2020 was… a year. The global pandemic has changed everything from our home lives to the world economy. Some are dealing with too much isolation, while others are dealing with too much togetherness (and some are feeling both ways at once). We’ve also just come through a highly contentious U.S. presidential election. Suffice it to say, the current state of mental health in America is not great.
Employees struggling with mental health challenges — stress, anxiety, depression, or other difficulties — will be less engaged with their work and their colleagues. They’ll be less creative, and they’ll derive less enjoyment and fulfillment from their work and workplace interactions.
Completely setting aside the productivity implications, managers at companies like Atomic Object that want to be a force for good have an inherent motivation to support our colleagues’ mental health: it’s just the right thing to do.
Here are some ways that managers and leaders at Atomic have worked to support our team’s mental health this year.
1. Be present with employees
Our company culture is very centered around working collaboratively, in-person, in our open offices. This model enables office leadership to glean a lot of ambient information about projects and people just by observing teams and chatting around the snack counter.
During the pandemic, managing partners have prioritized having regular 1-1 meetings with each Atom in their office. In the Grand Rapids office, my colleague Jeff and I are each meeting with nineteen Atoms every month. The time invested here is significant and displaces other activities, but it enables us to connect, celebrate wins, encourage, support, and be aware of challenges that individuals are facing in their work or personal lives. During these 1-1s, I work hard to be fully present, to listen, to ask a lot of empowering, open-ended questions, and to offer ideas or accommodations where appropriate.
2. Model healthy behaviors and self care
How a manager carries themself will set the tone and expectations for which behaviors are accepted and/or rewarded in the workplace. A leader who encourages employees to prioritize healthy behaviors and balance but doesn’t prioritize their own vacation, constantly puts in long hours, and denies their own physical needs for rest and exercise is sending mixed messages to their team members. A manager who encourages healthy behaviors and prioritizes them in their own life will be much more credible and will be better able to perform in their own work.
One way I like to do this is by taking my 1-1 calls as walking meetings and encouraging my colleagues to do the same if they wish. Without fail, I find I am more focused and present during the conversation, and I return to my workstation refreshed. I’m committed to continuing this practice as we move into the cold Michigan winter. Time to add more layers of clothing!
Incorporating small mindfulness practices into the day — such as starting a meeting with a minute of silence to turn our attention to our breath and center our thoughts — is another way of creating space for self-care and wellness in the context of our work.
Many leaders are guilty of not utilizing their vacation time, or of still constantly checking email while on vacation. Again, not only do these behaviors lead to burnout, they also send the wrong message to employees about what behavior is expected and rewarded.
In the early days of this pandemic crisis, it was appropriate to take an all-hands-on-deck approach as we ensured our organization’s survival. However, as things stabilized, it became clear that we were running a marathon, not a sprint. We wanted to make sure that everyone — leaders included — took adequate time to rest and recharge throughout the year, even if “normal” vacations involving travel, etc. weren’t possible. To this end, we instituted a this-year-only policy that any Atom needed to have used 60% of their PTO by the end of Q3.
3. Monitor for basic expectations and intervene early
Even when there isn’t a global crisis going on, it’s important for employees to know and understand what’s expected of them. During a crisis, if somebody is failing to meet basic expectations (especially if they rarely struggled with this before), it can be an indicator that they are struggling. And for employees, knowing that you’re meeting (or exceeding) expectations can contribute to positive mental health by providing peace of mind where work is concerned.
At Atomic, we track our time rigorously. As a professional services firm, the billable hour is our basic KPI for makers, and we expect everyone to work a full-time job. We measure this on a quarterly basis, which allows Atoms to flex hours week-to-week. We have Slack scripts that communicate with our hours tracking tool and send individualized reports to each Atom on Monday mornings, as well as summary reports to managers.
Before the pandemic, if an Atom was fewer than four hours behind their expectation mid-quarter, I was unlikely to address it. Our built-in flexibility and cultural emphasis on personal responsibility (“Own It” is one of our values) meant I would trust them to catch up or to reach out if there was an issue.
In this challenging environment, being behind can be an early sign that somebody is struggling with mental health or another issue, so we’re following up early. This allows us to work with Atoms, if necessary, to create a plan for getting back on track or create flexibility for those who are struggling due to challenges brought on by the pandemic.
Now more than ever, it’s important to make sure your basic expectations are clear and well-defined. Repeat them often, provide tools for measuring, and if you’re seeing warning signs, follow up early in a caring and supportive way.
4. Provide information and resources
As a leader in my organization, it’s my job to develop people within that context. However, I’m not a qualified therapist or life coach, and to engage in those areas would only do a disservice to my people.
Instead, we’ve done our best to provide many different ways for Atoms to access help when they need it. Throughout the pandemic, our vice president Mary O’Neill has curated and continuously updated a list of resources for wellbeing. The list is accessible by employees in our online employee portal, and Mary also periodically sends e-mails highlighting new items of interest. The resource list includes information such as:
- How to access our Employee Assistance Program
- How to access behavioral and mental health care through our health insurance provider
- Links to several mindfulness and wellbeing apps and programs
- Information about Michigan’s mental health warmline
- Links to helpful articles about navigating mental health in the pandemic
- A link to a useful resource called “Everything is awful and I’m not OK: questions to ask before giving up”
In our work as leaders, my colleague Jeff often references this quote by Maya Angelou:
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
During this tough time, the best investment we can make is taking good care of our teammates and ourselves. Doing so gives us the strength to keep moving ahead, and it’s essential for maintaining the trust and psychological safety that enables our teams to do excellent work and serve our clients well.