Managing Workplace Health and Wellbeing during a Crisis

How to Support your Staff in Difficult Times

Cary Cooper, Ian Hesketh, Cary Cooper, Ian Hesketh

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781398601222
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398601239
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

During the Covid-19 pandemic, almost half of Americans reported that the crisis had a negative effect on their mental health. In the UK, the financial crisis of 2008 resulted in a rise in stress and anxiety and a decline in physical health. When dealing with a crisis, a business will consider the resilience of its structures and processes or the impact on forecasts and budgets but what about their people?

Without a supported, engaged and motivated workforce, the business won't be able to achieve its crisis recovery plans. Managing Workplace Health and Wellbeing During a Crisis is a practical guide for all HR professionals and those responsible for talent management. It covers how to deal with employee stress and burnout as well as how to drive engagement, motivation and morale during unsettled times. There is expert guidance on how to deal with role and responsibility changes and explains how to improve productivity through effective employee communication.

Supported by case studies from companies including Microsoft, Marks and Spencer, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls-Royce and Twitter, this book equips readers to deal with a crisis as it is happening and implement longer term post-crisis strategies. Written by an expert author team including Professor Sir Cary Cooper, Chair of the National Board of Health and Wellbeing at Work, this is necessary reading for all professionals needing to deal with the health and wellbeing of their workforce in any crisis that may arise.

Index

adaptation, hard choices 51

Addison, James 122–26

aero-engines market, Rolls Royce 99–106

age-diverse workforce, benefits of 157–58

air travel disruption, impact on Rolls-Royce business model 100

Alberts, Charles 137–44

ambiguous events, coping with 121–22

anxiety, related to fear of the unknown 23–24

Aon 137–44

actions to support managers’ wellbeing 142–43

measures that promote managers’ wellbeing 140–42

work stress and mental ill-health among managers 137–40

Armed Forces (UK) 34

banking 34

BBC 43, 46–48

Beirut port explosion, August 2020 43–46

Bennis, Warren 169

Black, Carol 145–63

black and ethnic minority people, disproportionate impacts of the pandemic 97

Black Lives Matter movement, death of George Floyd 64, 94

Blanchard, Ken 45

Brearley, Mike 53

Brexit 94, 167, 169

broadband connections at home, problems for students 52

BT plc case study 159–60

burn out 25, 38, 61, 123, 134

Caddis, Richard 159, 160–61

care homes 28

career development opportunities 37

case studies

BT plc 159–60

Microsoft 161–63

Thames Water 160–61

Casey, George 169

change caused by the pandemic, acceleration of work-related trends 121, 124, 137–38

Cheese, Peter 89–98

childcare 97

CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) 89–98

adapting our own operating model 93–94

adapting our support to members and other stakeholders 92

challenges of the pandemic 89–90

changed situations for employees and workers 92

changes in work patterns 95–96

continuously adapting as more challenges emerge 94–95

creating a source of trusted guidance and advice 91

focus on supporting our people 93–94

inequalities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic 96–98

learning from the pandemic 95–96

managing a workforce during reduced operations 92

opportunities for positive change 90

responding to the initial lockdowns 90–91

surveying employers and employees 92

what needs to change for the future 96–98

communication

getting the tone right 105

healthy work practices 39

reaching NHS staf...

Table of contents

• Notes on the editors
• Notes on the Contributors
• Introduction
• 01 Before the outbreak
• 02 Lockdown hits the UK
• How organizations responded to Covid-19
• 03 Policing the Covid-19 pandemic Andy Rhodes
• 04 Fujitsu: Information technology and the Covid-19 pandemic Kelly Metcalf
• 05 Consultancy: The elusive origin of strength in a crisis Bruce Daisley
• 06 Universities: Blurring edges – leading teams and institutions in Covid-19 Sir Chris Husbands
• 07 NHS Employers: The National Health Service and the Covid-19 pandemic Jennifer Gardner
• 08 Microsoft: Managing wellbeing in a crisis – a Microsoft view Karen Sancto
• 09 Construction: Maintaining the health and wellbeing of Mace colleagues throughout Covid-19 Kerrie Smith
• 10 The CIPD’S pandemic response – supporting our organization and the people practitioners and communities we serve Peter Cheese, Jenny Gowans, Brad Taylor
• 11 Reflections on the coronavirus pandemic at Rolls-Royce – one year in David Roomes
• 12 John Lewis Partnership: Managing wellbeing in a crisis Nick Davison
• 13 Real estate and the Covid-19 pandemic Sally Hemming, Anne-Sophie Curet, James Addison
• 14 Legal sector and the Covid-19 pandemic Suzanne Horne
• 15 Professional services: Mind the manager wellbeing gap Charles Alberts
• 16 Health: Impact of Covid on the older worker – an early view Carol Black, Paul Litchfield, Karen Sancto, Richard Caddis, Tony Vickers-Byrne
• 17 Concluding remarks
• Index