#19 A wave of downturns

It's mental health awareness month and there couldn't be better timing to really push mental health to the forefront because there are gigantic uncertainties:

• Since the beginning of the year, according to Cullen Roche, $35 Trillion was erased in the global market value since the beginning of the year (14% of all global wealth, including the recent $1 trillion in crypto),
• credit markets are frozen topped with rising interest rates,
• jobless claims are increasingly suggesting the unemployment rate will go up,
• and the war in Ukraine

– puh! So with that, let's look at some statistics on employees' worries

Burnout

“a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed” - World Health Organization

The term "burnout work" is searched as much as ever before!

Google Trends indicates the search interest that changed over time but does not indicate volume – if you compare it with other random search terms such as "Airbnb" then the volume is almost indicated 0 in comparison. I compared the term to the book name "atomic habits" and here the search term indicates a 10th, a book that has sold 3 million copies worldwide as of the beginning of 2021.

The good news: "86 percent of employers said mental health, stress, and burnout were still a priority", according to the Wellbeing Diagnostic Survey by the consultancy firm WTW questioning 322 US employers in October 2021 (SHRM, 2022). The right direction which needs to be kept alive to keep the conversation going for those in need as well as in a preventive matter.

I wondered, what might this be related to? Stress? Loneliness? Dissatisfaction about specific aspects at work?

2. Stress

As we know from the Future Form Study by Slack, work-related stress and anxiety hit the worst level since surveying

With this shift, employee sentiment has dropped to near-record lows, including 28% worse scores on work-related stress and anxiety and 17% worse scores on work-life balance (compared to last quarter) – Future Forum

Work definitely has an effect on how we feel, function, and engage with others. But let's remember, too, that there are tremendous uncertainties currently around that can definitely increase stress levels. Here it is super important to remind ourselves again about the "Whole Person" approach – your colleagues, teammates, or employees are not just workers, there is another part to them that's mostly categorized at work and we need to recognize that, keep the conversation going and enable opportunities to support each other. Speaking of connections, another search term for what could be related to a spike in stress and thus in burnout: Loneliness.

3. Loneliness

I say it over and over: We are social animals!

Meaning? We need people around us! We need meaningful connections as woohoo as it may sound to some. Luckily, leaders start to realize it, too, as for many relationship-building is another top priority.

My strong personal belief: a lot of those mental health issues can be solved through the right intentional social interactions. Talking with someone, receiving advice, and being listened to have always come a far way.

Now, did you know that 90% of our knowledge comes from informal and social learning opportunities? It's even scientifically proven. This brings me to a fourth factor affecting those high burnout searches: Learning.

4. Learning Opportunities

For Generation Y and Z, their development has the utmost importance. Within today's dispersed workplaces and fewer opportunities to shadow or follow conversations/ discussions, new ways need to be developed to help people grow. As with everything in the flexible working world, we need to be intentional. At Google, a 20% rule exists that enables employees besides their regular projects to explore or work on projects that show no promise of paying immediate dividends. This is one form of helping people learn.

Or with the need for more social opportunities, why not connect peers on specific topics? (Instill does that in an automated format, reach out to me if you want to learn more)

That's it from my side this week. If you felt this article was insightful, don't hesitate to reshare it.

See you next week!

Franzi