COVID-19: More mental health threats than employees

ISLAMABAD: Mental health challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted workers differently depending on their seniority, generation, and location according to a new report by Oracle and Workplace Intelligence, a HR research and advisory firm, says a Press release.
The study of more than 12,000 employees, managers, HR leaders and C-Suite executive across 11 countries, found that C-Suite executives struggled to adapt more than their employees, younger generations experienced the most burnout, and that India, UAE, China and the U.S. had the most workers reporting the pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health.
C-level executives have struggled the most with adapting to remote work realities and report they are suffering from mental health issues more than their employees, but they are also the most open to finding help in AI. 53 percent have struggled with mental health issues in the workplace more than their employees (45 percent). C-Suite execs also had the hardest time adapting to virtual lifestyles with 85 percent reporting significant remote work challenges including collaborating with teams virtually (39 percent), managing increased stress and anxiety (35 percent), and lacking workplace culture (34 percent).
“The pandemic put employee mental health in the global spotlight, but these findings also showed that it created growing support for solutions from employers including technologies like AI,” said Emily He, senior vice president, Oracle Cloud HCM. “The way the pandemic changed our work routines makes burnout, stress and other mental health issues all too easy. Everyone has been affected in different ways and the solutions each company puts in place need to reflect the unique challenges of employees. But overall, these findings demonstrate that implementing technology to improve the mental health of employees needs to be a priority for every business.”
C-Suite execs were also 29 percent more likely to experience difficulties learning new technologies for remote work than employees; once they adjusted to the new normal, C-Suite execs were 26 percent more likely to find increased productivity than employees. C-Suite execs are the most open to using AI for help with mental health: 73 percent would prefer to talk to a robot (i.e. chatbots and digital assistants) about their mental health over a human compared to 61 percent of employees. C-Suite execs are 23 percent more likely to see AI benefits than employees; 80 percent of C-Suite leaders noted AI has already helped their mental health at work.
Younger workers are feeling the most burnout due to the mental health effects of the pandemic and are more open to asking AI for relief. Nearly 90 percent of Gen Z workers said COVID-19 has negatively impacted their mental health and 94 percent noted workplace stress impacts their home life as well. Gen Z workers are 2X more likely than Baby Boomers to work extra hours during the pandemic, and Millennials are 130 percent more likely to have experienced burnout than Baby Boomers. Younger generations are the most likely to turn to robots for support: Gen Z workers are 105 percent more likely to talk to a robot over their manager about stress and anxiety at work than Baby Boomers. 84 percent of Gen Z and 77 percent of Millennials prefer robots over humans to help with their mental health. Gen Z workers are 73 percent more likely than Baby Boomers to benefit from AI at work: 90 percent of Gen Z say AI has helped their mental health at work and 93 percent want their companies to provide technology to support their mental health.
Despite seniority, generation and geographic differences, people all over the world agree that the pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of the global workforce – and they want help. 78 percent of workers say the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health. 76 percent of people believe their company should be doing more to protect their mental health. 83 percent would like their company to provide technology to support their mental health.
“Amidst the challenges of the pandemic, companies can use this moment as a catalyst for positive change in their organizations,” said Dan Schawbel, Managing Partner, Workplace Intelligence. “While the pandemic raised the urgency for companies to start protecting the mental health of their employees, the efforts they put in now will continue to create happier, healthier and more engaged workforces in the decades to come,” he added.