Are we okay?

Most of us are familiar with the expression “R U OK?”. The fact that we have all heard — and have possibly even asked — the question is testament to the changes in our society over the last couple of decades when it comes to mental health.

But the never-ending story that is the COVID19 pandemic has taken a mental health toll unlike anything else in recent history. A quick look at government websites and medical literature confirms this. I found nearly 50 studies examining the topic in detail (and, no, I haven’t read them all), along with copious amounts of mental health advice from government at all levels.

Increased funding is also evident, with the federal government making an additional 10 Medicare-subsidised psychological therapy sessions available for Australians each year. According to the Department of Health, “these extra sessions are for people experiencing severe or enduring mental health impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the measures needed to contain it”.

Much of the discussion has been around dealing with working from home, isolation, quarantining, unemployment or underemployment and diminished job security. However, if you are in an industry with skills that are in high demand, then the factors driving mental health issues are different. Specifically, you might may be feeling overworked.

Multiple influencing factors — including isolation and lockdowns — exacerbate the issue, regardless of whether you are over- or underworked. But it’s important to know that you are not alone. The people you work with — colleagues, clients and suppliers — are all going through this. That’s why we need to talk about “Are we OK?”.

It’s a discussion we’ve been having within our own team. We are some of the lucky ones, as we have been incredibly busy since COVID-19 hit.

While initially cautious about the potential impact, we soon realised that our clients needed to roll out changes ASAP and respond to the pandemic within their own organisations. As a consequence, we’ve been completely flat out since that time and have even employed additional people to deal with the extra load. Looking at it from a different angle: society as a whole was undergoing rapid and dramatic change and, as an enabler of that change, the IT sector has been super busy facilitating.

So what kind of unintended consequences have we grappled with? Probably the biggest one for our team has been burnout. Are we OK? No, not really. Two of the big drivers for burnout are a lack of holidays and the blurring of work/home boundaries.

Not being able to travel (hello lockdown!), cancelled holiday plans and not wanting to spend annual leave time staying at home has meant that many people have simply kept working. I know I’m certainly guilty of this... if you’re going to take the time off, then make it really count, right? You want a break that at least gives you social media bragging rights, if not actual downtime.

The relentless pace of work over the last two years has also made it feel like you can’t take time off, as there is simply too much work to be done. It’s important, it matters to clients that you care about and you don’t want to let people down.

As for boundaries, I’m probably luckier than most as I have a dedicated space to work at home. My children are also old enough that to know they can’t jump in front of the camera during a Zoom call. In fact, I’m used to working from home, having done it in one form or another for over 20 years. But somehow, I still find myself at my desk working at 7:00 pm, not noticing messages from the kids telling me dinner will be ready in five... from half an hour ago.

Clients are working odd hours, so requests come in and you jump on it because you’re not really doing anything else, right? The ongoing banter with colleagues over Teams flows between work, lunch and the latest meme, but then you find yourself checking in out of hours. Inevitably, something catches your eye and the boundaries are blurred again.

So what to do?

The first step for us was recognising that we had a problem and talking through options. We decided to offer additional paid leave on top of standard entitlements if people actually took leave before the end of the year. It’s time-boxed because we need the time off now... not in three months, or six months, or whenever.

The second step? I took a week off. I let all my key contacts know and turned off every form of notification that my technology uses. And there are many — it’s astounding how many ways your phone can interrupt you. The important thing here is that you can’t expect your team to take time off and not be prepared to do it yourself.

I doubled down on being in my happy place. For me, that means countless hours on the bike. The rhythm of pedalling and breathing and concentrating on staying upright means I just can’t think about work, so it’s a bit like forced meditation. Cycling hundreds of laps around Centennial Park while sticking to my 5 km lockdown bubble probably added to the meditative nature.

I did more stuff with the family — cooking, computer games, hanging out the washing... anything. I even made a to do list for all the jobs I’ve been avoiding around the house.

I really hope that other members of the team do this. I needed the time off and they were amazing in supporting me to do it and giving me my space. Now it’s their turn to take some personal time, reclaim their lockdown space and let me support them in return.

I really wasn’t sure how successful it would be — would I end up feeling like I’d blown a week’s annual leave with nothing to show for it?

Nope... I loved it. Having a break, even in my lockdown bubble, was amazing. There are several reasons it worked so well — support from my team, my family and having a clear idea of how I wanted to spend the time were all important. Our clients were also really supportive when I was upfront about needing headspace and downtime. You’ll have to ask others around me, but hopefully I’m a little less salty than I was a few weeks back!

So now, what conversations are you having with your teams? Are you all okay?

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