APA Foundation Offers Advice to Employers to Help Workers Ease Transition Back to Workplace

Returning to a workplace after telecommuting for more than a year can be stressful for employees. They may need to establish new routines for commuting and family caregiving, they may have concerns about COVID-19 variants, and some may still be processing grief from losing loved ones to the pandemic. To help employers assist their employees with the transition, theCenter for Workplace Mental Health, a program of the APA Foundation, has developed aguide for returning to the workplace.The guide offers insight into the concerns employees may have and tips on communicating with employees throughout the transition. The key recommendations, among others, include the following:Understand concerns:Consider conducting a survey or hosting a town hall discussion to better understand how this historic time has impacted employees and their concerns related to returning.Communicate often and be transparent:Keep employees informed about plans and changes in policies and procedures and encourage open discussion about experiences and concerns with transitioning back.Make employees ’ mental health a visible priority:Make sure employees are aware of the mental health services and resources available to them and create an environment where people are comfortable talking about mental health and accessing services when needed.Stay flexible:Anticipate the need to be flexible as people transition to new schedules, new commutes, and new routines.Promote resiliency:Offer opportunities for mindfulnes...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: APA Foundation Center for Workplace Mental Health communication COVID-19 employees flexibility guide mental health resources return to workplace Saul Levin transparency Vivian Pender Source Type: research