COVID-19 has placed an exceptional strain on the workforce. A recent survey by MindEdge Learning and the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) revealed that 75% of HR Managers have experienced an increase in employee burnout due to COVID-19-related stress. As mentioned in my last blog, this is not surprising, given that many employees are spending over half of their day on connected devices, working remotely amidst constant uncertainty.
Employers today have a duty of care to help employees navigate these stressful times. While benefits and perks can certainly help buoy morale, employers actually have a much deeper and often over-looked opportunity: teaching and modeling effective stress management. To help your employees master mindset in the midst of uncertainty, here are three strategies to share with your teams for building resilience:
1. Look backward for insight on moving forward
Despite our best intentions, often we respond with negativity to difficult situations. Sometimes we hesitate to choose optimism because we fear not being take seriously.In moments like these, it can help to look back at situations in our lives to learn how we can more effectively deal with stress. One of those situations for me was when my husband received his first duty station in the US Air Force to Biloxi, Mississippi. We packed up our worldly belongings, bought our first little home, and even got a puppy! We had been there for all of three months when Hurricane Katrina hit. In the span of just three days, we lost our puppy, our house, and our community. I remember feeling lost. Uncertainty gave rise to a sense of angst and hopelessness. When I think back to that experience in Biloxi, I wish I had known the positive psychology research I know now.
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