The Covid-19 crisis has created an unprecedented situation where millions of employees are working from home. Employers are having to make difficult decisions that have a huge impact on their employees. For the first time, employees are not visible and employers quite rightly are concerned about their employees well-being.
A poll conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) at the end of March 2021, found 50% of respondents were unhappy with work-life balance during lockdown. 33% reported feeling isolated, increased concerns over job security and the health of family members were causing sleep loss for 64% of respondents.
Our Mental Health campaign as part of Building Back Responsibly will focus on working with employers to help them to support their employee’s well-being, to help change working norms, making remote work practical, and protect people’s health.
Focus on Working Parents
A key focus of the campaign will be to support the mental and emotional resilience of working parents, and improve outcomes for them, their families and their employers.
Lockdown and the continually fluctuating Covid situation has been and continues to be a challenging time for working parents. Even before the COVID-19 crisis hit, many working parents struggled to balance work and home life, but the pressures of the pandemic have made a tough situation that much tougher. With schools and childcare centres closed, parents have become full-time childcare providers and home-school teachers, even as they try to meet their work responsibilities. The result is a far bigger burden on already taxed families—with real implications for company performance and the talent pipeline.
As a first step we have established an Employer forum to redefine and develop flexible working solutions to meet parent needs during and beyond a pandemic. The following companies will be represented on the forum and we will work closely with Business in the Community and Parenting NI.
We are calling on companies to become one of our Mental Health Champions and work with us to maximize our impact on mental health over the next three years.
For more information on how to become a Mental Health Build Back Responsibly Champion please email info@bitcni.org.uk.
