Love it or hate it, home working is here to stay.
But whether your staff are remote or hybrid, they cannot thrive without one thing: Trust.
“There seems to be an assumption that staff who work from home are taking advantage – or just lazy,” says Professor Jo Clarke, a consultant chartered psychologist and founder of Petros, which specialises in business resilience to help support individuals, businesses and organisations to thrive.
“But in our experience, people generally want to do their best. Employers just need to trust them to get on with the job. This not only promotes good mind health but it also makes people more productive.
“My advice to help build trust is to offer flexibility around personal circumstances, give staff autonomy and keep your communication open. And if a member of staff isn’t doing their best, find out why. Discover what the blockers are to them thriving and provide the support or training that they need.”
Jo is sharing her advice ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, which takes place from 12th to 18th May. This year’s theme is ‘community’.
Jo adds: “Many people working from home are really struggling because we are losing our sense of community. Being part of a safe, positive community is vital for good mind health. Strong connections help us through tough times, and give us a sense of purpose. And this is vital to being resilient and thriving at work.”
Jo says we need to think of employees as individuals who have different – and changing – needs.
She explains: “Ask people what they want. For example, some staff may find it really hard to thrive in an open plan office - so let them work from home. But allow your more gregarious employees, who want to be around their colleagues, to work from the office.
“Some people don’t like being micro-managed. But if a colleague is new to a job, they may value having a mentor. We need to be awake to changes in our staff.
“It’s about trust; leaders need to have faith in themselves so that they can trust their people.
“As well as being the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. At Petros, we’ve seen evidence of how our prevention and early intervention mental health support programmes help to reduce absenteeism and increase staff retainment.”
Petros is holding a practical wellbeing workshop in York to help managers to learn the essential skills so their teams can thrive. The Wellbeing Advantage: Where Resilience Takes Centre Stage will show how to apply an evidence-based model to improve staff resilience and performance, reduce sick absences and boost profits.
The workshop takes place on 18th September at The Milner York.
