Loneliness & isolation | Tips for supporting staff members

Ever since the pandemic hit earlier this year, a large portion of employees have been working from home.

After many months of being cooped up inside and separated from friends, family and colleagues due to social distancing and lockdown measures, many people have noted a negative impact on their wellbeing. In fact, in May, the Chief Executive of Mind, Paul Farmer said that immediate action was needed to support mental health services after the charity saw a surge in the number of people downloading resources from its website. Speaking to Sky News at the time, he warned of an ‘emerging mental health crisis’ due to the lockdown period.

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announcing a month-long lockdown period in England, it is likely that worker wellbeing will be impacted going forwards too. In fact, recent research carried out by Healthspan found that six in 10 Brits are now ‘dreading’ winter due to COVID-19 restrictions, with many concerned that it will be harder on their mental and physical health than ever before. One of the biggest people-related problems unearthed during the pandemic is loneliness. This is supported by research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which revealed that 7.4million people across the UK said that their wellbeing had been affected by feeling lonely during lockdown.

So, what can an employer or line manager do if they feel that a direct report or colleague is suffering from loneliness? Executive Grapevine has collated a couple of tips from a recent Fast Company article.