There’s no cookie cutter for wellness: Listen first, then acknowledge, then act

Organizations and their employees continue to struggle with the long-term effects of pandemic-induced stress and its ubiquitous impact on the workforce, Ragan Communications CEO Diane Schwartz observed in a recent podcast.

Burnout and isolation are concerns, Schwartz said, as are other challenges associated with remote work. There’s absenteeism and presenteeism, financial worries and even more seriously, substance abuse and underlying health conditions that aren’t being taken care of.

Schwartz was speaking on the Future of Work podcast by Allwork.Space, an online publication covering how work is evolving. The interview was moderated by podcast host Ceci Amador De San Jose.

Mental health remains a major workplace concern, and it still has a stigma, Schwartz noted. “There’s a lot of work to be done in understanding how to deal with mental health issues in the workplace,” she said. “It is going to take some time. In fairness to those leaders and managers who are concerned about this, it takes some time. It’s almost liked the last year employers have been de facto mental-health experts. And clearly, we are not.”

The solution, Schwartz suggests, might be taking steps incrementally. Resilience training is really important, she said. So is manager training. “Managers are on the front lines of this,” Schwartz added. “I think we forget often how important that is.”

The lively conversation touched on a variety of other workplace wellness-related topics. The full 30-minute podcast can be heard here.

Comments are closed.