Pandemic fatigue threatens worker well-being

Among workers who took on new job responsibilities during the pandemic, job stress increased by a factor of four.

Emotional control, energy and engagement with their work helped employees manage their well-being during the pandemic.

Employees were asked to do more at work and at home during the pandemic, and it’s showing in their mental health status, according to a report released Thursday by meQuilibrium, which provides resilience training for companies. Of the quarter of respondents who took on new job responsibilities during the pandemic, job stress increased by a factor of four, and twice as many employees reported feeling burnt out. Workers who did not take on additional responsibilities weren’t spared, as motivation was four times lower among these workers, according to the report.

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MeQuilibrium surveyed 7,000 of its members in June 2020 and 7,500 members in December 2020 for the report.

“While new work assignments and roles are commonplace, what’s different today is that it adds another layer of stress onto employees whose well-being has already been diminished,” Andrew Shatte, chief knowledge officer and co-founder of meQuilibrium, said in a statement. “Employees are also challenged by new caregiving responsibilities at home — taking care of children, virtual schooling, and more. This can also impact well-being and motivation, and many people don’t have the ability to adapt.”

Almost 20% of workers also added caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic, and they reported remarkable increases in health concerns, burnout, stress and demotivation.

“It is increasingly evident that a key byproduct of pandemic turmoil is, as the World Health Organization terms it, ‘pandemic fatigue,’” according to the report. “Brought about by an extended period of emotional exhaustion and chronic disappointment, pandemic fatigue represents a real threat to both the physical and mental health of our workforce and, ultimately, to the economy.”

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That fatigue is leading to 40% of workers who are less likely to be keeping up with pandemic news and 28% who are actively avoiding it, the report found. More than one in 10 are starting to travel outside their city, while a full quarter are leaving the state for social or recreational reasons.

The report identified three factors that are important to help employees build resilience to resist these negative outcomes. Emotional control, energy and engagement with their work helped employees manage their well-being during the pandemic.

“The three E’s — emotion control, energy and engagement — are crucial resilience skills,”  Shatte said. “We know that employees are struggling. But, if HR leaders make resilience a priority, we can move the needle and reverse the dip in worker well-being.”

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