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While the pandemic has presented a host of challenges for businesses, it has also taken a significant toll on employees’ mental health. Recent research has shown that 25% of workers find it difficult to deal with the mental challenges of loneliness and isolation from colleagues. It is estimated that absences due to mental health increased by 10% during 2020 as employees struggled to adapt to new working arrangements, with a cost to businesses of GBP1.3 billion. The cost to both employers and employees is clear, although the task of addressing the challenges has become ever more complex. Around a third of businesses are working remotely, with some employees remaining on furlough or redeployed to different roles. With the easing of lockdown, new hybrid working models have the potential to permanently change how we work, challenging the resilience of many employees who thrive in a workplace environment. Old approaches to employee wellbeing may not be fit for purpose. Most UK businesses are now focusing on the wellbeing of their teams more than ever before, and poor mental health is more widely acknowledged as a threat to productivity and business performance. But while there’s an abundance of advice available for managers on
