Insights

UK’s brave face workplace culture takes its toll as 3 in 4 surveyed workers now suffer from ‘pleasanteeism’

‘Pleasanteeism’ – the pressure to put on a brave face – is on the rise across the UK, as three quarters (75%) of workers surveyed admit to feeling like they have to put on a brave face in front of their colleagues, regardless of how they’re really feeling. According to new research, released by Lime Global, pleasanteeism is up by 24 percentage points from May 2021 with just over half (51%) of workers admitted to suffering from pleasanteeism. Here Shaun Williams, CEO & Founder, Lime Global takes a closer look at the research.

With more workers masking how they really feel than ever before, pleasanteeism is having a significant impact on the productivity of UK businesses. Findings from the research revealed that over half (54%) of employees have taken time off work due to feeling like they have to put on a brave face.

In fact, on average, workers take 2.75 days off per year as a result of this brave face culture. Across the entire UK workforce, this could add up to as many as 67 million days lost each year.

If left unaddressed, this could become a catastrophic problem, affecting absenteeism levels across businesses that are already struggling amid the pandemic, and staff shortages caused by Brexit and the rapid spread of Omicron.

Not only is this driving up absence rates, but workers also revealed that having to put on a brave face at work impacts their ability to do their job effectively, with a third (33%) of those who feel like they have had to put on a brave face admitting that they have been unable to concentrate at work or had an unproductive day.

Non-managerial staff bearing the brunt

Non-managerial staff appear to be bearing the brunt of the phenomenon. When it comes to opening up about their problems, these workers are more likely to suffer in silence than managerial staff, with 30% not wanting to make a fuss about what they’re going through compared to 25% of managerial staff. 28% also don’t feel comfortable talking about their problems at work in comparison to 24% of managers, while 23% worry that people would talk behind their back, in comparison to 15% of managerial workers. Top concerns for non-managerial staff include worrying behind the scenes about money and the cost of living, which impacts 36% of non-managerial staff in comparison to 21% of managerial staff. The research also found that 29% of non-managerial staff admit to being stressed at work, in comparison to 24% of their managerial colleagues.

Better support and benefits for every employee

Findings from the research demonstrate that more can be done to tackle pleasanteeism and the negative impact that it is having on UK workers and business productivity. In fact, half (50%) of respondents revealed that their expectations of their employer to support their mental health are higher now than they were before the pandemic, however they expect this support to be offered to every member of staff.

After two years of stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic, concerns over health and wellbeing are understandably on the rise. It’s therefore vital that businesses and HR managers act to offer each one of their employees as much support as possible.

Providing access to inclusive healthcare benefits – that are designed to make a tangible impact – combined with a company culture that supports health and wellbeing, are key steps that HR managers should take to produce a happier, healthier and more productive workforce.

Many workers also said they would welcome small initiatives from their employer including mental health days off (24%), and greater flexibility in working hours (22%). While 23% said they would like their employer to be more mindful of their workload and work/ life balance.

Employers should nurture friendship and support amongst co-workers to unlock creativity

Employers who want to see creative thinking in their workforce should value supportive friendships between colleagues as the key to unlocking more resourcefulness and innovation. Here, Professor Yasin Rofcanin from the University of Bath’s Future of Work research centre within the University of Bath’s School of Management explains what the research findings tell us.

The study reveals care from a co-worker inspires people to be supportive to their partner at home, showing that co-workers have a significant role to play in enabling couples to cope with balancing the demands of work and family life. This spiral of support has knock on benefits for creative thinking at work.

Employees take the support they receive from coworkers home with them, and in a loving relationship they transfer this support to their partner. This might mean they encourage them to open up about stresses, seek to resolve issues, or make improvements to the juggle of work-life arrangements that benefits the family.

The result is that both members of a couple benefit. Spouses pass on support received from co-workers and partners will be more creative at work, in what is termed a ‘gain spiral. So it pays for employers to recognise the value of caring co-workers.

Over and above work policies, or interventions by supervisors, it is informal support from co-workers that stands out as having the biggest impact on an individual’s ability to manage the work-life balance, spilling over to benefit the partner at home and in turn their own creative thinking at work. Co-worker support can mean being on hand to listen and talk through life’s issues and challenges as they arise, offering suggestions for problems at home, as well as providing cover for absence if a child is sick, or other caring responsibilities crop up. The research suggests organisations should give employees more flexibility to manage caring cover with a colleague without intervention from managers.

The research also alerts employers to the pitfalls of working practice and expectation taking a toll on home life, encouraging employers to be mindful of the detrimental impact on relationships.

So much research points to the stresses of being in a dual income couple, it’s refreshing to see a win for loving relationships alongside work. While we’re not suggesting employers should meddle in relationships, they may be able to positively contribute to the quality of relationships at home by putting policies and procedures in place to minimise work-family conflict, such as limiting over time and expectations to respond to emails outside of hours.

We acknowledge that there could be drawbacks in relying on co-workers for support with work and family matters, with partners at home feeling jealous and upset about the closeness of ‘work spouse’ relationships. They suggest future research could examine the potential of this relationship dynamic to promote conflict at home.

The study, by the Universities of Bath, VU Amsterdam and IESE Business School, focused on diary entries over five weeks by over 200 full-time, dual income heterosexual couples in the United States, eighty per cent of which had children.

In the competition to attract new talent, sustainability is king

New research reveals companies need to be more pro-active in tackling climate change if they want to attract new talent. Here, Jo Hand co-founder of Giki, carbon footprint experts and social enterprise, the first sustainability programme for cutting carbon, takes a closer look at what the research reveals about our carbon footprint.

The survey polled over 1,100 employees from across the UK and reveals 73% of the 25% of those surveyed who are planning to look for a new job in 2022, cite employer’s commitment to tackling environmental issues as an important factor when deciding on whether to work for an organisation.

This rose to 81% for 16-24 year olds for whom this was as important as annual leave allocation and more important than flexible working hours or the ability to work from home.

The survey also revealed companies appear to be falling behind on their environmental promises. Less than a quarter of UK employees (24%) think their employer is doing a good job in helping to reduce the organisation’s impact on the environment. What’s more 23% who work for an organisation that claims to be environmentally friendly, green or sustainable in its marketing/ advertising, say they have not received any support from the organisation to be environmentally friendly.

There is increasing pressure on organisations to not only reduce their environmental impacts but to consider how the action they’re taking is communicated to both the workforce and future potential employees. People want to see clear action, so it’s essential for businesses who want to attract the best young talent, to show that they’re measuring their environmental impact and reaching their sustainability targets; not merely greenwashing.

Giki Zero Pro is the first sustainability programme for cutting carbon that supports companies who want to engage staff on ESG issues and measure the impact of their collective actions. Giki’s programme includes easy to follow advice, gamification, data for reporting and personalisation to increase engagement. Clients include NatWest Group, Deloitte and Open University amongst others.

Our Top Tips for Employers:

For getting started on addressing your company carbon footprint, and engaging employees in the process:

• Measure and understand your company’s operational footprint. Start with Scopes 1&2, defined in the GHG Protocol, and Scope 3 is a crucial next step

• Implement a science-based emissions reduction plan

• Engage employees, through their own lifestyles, to ensure engagement is meaningful and long term

We’ve taken the jargon out of sustainability and provide easy to follow, scientific guidance on significantly reducing carbon. This includes easy to use carbon calculators for individuals to measure their outputs and reduction progress and uses gaming techniques to engage staff in reaching company sustainability goals in fun and easily trackable ways.

As of January 2022 Giki has worked with more than 70 organisations and the community has committed to save over 14 million kg of carbon, 300 million litres of water and 850,000 pieces of single use plastic. People have committed to 80,000,000 steps and completed 23,000 steps covering everything from quick wins to big impact and planet saving steps.

Nearly half of HR managers have considered quitting due to pressure of employee mental health crisis

New research reveals that almost half of HR managers (45%) have considered leaving their current roles due to the pressure of dealing with employee mental health and burnout. The survey of 200 UK HR managers reveals that when handling rising burnout and mental health concerns, HR is struggling to set boundaries for their own psychological safety. Here, Lou Campbell from Wellbeing Partners takes a closer look at the research findings.

Concerningly, the research conducted reveals that 90% of HR managers are currently noticing signs of burnout in their workforces.

Thirty-eight per cent of HR managers admit to having conversations with employees about their mental health outside of working hours, nearly a third (31%) look at emails outside of work and over a quarter (27%) regularly have to complete tasks outside of working hours due to the volume of mental health issues they’re facing.

On top of this, more than 1 in 4 (26%) feel they can become overly involved in employees’ personal lives and/or mental health issues and 23% have compassion fatigue from supporting struggling employees.

A lack of boundaries surrounding mental health support is contributing to high numbers of HR professionals contemplating leaving their organisations, according to an expert. While HR has a duty of care to support employees suffering with their mental health, they often neglect to look after themselves. For people in supporting roles, it’s useful to know what the appropriate boundaries are when discussing mental health issues with colleagues, to avoid becoming enmeshed or overly involved. Appropriate boundaries ensure that the conversation stays psychologically safe for the employee, and avoids compassion fatigue for HR.

Knowing the skills around setting boundaries and signposting to appropriate support is even more vital in a time when attracting and retaining staff is highly competitive; organisations must support HR to reduce the risk of key HR talent leaving their organisation as they deal with surging levels of employee burnout. Indeed, the study supports wider research revealing increasing symptoms of burnout HR needs to respond to. In the Wellbeing Partners survey nearly half of HR (49%) say their employees are struggling to find motivation and stay focused, over 4 in 10 (42%) agree that employees appear regularly tired or drained, a third (33%) say that employees seem to care less about work and over a quarter (28%) feel that employees are finding tasks overwhelming or uninteresting. As well as this, 26% state that employees appear resentful or cynical towards work or their own colleagues.

It’s clear there is mounting pressure for HR, but there are some initial actions they can take to support employees while setting boundaries for their own wellbeing. Ensure that supportive conversations with employees follow a framework, and schedule these conversations at a time when you have the energy and capacity to be supportive. Aim to finish work on time most days and give permission to switch off to avoid compassion fatigue.

Knowing when to signpost employees onto wellbeing counsellors and EAPs is also a technique that HR professionals can learn, affording them more time and energy for their wider role, and ensuring that employees get appropriate professional support.