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How Organizations Can Promote Employee Wellness, Now and Post-Pandemic
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How Organizations Can Promote Employee Wellness, Now and Post-Pandemic

When leaders take steps to support mental health and wellness in the workplace, it benefits both employees and their employers.

Ben Laker and Thomas Roulet
MIT Sloan Management Review, 2021
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The year 2020 was unprecedentedly stressful for employees. Even if the COVID-19 pandemic is drawing to a close, stressors accumulated during the past year will continue to affect employees, if they are not addressed properly. Researchers Ben Laker and Thomas Roulet offer hands-on advice about what companies can do to preempt, detect and remedy workplace stressors – and prevent widespread burnout from taking hold. 

Summary

The year 2020 was unprecedentedly stressful for employees.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused employees a great deal of stress. Financial stressors and a sense of job insecurity compounded ongoing health worries. Many employees juggled homeschooling or care for elderly relatives alongside their work responsibilities. At the same time, aspects of work that promote well-being fell away, including in-person socializing with colleagues and commutes that allowed a clear delineation between work and home life.

A survey by Oracle and Workplace Intelligence revealed that employees considered 2020 the most stressful year in their working lives. Three-quarters of surveyed employees also felt their employer did not do enough to help them cope.

Employers and employees alike benefit when companies...

About the Authors

Ben Laker is a professor of leadership at Henley Business School at the University of Reading. Thomas Roulet is a senior lecturer in organization theory at the University of Cambridge.

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