As we continue to fight coronavirus, we are learning more about the pandemic’s impacts on our mental health at work. Stress has been on the rise, driven by the intensity at which we are expected to work – but this year the UK’s workers face a new set of pressures and we are unfortunately about to see these pressures impose significantly on our lives as lockdown looms again.
We have embraced some benefits of home-working – less commuting time is commonly cited. But it has increased stress, too. Workers are desperate to prove their worth for fear of losing their job, but this is challenging when you can only interact through Zoom. To compensate, many feel pressured to stay online longer and work faster. This has noticeable mental health impacts. Over 54% of women and 30% of men who made the switch from office to home-working reported elevated mental distress, and 69% of people in the US report burnout due to working from home.
For those who have gone back to the office there are different stressors. Four in five workers expressed concerns about putting their families’ health at risk while 95% are worried about catching coronavirus themselves. We therefore all have a responsibility to tackle workplace stress. National Stress Awareness Day is an important opportunity to consider how the property sector can play its part.
Flexibility and choice
Importantly, we must show resolve and follow scientific advice until the public health crisis abates. But longer term, working from home cannot become the go-to solution. We have to strive for a return to safe, stimulating and stress-free workspaces.
While acknowledging its necessity in times of emergency, home-working can cause severe emotional distress. Furthermore, the creative and collaborative benefits of human contact cannot be replicated online. With that in mind, government must, through effective health and economic policy, give workers the confidence to return to offices, while companies must adapt their working practices to meet their employees’ new health concerns and flexible working preferences. In the real estate sector, our role is to build workplaces that facilitate this.
Workers are increasingly making decisions based on health. As well as utilising the latest technology to improve air quality and cleanliness, developers need to invest in green space. Urban gardens and wildlife habitats improve air quality and create a better balance between people and planet. The relationship between green space and wellbeing has also been well proven.
After health, developers must be sympathetic to the new balances being forged between home and office-working and between work, family life and leisure. Meeting workers’ emotional needs in the future will be as much about providing flexibility and choice as it will be about creating exceptional working environments. Workers will need comfortable, technologically-enabled offices, but they will want to retain the WFH option, and they will want to be able to use their buildings flexibly, for leisure and socialising as well as work. Developers must meet these needs by accommodating facilities like restaurants, relaxation spaces and gyms, as well as high-quality workspaces.
Think creatively
A final factor to consider is location. Regardless of where they work, people will simply no longer be willing to endure long, unhealthy commutes. A recent poll revealed that two-thirds of people do not feel comfortable commuting by public transport and that the commute is one of the most stressful parts of their day. The future of physical workspaces therefore depends on providing quality offices closer to home, which we know for many is increasingly smaller towns, offering more space and nature and cheaper accommodation.
Meeting workers’ needs around flexibility, freedom and health will be key to creating workplaces which offset some of the stress of 21st century working life. We have therefore adopted these ideas as guiding principles for The Commercial Park Group’s office schemes in Bromley, Crawley and Haywards Heath. This, of course, is not a silver bullet in the fight against workplace stress. But thinking creatively and compassionately about office design can be one factor in providing workspaces that promote mental resilience and happiness, thereby enabling workers to better access their full potential.
John Baker is chair at Commercial Park Group
