Post-pandemic, remote work has become an increasingly popular option for employees and employers alike. There are many added benefits, such as better time management, flexibility in schedule, and increased cost savings.
Unfortunately, with remote work becoming increasingly prevalent, there has been a rise in fresh types of mental health challenges.
Also Read: Top Work From Home Skills You Should Master
Discover how HR can provide mental health assistance and support a team’s prosperity while at home.
A remote work environment presents many challenges, all a direct result of the lack of face-to-face connectivity.
Remote Work and Rising Mental Health Challenges
It is important to understand what these challenges might be and how they affect remote workers.
Blurred Work-Life Balance
With employees working from home, the line that existed between work and home has become blurred. It becomes difficult for many workers to set clear boundaries between work and home.
Thus, they tend to overwork, which can have negative effects in the future for them and the organization.
Connectivity and Communication Gaps
Communication challenges between team members can be created in a remote work environment. This can generate misunderstandings that lead to more mistakes, which can impact an employee’s quality of work.
Lack of Social Interaction
Social interactions are a necessary part of human development. The level of employee isolation increases due to limited communication during remote work. Over time, it can create a sense of loneliness as all interactions are strictly virtual and mostly professional.
Mental Health Assistance HR Can Provide
HR, as the people’s manager, can and should play a significant role in providing adequate support for remote employees.
Conducting Regular Checkups
Since employees are completely remote, frequent communication with them with check-ins with HR is key. A meeting can be held once a month. The topic of discussion could be anything that impacts their mental health.
Supporting a Work-Life Balance
The best strategy for addressing concerns and providing mental health assistance is to promote a healthy work-life balance between employees. Encourage them to take breaks and avail themselves of the benefits of working from home.
Providing Resources for Mental Health Support
You can make use of experts in the field of managing mental well-being. Counseling sessions from professionals, workshops, and online therapy sessions are some of the ways to provide mental health resources.
Training Upper Management
Managers are the people remote employees will be most in contact with. In order to effectively support their teams, it is important for management to be able to identify when an employee might be dealing with a mental health difficulty.
Properly trained managers should be able to recognize problems, listen carefully, and provide genuine support.
