbeing?
I spent three weeks over Christmas and New Year’s Eve in bed, fighting against the new Covid-19 variant. I am much better now, and back to work but full recovery might take another few weeks.
With cases still on the rise in the UK, how can employers prepare for the coming months when many employees — like me — can be out of play for extended periods of time?* What if they suffer from ‘long-haul symptoms’ like fatigue, headaches, anxiety, and insomnia that affect their workplace wellbeing and productivity? How can employers support employee wellbeing during and after Covid? Here are a few thoughts based on my own experience.
“You tested positive”: Stepping into sick leave
I tested at home on Friday, 18 December and my positive result came in two days later. My first thought was: “who might I have infected?” A few days before testing, I worked with our CEO at her home office. Telling her about my positive result was very challenging. She had to consider personal implications like self-isolating and getting tested as a family first, before we could draw up my sick leave plan.
That plan never got made, and I descended into the first 10 days of being very sick. Even though I had what NHS considers ‘mild’ symptoms and did not require hospitalisation, I found it impossible to do any work.
Throughout, I received considerable support and friendship from the CEO and my team, who immediately stepped in in my absence.
I was lucky in more ways than one: my key clients took time off for Christmas just as my sick leave began, most of my colleagues were also on annual leave. If things were as hectic then as they usually are, my transition would have been much harder.
It should not be down to luck whether an employee’s Covid experience is smooth or not. How can employers better support their employees’ well-being as they step into sick leave?
- Build a Covid sick leave plan together. Employers of any size (mine is quite small) should have the capacity to offer a smooth leave experience to their employees. Everyone’s needs might be different, the virus is known to affect people differently too, so a standard sick leave approach may not be enough. Tailor a sick leave plan to your employee’s needs, clarify the length of the leave, who will fill in for what and how, how this is communicated internally and externally, and what resources are available to them throughout.
- Organise the handover quickly and effectively. To maximise your employees’ recovery time and to give the rest of their team as much headstart as possible, you should start the handover process as soon as possible. Teams taking over temporary responsibility should ensure they have access to key information, are clear about how to ask for advice during sick leave, maintain a good record of progress in a colleague’s absence. It might be useful to send weekly reports, where possible, to keep their colleague in the loop.
- Offer ongoing support. Most people — like me — would be out of play for days, but regular personal check-ins from colleagues help to build a positive mindset against the challenges of self-isolation. Feeling supported and cared for is an important part of recovery, and employers can offer other forms of support, e.g. free access to mindfulness, meditation and therapy content, vouchers or free deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables or care packages, free access to learning and entertainment content.
“You no longer have to self-isolate”: Returning (slowly) to work
Three days after my self-isolation period ended, I was able to find the energy to return to my desk (in my home office).
The first week back was very challenging: I had unexpected and sudden bouts of fatigue. I had insomnia, which meant I was sleeping at 3am every day and waking up at 10am the next day. I was struggling with concentration, had brain fog and very little appetite still.
To address these long-haul symptoms, I asked for flexibility around my work hours, cleared my diary in the mornings, took breaks over lunch and when I needed to rest. I communicated this to my team and kept them abreast of any changes and emergent needs. I was able to confer with another colleague who was also recovering to exchange symptom management tips and tactics. I continued to meditate every day, maintained a healthy diet, and began working out gently daily, too.
Now I’m at the end of my second week back and some of the symptoms are still there. Having experienced the Covid long-haul firsthand, I believe that a key driver of better recovery and employee wellbeing is a flexible approach to work. Employers can:
- Understand and accept that employees might be battling longer-term coronavirus symptoms, which might present themselves suddenly and in unexpected ways.
- Continue to plan workload around these additional challenges, giving employees the means to strike a new work-life balance.
- Offer wellbeing advice and support tailored to returning employees needs’.
These and other intentional efforts by employers to support employee wellbeing can go a long way towards a better, more sustainable recovery from the new coronavirus strain.
*There is government advice to UK employers looking to navigate the coronavirus pandemic. My focus here is on what employers can do beyond this advice to support employee well-being.
