Evolution at Work

Perhaps now, more than ever, many across the world are facing an individual review of their life choices and experiences. Much has changed over the past year and a half and many decisions we took prior to the global pandemic may not be the choices we would choose today. This blog is designed to promote thought and dialogue with regards our relationship to work and how this relationship may evolve in the months to come.

Within the UK covid cases are continuing to rise and according to figures taken from the UK government dashboard in the seven days up to June 28th 2021, 116,287 people tested positive for covid. This figure showed an increase of 69.9.% on the seven days before. However, with hospitalisations and death rates remaining low the government continues with its intended plans to end all covid restrictions with effect from July 19th 2021.

Over the duration of the pandemic many people’s lives have inevitably changed to encompass new approaches to the world of work with greatly increased homeworking and teleconferencing with figures for both MS Teams and Zoom reflecting large increases in their daily global demand. Many individuals have found themselves furloughed, faced redundancy or with the prospect of taking early retirement. Perhaps the common denominator for all of us is that we will have all experienced inevitable change within our lives over the past eighteen months.

For some the opportunity to return to their place of work will be a strong calling however for others, there may be an unsurprising reluctance to return to the world of commuting and spending many hours behind an office-based desk. This reluctance may well be pinned by an underlying anxiety of being in a confined space with others all day whether that be the commute to work or in the office itself. There may well be other drivers and motivators fuelling choices away from the workplace that we once knew, these will be looked at further in the blog.

For many there is freedom of choice and with this freedom comes responsibility in many guises and perhaps one of the responsibilities is to face the question once posed by Shakespeare:

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

This entails us in making decisions governing the future of our lives and to question whether the daily commute to the office is one that we really want to be making or whether there may be viable alternatives to this.

As mentioned above there are many drivers and influencing factors concerning the choices that we make and how we grapple with the paths that we choose for ourselves and with this may well come significant levels of ambivalence.

For employees, ethically there needs to be a duty of care to all staff groups, to ensure adequate safety measures are taken to support health and safety and that positive action is taken to promote good mental health in the workplace, to attempt as far as it is possible to remove the daily stress of being in the workplace environment for the individual.

In addition to promoting and safeguarding positive mental and physical health of all individuals within the workplace other actions that employers can take include the opportunity for continued homeworking, varying guises of flexible working to enable staff to stagger their start and finish times to reduce the hours when the maximum number of people are in the workplace and to reduce the pressure on commuting. The opportunity for a mix of home working and workplace working may also exist and reduces the need on staff for daily attendance at the workplace.

Organizations such as Connectwell are well placed to support employers in exploring the changes that may be made in preparing for a returning workforce and Steve Bernard its founder and MD states…

“Organisations have a ready-made opportunity to step back and re-appraise the important role they play in their employee’s lives. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to a return to work. Instead, the smart companies who have the right People Strategy, philosophy and culture will engage their people in a conversation to co-create the future of work. The time and effort in coming together physically must be translated into a meaningful and valuable experience that serves all parties. Conversely, those who assume that a permanent and exclusive working from home policy is fine, may miss out on the social & collaboration dividend that being co-located in a dedicated workspace can bring.“ – S Bernard.

For many, priorities in life may have changed and if you are reading this then you will have had either one or two birthdays since the impact of covid was first experienced. You may well have experienced many life challenges that have left you with a different perspective and a desire for a new lifestyle different from the one experienced prior to the pandemic.

The way that business is conducted has certainly changed and the significant reduction in air travel both as a result of quarantine regulations and new business practices can be seen as a reflection not only in leisure activity but within the world of business as well.

It is increasingly undeniable that we will all now experience a different relationship to work than we did fifteen months ago and so the onus is on each of us to explore this.

Many are experiencing a desire to create their own business and to be able to work freelance across sectors of industry. This removes the laborious commute and gives the individual the flexibility of being able to work from home. Hand in hand with freelance working comes the anxiety of increased levels of uncertainty but also the potential for an increased level of reward. There are obstacles and hurdles to overcome in the pursuit of these rewards and there are no guarantees of success. Much of one’s ability to survive and succeed depends on the hours you are prepared to invest and your ability to network. There is tremendous pride that arises through making a success of one’s own business and knowing that the service you have delivered to your clients is at your very highest standards.

Life circumstances may very well determine the choices you make when considering working freelance. For some the financial commitments they experience may make the decision to freelance an even more challenging one.

There are some industries, for example the science industry where the opportunity to be self employed or work freelance is somewhat precluded by the requirement for large and expensive laboratories and equipment, combined with the need to be in a team.

Within the health service after many tireless hours a poll in the Sunday Mirror dated May 22nd, 2021, showed that nearly half of all nursing staff surveyed in a sample of 300,000 said they are considering quitting their positions. This will bring with it a set of demands for these individuals who look to address their work life balance following an exceedingly difficult time with increased levels of trauma, fatigue, stress and being undervalued following the offer of a 1% pay rise.

For those who may choose not to become self-employed may decide to pursue a new career that can more accurately reflect a preferred work life balance. As already indicated the length of time of this pandemic has presented the opportunity for life reviews and with this the opportunity is present to pursue a new career that can more accurately reflect a preferred work life balance. This may reflect a desire for more family time, less commuting and more time in pursuit of physical and mental wellbeing and happiness.

In 1948 the World Health Organisation defined health as being, "‘A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

With the pandemic having been such a prominent part of our lives for the past fifteen months then perhaps it is no surprise that the call for us to live lives in pursuit of this definition of health presents as a strong one even if initially the financial rewards of a new position do not match those that were previously held.

For others who are ready to renew their commitment to the workplace and make the necessary sacrifices to return to embrace the work environment then the opportunities to strive forward in one’s career may very well be there. If the decision to return to the work environment is one that is taken, then I would encourage both the individual and the employer to ensure that dedicated time is afforded regularly for reflective space to support in the offloading of the routinely accumulated stress that a decision to return to the workplace may bring with it. This opportunity supports the member of staff in tuning into themselves to discover what is really going on in their minds and bodies to promote maximum wellbeing. There are benefits to both the staff member and the employer utilising this reflective time, including greater creativity and greater freedom to find new solutions to problems. Remember, maximum wellbeing has many contributing factors and is not measured purely on the size of one’s income.

Essentially what we are looking at is the ways in which we can reach further towards self-actualisation and the summit of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943). This is a challenge that has become increasingly opened to us throughout the period of the pandemic and one that we must consider if we are to live a fulfilled life.

For me, this begs the questions, what is our purpose and what is the difference we can make in the world through the work that we do? If we can answer these questions in a way that can leave us fulfilled, we may be moving up the hierarchy of needs, if not, this may be something we wish to address.

In conclusion how we respond to the world of work as society begins to open up again is one that we must all find our individual answers to. We can see that both health and wealth can now be measured differently and that to give both a deeper meaning we must consider our complete, physical, mental and social wellbeing. Whether we choose to return to the workplace or whether we choose to change our work lifestyle, we can choose to keep these decisions open to review and to ensure that we use our new experiences as ones we can learn from. The decisions we make today need not be set in stone, therefore we have a responsibility to ourselves to use every experience of work as one we can learn from and to be open to reflection and change as we journey through life.

This article has set out to contribute to the discussion about our relationship to work and how this may evolve following the continued opening up of society. It is possible that my contribution may have stirred some thoughts around your response to this issue. I am a therapist and a mental health nurse with twenty-five years of experience in supporting individuals across all industries explore their relationship to work and managing career choices to optimise holistic wellbeing. If this article has engaged your thinking processes and you would like to discuss things further then I look forward to hearing from you.

Wishing you positive mental and physical health

Tom

You are more than welcome to share your thoughts with me: contact@tomdraketherapy.com