What wellbeing trends have we seen this year and what are to come?
In this episode of Never Mind The Pain Points, hosts Suzie Mossman Monk and Sophie Andrews delve into the world of wellbeing trends, discussing economic environment challenges, hybrid working trends, wider world tensions, the importance of enhanced employee benefits and support and addressing burnout and overwhelm.
Listen here or read on for an edited transcript.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Hi everyone and welcome back to our podcast, Nevermind the Pain Points. I am Suzie, the performance psychologist here at Clarasys and I’m joined today by Sophie Andrews who is our Head of People. Hello Sophie, thank you for joining.
Sophie Andrews: Good morning Suzie, very happy to be here.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: And today we’re going to look at some wellbeing trends that we have seen throughout 2023, and in particular look at how we can protect against some of those challenges and the trends that we think we’re going to be seeing across next year, in particular looking at the things that we think are going to impact our people and some of the challenges that we think our people are going to be facing as we move from this year into the new year.
Economic environment and cost of living challenges
Suzie Mossman-Monk: The first thing that I certainly have felt throughout this year, and I think a lot of people can probably relate to is the wider economic environment that we’ve seen. I know that the cost of living has been really significant this year. The job market has been a little bit tricky and stressful. How have you kind of found that people have reacted and responded to that challenge over the course of 2023?
Sophie Andrews: There’s certainly been a lot for people to contend with, whether it is indeed cost of living and what that means for them day to day, month to month, for their future plans, buying houses, getting married, things like that, they’ve impacted their own personal goals, or indeed the backdrop of all the sort of geopolitical stuff, tensions, confusion that’s existed in this country and wider in the world. It’s a lot, and I don’t think we should underestimate the mental load that that does put on people day to day, week to week. I think we’ve seen our people certainly struggle with cost of living considerations and ask for extra support and insights.
We’ve tried to go out proactively to understand the needs, but also been very open to suggestions from people to provide further education, to help manage saving or to help manage something important that they need to budget for. Equally, I think the other challenge has been helping our people to feel supported by their coaches, so their line managers at Clarasys, because it’s another thing that our line managers have to factor into their people management. Not only do they need to be empathetic to someone’s well being and health and personal stuff that’s going on in their life, but this is a new thing that they actually need to be able to guide and direct and point their teams towards because it shows up day to day, right?
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, definitely. I think certainly the cost of living and the money worry, I think it doesn’t matter if you’re someone who is straight out of uni or early on in your career, it’s maybe your first job, you’re just trying to find your way living in London. We know that’s particularly expensive. You’ve got travel costs. I’m sure wherever else you are in the country that’s being reflected as well. Or if you’re further on in your career, maybe you have people who are dependent on you. Maybe you have a mortgage that you’re trying to pay. I think that those kinds of worries can show up really significantly. And as you say, providing a space for people to be able to share those concerns and get the support they need is really important.
Sophie Andrews: Yeah, I completely agree. And it’s going to carry on into next year. So we need to keep thinking forward. We need to keep thinking about how we can be proactive and helping people minimize this worry and the stress. And as you said, it’s about creating the space for people to talk about things that are bothering them because a problem shared is a problem halved, and all of that. And once we know those things, then we can help, or we can indeed point people towards things that can help them. So, I don’t see that going away, unfortunately, anytime soon.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned, I think, actually, if we’re talking about how people can help as a business or someone who works in the people space, your point around actually asking the business, I know we did a survey to kind of ask people, ‘what is it that you actually want? What is it that’s useful? Is it general upskilling? Is it general education around finances?” I know there are certain levers that I definitely didn’t understand around, can you change how much you’re putting in your pension? Or, you know, what does that look like? There are levers that can be pulled if you’re feeling the pinch and giving people that education is really important. I know here at Clarasys we can have a call with someone to give us a kind of financial check in. Just a quick and easy way to kind of be like, oh, I don’t really know, am I doing the right thing? Does this make sense?
Sophie Andrews: Yeah. That’s right. What am I not thinking about? And yeah, getting an expert to kind of give you a few pointers or shine a light on something you maybe hadn’t thought of. Yeah, that’s right. Knowledge is power.
Hybrid working trends
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, definitely. And I guess that from my perspective, it links to the second key trend that I think we’ve seen over this year, which is the hybrid working, flexible working, the side of where are we going to do our jobs from? And what does that look like? I’m someone who commutes in from quite far out. I know you are as well. And actually that cost of living element has played into my commute and what that looks and feels like for me. And I guess, what have you heard? I know there’s the flexible working bill that’s coming this year. I know people are still very keen to have that flexibility. Is that something you have seen throughout this year, the kind of requests coming your way? What does that look like?
Sophie Andrews: Yeah, so I think there’s like a bunch of different slices to this, but if we think about firstly, kind of day to day being in the office, that kind of flexible working. At Clarasys, we aren’t the kind of company that is going to put a mandate out to say you must be in two, three, four, however many days a week. We trust people to obviously show up and do the job they need to do and work in the teams they need to work in. But that has in itself created some complications. Everyone has different considerations, as you say. You live far out, so you come in at a certain point that works for you and your work that needs to also work for the other people that you work with. And I’m sure that you always make sure you do that. Some people that are newer in their careers or maybe haven’t had the chance to work in bigger teams before that can create tensions and confusion and sometimes rework and things like that being needed because you can’t get everyone together at the same time.
So I think it’s improving, you know, as the year’s going on, people communicating better with one another, making sure that they’re aligned to get what they need to out of being in the office space together. But let’s not beat around the bush. It’s harder to learn when you’re not all together, especially when you’re sort of earlier in your career. So my off the record advice to anyone when they’re starting out is really do try and be in the office as much as you can. We’re not going to mandate it. It’s up to you. We trust you to do what’s right around your role and to deliver the outcomes you need to in your role. But the best way to learn and to ingratiate yourself in the culture of any business, not just Clarasys, is to be with the people that may be a little bit more senior than you, that you can learn from, that you can ask questions to. And I think it’s something that everyone’s struggling with, right? How to keep that sense of cohesion and culture when you are so disparate and you aren’t spending those physical proximity moments together, where you can feel seen, you can be heard, you can ask your questions, you can learn. So that’s my sort of takeaway from this year that I think as a business, certainly for Clarasys we’re getting better at managing it, but there are still challenges and those challenges will still go into next year. And I think it’s about really helping people to understand the benefits of being in the office, whilst also understanding personal circumstances and being respectful of whether you’re a working parent or you have a long commute or you have caring responsibilities, you know, how that all fits in together and just keeping the communication open between people.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, definitely. I know a recent change event that we hosted, that was a really hot topic of actually, we know the benefits of being face to face. I think it’s easy, obviously during COVID when everything was remote and everyone was, oh actually, okay, it does work. We can not be in the office five days a week. And it feels like there was a big shift to. Being less face to face and actually we realized that being online, like the benefits are great. As you say, if you have caring responsibilities, if you’re someone who likes to get out and exercise, if you have that long commute being at home or all of that stuff, we know there are real pros to that more kind of online working setup. But I think as you say, there has been that shift back to actually once we are all now back in the office a bit more and you suddenly you have that day where you’re like, we’ve got so much done that we could stand at a whiteboard and throw ideas around. Or I guess for us, it’s that piece of actually being face to face in the offices of our clients again has been a really nice move, particularly this year and building those relationships and actually being, you know, we’ve always wanted to work from a very embedded perspective.
And actually, that is a lot easier to do when you can just grab a coffee with someone or share that more kind of informal piece. Obviously we’re not a company who would mandate when we need to be in the office and what that looks like. Do you think there is in other businesses or environments or contexts, is that useful in terms of providing some more structure of actually, okay, these two days, we’re going to have everyone in. So at Clarasys that at least that’s clear, where do you see more of that mandating piece going into next year?
Sophie Andrews: We’ve certainly seen this year, US firms and particularly US banks go quite hard on the return to work. So there’s a bunch of factors behind that. If you think about the commercial real estate bill that they’re paying, right, they’ve got these huge offices in very expensive cities that they want people to populate and they’re tied into these contracts for years.
So I think there’s a driver there around actually using the properties and huge banking buildings that they’ve paid for and will continue to pay for. But certainly in an industry like that, where things are quick fire, decisions need to be made quickly, technology’s facilitated some great things over the last couple of years, but you can see in that industry. And personally, that was my background working in banking. So I do appreciate the need to actually be on site to have people to learn from and to be able to understand how. The system connects and works together. So I think financial services and similar type industries, the drive is certainly there to get people back to the office.
And I can see in 2024 being a much more concerted and more probably mandated way of working for those kinds of institutions.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, I think that makes sense. And I guess for businesses out there who maybe are struggling with this. I think that combination of actually maybe there’s pressure from certain parts of the business to have more of that mandating and getting people back. But also we know that flexible working bill, you know, that’s a shift almost in a slightly different direction. And I think your original point is actually the point of the flexible working bill is to just have more of those conversations to give employees a stronger position to ask for things that they need from, as you say, whether that’s caring responsibilities, parents, you just, you know, yourself. And actually the way I interpreted it was, it’s more about having that openness of actually we’re having a proper discussion about it will be considered, but you know, it isn’t always going to be possible in certain industries and actually just speaking to your people and really hearing what they need. But with the understanding of, as you said, highlighting the benefits to the employee as being in the office in certain times, I just think, yeah, that’s kind of where I would go. Just have the conversation, listen to your people.
Sophie Andrews: Absolutely. And I do think there’s a secondary role that we’ve started thinking about this year and we’ll continue to think about next year, which is how we facilitate connectedness by intention so that we do it. It’s not haphazard the way it happens, right? Because if you’ve got people having less physical time in the office together and the disruption of hybrid, you lose that connectedness feeling. And we’ve heard our people talk about that through surveys and just conversations, you know, around the office. And as you said, you know, the excitement of when you do have a great day in the office and you see lots of people and you feel like you’ve made loads of progress and stuff. You can’t, there really is no comparison, in my opinion, when you’re trying to do that kind of work on Zoom, it doesn’t translate. So there’s a role for businesses to think about if this is going to be the norm for your business. If you’re not a bank and you’re not going to be expected back to work five days a week, how are you going to help your employees to feel that sense of connectedness by intention and not just by, oh, we have a company update. So some people will come in and hopefully we’ll see some people then, or there’s a thing that happens in six months. So everyone will get together then. No, it’s more about what are the small moments that you can bring people together, whether, and it always works if you introduce food or other things that people enjoy. We’ve done things, haven’t we, this year, like sort of lunch on the house, like dealing with the cost of living crisis and the connection point together. So bringing people together, doing a different kind of cuisine, getting everyone in the office, and we’ve just seen what a huge success doing things like that is people just. Love it. So simple things that bring people together in a social setting, but also in work settings. We’ve done things this year like reintroduced fireside chats. So we’ve had people come in from outside that can talk about some of the things that are difficult for people, how to navigate through uncertain times, I think was one of the things we did in the very beginning, helping people see from an external perspective, but also have that conversation together with a group of people that you might not see day to day in your current role.
So I think, yeah, being very intentional about what can we do to help people help themselves to have those kinds of moments is really important next year.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah. I think that kind of intentionality is the key here, right? So I think actually it’s not necessarily about mandating that everyone in your business needs to be an X number of days, but actually leaving it up to a team to maybe say, okay, as the people team, for instance, we’re all going to try and be in on this day so that we can have a session or, you know, even if it is, I know we do it once a quarter where we all come together. But could you do that at a smaller level? So actually we as a project team or the recruitment team, we’re all going to come in and be in on the same day and you can agree that within your teams, right? It maintains that autonomy, but also nudges people in that direction. And I think that second point of actually, what can you bolt onto someone’s day to get them into the office? So small things like on a Wednesday, there’s football after work. So a lot of people come into the office and then go and play football afterwards. And just one of those little nudges that you can get people so that it isn’t that kind of, Oh, I’m being forced into the office. It’s more like, Oh, I want to go in for those reasons.
Sophie Andrews: Yeah, absolutely. It’s, it’s a real adjustment, isn’t it? If you think for an employer five years ago, wouldn’t have to think about these things because it would be a case of that’s for the employees to figure out if they want to do this thing or that’s not my role as a manager to think about that. Actually, it is because if you want an engaged and happy, healthy workforce, you know, you need to help people to see that these things matter. And then I think once you start, planting the seeds around, why don’t we do this? Why don’t we do that? You know, naturally others then take the reins and start, you know, organising other things that are either health related, food related, social related, work related, that brings that sense of connection back together for people.
Wider world tensions
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Okay, nice. I guess the final thing which I know you mentioned at the start, is that we’ve certainly seen it the second half of this year, and we think it’s going to continue into next year, is that wider world tensions that we’re seeing. There’s a lot of heavy stuff that’s going on, and I think it’s an interesting point that you made around what is the role of the employer in these kind of situations because I think really that doesn’t have anything to do with the world of work. That’s a person’s response to maybe what’s going on in the wider world but actually I think it’s really important that we’re aware of the impact of those wider events on our people because they will be having an impact. Is that something that you’ve seen? Is that conversations that you’ve had from a people perspective? How are you thinking that we’ll approach that going into next year?
Sophie Andrews: Yeah, it is something that I’ve certainly seen. It’s something I’ve talked to other heads of people and chief people officers about. It’s a difficult one, isn’t it? Because as you say, you’re the employer, you don’t want to comment on a political situation and God forbid, say the wrong thing or cause any offense, etc. So it’s a really careful balance and I think where I’ve landed and we’ve landed as Clarasys is that the most important thing is that people feel supported and they feel that they can talk to you about something like this that’s going on. So it’s not about putting out a message or a comms that addresses all sides of the situation, thinking particularly about what’s happening in the Middle East at the moment, for example, but it’s about making people aware that they can speak to you, they can speak to their manager, there are support routes, there are counseling services, there’s all sorts of things that you can do that allow people to feel heard, that if they’re consumed with worry and anxiety day to day in their role, they don’t have to hide it. They can share that and we can help them to work through that. You know, we can’t solve all the problems of the world, but we can make sure that our people feel that they’ve got that person or that group of people that they can talk to. And I really think that’s It’s kind of all that we can do when it’s something so big and so out of any of our control to influence. It’s just being a caring and compassionate employer that listens to what people need.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, for sure. And I think I liked the almost two streams of that, right? So you mentioned obviously the internal piece of actually creating an environment where people have someone who they can feel close to within the business and feels like a safe space for them to be able to share, so at Clarasys we obviously have our coaches, people speak to their coach once a week, and that’s a very regular checkpoint. It’s someone who you have consistently. Give or take throughout your career at Clarasys, but also I think there’s that external support and I know something that we’ve spoken about previously is things like providing external mental health support, whether that is through therapy or private health insurance, whatever it is, that seems to have become a non negotiable really now. It used to be something that would set an organization apart or be a nice to have, but I think actually providing your employees with something more than just that kind of internal conversation. It feels like we’re moving towards that being something that particularly our newest joiners are really looking for and what they’re starting to make decisions on where they want to work around those kinds of additional benefits and support.
Enhanced employee benefits and support
Sophie Andrews: Definitely. I think obviously salary matters to all of us, to a certain degree to support the lifestyle that you want to have, but we’re seeing more and more it’s the supporting benefits and the the all round package that people want to join a company for. Yeah, it’s about support that you can give them in tough times and good times. So mental health support as you quoted, but equally how you can help people grow in their careers and that whole wider support thing. I think that’s another trend that we’ll continue to see going into next year, which is people expect and will get more from their employers than they would have done five years ago. Whether that is the wider support and care package, whether that is enhanced kind of career planning. So the expectations of employees are different and the expectations on line managers and others within a business need to be different to be able to ensure that people have the kind of fulfilling careers and get what they need out of their time at their company.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, it’s fascinating. As you said, that wider package, right? Like, so how are you going to help me develop in my career from an L and D perspective? What does that look like? I think, yeah, people are asking more of their employer and I think it’s interesting to see.
Sophie Andrews: And it’s a good thing.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, exactly, right. And I think to your earlier point, that will allow you to have a more engaged, happier, healthier workforce, which we know leads to increased performance, productivity, all of the stuff that we want, but it’s about how do we actually get there. And yeah, I think absolutely that’s something we’ll continue to see going into next year.
Addressing burnout and overwhelm
Suzie Mossman-Monk: The final thing, I guess, which talking through all of these different areas, so the cost of living, that kind of hybrid working, what does that look like, the wider world tensions, all of those things, I think the feeling of, I guess, burnout, overwhelm. I think stuff feels quite a lot at the moment. I know we’re recording this back end of the year, and it’s that feeling of like, I’ve just got to get to the end of the year. And then, but we know then actually you come back in January and all of this stuff is still there, right? I guess that piece of how do we help employees not get to that point of burnout, not feeling overwhelmed? What can employers put in place to try and stop people from getting into those positions where they maybe have to take extended periods of time off, or how would you go about kind of supporting people in that space?
Sophie Andrews: I think there’s two prongs to answer that. I think there’s something first for the individuals, which is making the support networks that we’ve been talking about, like very clear to them. So if you’re struggling, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, if you’re starting to get to the point where you’re disengaging from family and friends, you’re spending too much time working into your evenings, et cetera, like, do you know what’s available to help you? Because you shouldn’t be doing that. We don’t want you to do that. So here are the triggers. Here are the things that you need to ask yourself and you need to reach out for as and when you find yourself in that position. So, it’s education, it’s communication, it’s making sure people really are clear on those things. And that’s not a one time thing, you say it once and we’ve told them, it’s constant reminders. Drip feeding. Don’t forget guys, this thing exists. This can help you with this. Or if you’re having challenges with this, come to this drop in session and we’re going to talk about that. So it’s just flinging the doors wide open on being able to talk about all of that for the employee. And then the other really important thing and what’s got overlooked more in the last couple of years than ever is the role of managers. So our coaches at Clarasys or line managers in other organizations they’ve had to absorb so much in the last few years in terms of helping people, supporting people through very difficult and challenging times and lots of people weren’t at that point equipped to be people managers. It’s a skill and it takes time to learn how to manage difficult people, challenging people, people that are really driven, that want to keep going further and further. And I think all the research says that people will leave their role if their manager is rubbish, you know, that’s their day to day interaction. So it’s about helping managers to be on the front foot to support people with this. So being able to spot when burnout might be on the horizon, being able to nudge their team in a way that doesn’t create anxiety, but actually helps them get to the resolution before they get to that point of burnout.
It’s helping managers to think about how they can approach every situation with empathy and fairness and all those things that mean that it’s a healthy working relationship and two way communication that allows people to be themselves and to tackle problems as they’re arising and not get to that point where you just can’t cope anymore, you need to go off sick, you’re overwhelmed, you’re stressed, you’re broken, etc. So I really think you can’t do one without the other. And it’s not managers faults, you know, if they’re lacking some of these things, but it’s about organizations helping their managers to get to be the best kind of people managers that they can be over the next period of time as well.
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Yeah, I think that makes sense in that element of upskilling managers and how do we support them in dealing with some of these challenges.
That’s when people, I guess, experience the most stress is when they’re being asked to do something that they don’t feel equipped and able to do. So obviously by upskilling managers, you allow them to be able to provide better support to the rest of your business, but also that should help to avoid your managers being the ones that end up feeling burnt out because if they have the skills then that should feel easier or at least they feel more comfortable having those kind of conversations. So yeah, I think that’s a really great point.
Conculsion
Suzie Mossman-Monk: Well thank you Sophie. I mean I found that fascinating thinking about what next year might look like and some of the things we can do to help our employees go into 2024 and continue to thrive throughout the year. I’m sure there’ll be a few surprises that show up next year. But thank you very much for your time and I will hopefully catch up with you next year to see what 2025 will bring.
Sophie Andrews: Wonderful, it’s been great. Thanks Suzie.
