Stress Management in the workplace post lock down.

In the UK alone, as many as one in five people suffer from high levels of work-related stress. These figures could be interpreted as approximately 6.7 million working days lost each year at a massive cost to industry. There is an ever-increasing need for the Advanced Corporate Stress Management Consultant to identify the high levels of stress and implement appropriate strategies to counter it.

Coming out of lock down and the isolation that involved in itself is a ‘huge’ step for so many. Some may not feel ready to go back to full time work but their companies are calling them back and usually at short notice. So how can workers feel a better sense of ease and confident that they are getting the much needed support from their Management, and are the Managers able to reach out and find the same support they need to give their own teams?

As someone who has experienced being part of a team of employees under the supervision of higher Management, and also as a previous GM in the fitness industry I can relate to how much thought and care needs to be put into practice for everyone involved in returning back to work after lockdown. Also as a Hypnotherapist these day’s, I know first hand the level of anxiety and stress there was before we hit lockdown, which was a big problem. Today as I sit typing these words up, anxiety and stress are as big a problem as the pandemic it self. However, ‘WE CAN’ do something about the rise of stress and anxiety in the workplace. Wellness and therapy such as ‘relaxation hypnosis therapy’. Hypnosis is one of the most rewarding and relaxing methods of stress relief there is. Offering your workforce a new tool to relieve anxiety and stress, as anyone reading this will know, will in fact benefit both employee and employer in the long run.

I would love to see the use of ‘Soft’ opening approach for the whole workforce in order to step cautiously and safely into a new way of providing their services back in he community. Shorter daily hours to start with and staggered numbers of employees doing a 3 or 4 day week. Because, let’s not pretend that anxiety isn’t present in this phase as more people step back in to the ‘NEW WORKING WORLD’, let’s embrace it and make it ok to openly speak about what is really going on for the majority of the workforce right now. There is worry and anxiety.

I really do hope a much softer, more steady approach, a more ‘balanced’ approach for Soul, Spirit and Mind can be taken to ensure all involved stay physically and Mentally ready for work in these ‘Newer Times’.

If you truly value your business and the teams that make it a business, and I’m positive you all do. Invest in their self care and mental and spiritual health as you all return back to work.

Be kind, considerate and compassionate towards all those around you. We are in new territory and no one has a real lead on the situation yet.

Justine