National Stress Awareness Day

National Stress Awareness Day brings an opportunity for businesses to consider how changed ways of working – remote, hybrid and office based – are impacting employee wellbeing. The widespread shift to remote working over the past 18 months has fundamentally changed the employee experience as workers were forced to adjust to being productive at home. With businesses now pivoting towards hybrid forms of working, we must consider what can be done to improve employee happiness and stress levels. Recent research has shown two fifths (42%) of IT leaders in the UK enjoy their job more due to the lack of stress they feel with flexible technologies in place, while over a third believe users and colleagues are more confident in them as a decision maker thanks to such tools.

Having clear frameworks and the right technology in place to allow hybrid working will contribute to staff wellbeing, reduce stress and boost confidence – all the while ensuring businesses are prepared should COVID-19 conditions take a turn for the worse. IT and HR managers in particular would benefit from a clear plan of action as seasonal illnesses and poor mental health impact teams in the coming months. As we prepare for a second winter living with COVID, companies should consider implementing flexible IT systems to support their workers beyond just productivity, and will likely see the rewards of a happier workforce into the new year.