Caregiving and Job Responsibilities Linked to Employee Mental Health Problems, New meQuilibrium Study Finds

Research Exhibits Severe Decline in Employee Wellbeing As We Enter the Second Yr of Pandemic

BOSTON, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — It has been a full yr because the pandemic began and many people have skilled nervousness, stress and issue sleeping. For some, the pandemic has taken a severe toll on our psychological well being. Among the many hardest hit have been employees who took on further work or caregiving tasks, a brand new meQuilibrium study of seven,500 members discovered.

1 / 4 of survey respondents reported that they’d taken on new job tasks in the course of the pandemic and amongst these employees, job stress was greater than 4 instances increased and emotions of burnout greater than doubled. Disturbingly, there was greater than a four-fold lower in motivation in comparison with members who had not taken on further job tasks.

“Whereas new work assignments and roles are commonplace, what’s completely different in the present day is that it provides one other layer of stress onto workers whose wellbeing has already been diminished,” says Andrew Shatte‘, PhD, Chief Information Officer and co-founder, meQuilibrium. “Staff are additionally challenged by new caregiving tasks at residence — caring for youngsters, digital education, and extra. This will additionally impression wellbeing and motivation and many individuals haven’t got the power to adapt.”

Almost 1 in 5 employees took on a brand new caregiving position because of the pandemic, in line with the meQuilibrium research. These caregivers reported a 6X enhance in well being worries, 16% enhance in burnout, 2X enhance in work stress and almost a 2X lower in motivation. Thirty-seven % of males caregivers and 47% of ladies caregivers had bother discovering time for self-care. Ladies—already on the forefront of balancing work and household challenges—have been 40% extra possible than males to report taking over a brand new position as caregiver.

“We’re at an important second within the pandemic in the case of worker psychological well being,” says Dr. Shatte’. “Whereas hope is on the horizon, we’re nonetheless observing a continued slide in well-being and motivation, and a reducing potential to deal with self-care.”

The research discovered:

Those that had poor emotion management had a 73% lower in motivation.
Staff with low vitality confirmed an 82% enhance in bodily signs of stress, a 92% lower in motivation, and a 61% enhance in job worries.
Staff who weren’t engaged had a 112% enhance in burnout signs.

Particularly, bettering key resilience components helps to inoculate employees from the worst of the pandemic’s impacts. The research discovered that members who improved their resilience abilities — emotional management, vitality and engagement — had small decreases or confirmed enhancements in wellbeing in the course of the second half of the pandemic.

“The three E’s – Emotion management, Power and Engagement are essential resilience abilities,” explains Dr. Shatte’. “We all know that workers are struggling. However, if HR leaders make resilience a precedence, we are able to transfer the needle and reverse the dip in employee wellbeing.”

The complete meQuilibrium research could be discovered here.

Methodology: Roughly 7,000 members participated in meQuilibrium’s COVID-19 check-in throughout June and seven,500 participated in December 2020. The check-in examined employee wellbeing and the impression of further work advert caregiving tasks on worker psychological well being.

About meQuilibrium
meQuilibrium is the #1 digital resolution for constructing resilience at scale for Fortune 500 international enterprises, serving to companies innovate and navigate unsure instances. meQuilibrium harnesses the science of resilience, AI, predictive analytics and neuroscience to assist companies construct workforce wellbeing and potential.

Andrew Shatte‘, PhD, Chief Information Officer, meQuilibrium, is offered for an interview. If you happen to use any of this materials, please embody a hyperlink to https://go.mequilibrium.com/rs/553-GRV-433/images/meQuilibrium-Pandemic-Fatigue-media.pdf.

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