The Importance of Teamwork In the Great Return to the Office

Ryan Cooke

The pandemic was a test of survival for most companies. The strongest and most malleable ones pulled through and are now looking into the future. More than ever, companies need to be proactive and reassess their business continuity plans for future risk mitigation, as we start the great return to the office. Returning to the office will be done in phases and we need to accept that the new office environment will not look exactly as it did pre-pandemic. Currently most organizations are focusing on social distancing and physical practices to mitigate the risk of COVID-19. However, we shouldn’t forget the impact of mental health on the return to the office. Business continuity plans need to start or continue the plan of creating a psychologically safe workplace by looking at practices around teamwork.
 
A 2020 survey conducted by Stats Can shows that mental health related issues did not disappear like the common flu due to COVID-19 but increased. The numbers showed:

• 1 in 5 Canadians are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post traumatic stress disorder
• 68% who reported a mental health issue reported that their mental health has worsened since the pandemic
• 30% of disability claims are related to mental health illness

The numbers show that mental health is a major factor impacting a company’s ability to function and maintain business. However, this is nothing new and employers have been aware of these concerns for several years with limited impact on resolving the issue. Consider this: a study by the Workplace Safety & Prevention Services found that 82% of executives state their company promotes a mentally healthy work environment, as compared to only 30% of employees believing their company promotes a mentally healthy work environment. In addition, from another Stats Can survey, only 23% of Canadian employees feel comfortable talking to their employer about a psychological health issue.  The numbers clearly show that employers are not doing enough to address and mitigate the factors contributing to mental health issues.
 
This is where employers need to re-evaluate the importance of teamwork as it plays an integral role in creating a psychologically safe workplace, which in turn cascades into the creation of new supports and practices for the return to the office. Pre-pandemic, teamwork was only seen as getting together in the closest meeting room to white board the issue and walk the walls to solve the problem. Probably not a critical factor when looking at business planning.  During and post-pandemic, teamwork has and will have to expand to include pre-planning how teams will meet and function cohesively. Technology has facilitated the meeting but required people and teams to work in different ways, with new sensitivities to team dynamics.
 
Video conferencing has let our employers and colleagues into our homes and shown us the fact that there is more to an employee's life than work. Our employees may not only be supporting one generation, but multiple mixed age generations and the potential impact on these generations has resulted in yet another potential stressor on employees’ mental health.
 
This building of a new paradigm of teamwork will not be easy for employers. Besides pandemic affiliated concerns, employers cannot forget the other significant events that happened in parallel with the pandemic: Black Lives Matter, Asian Hate, #MeToo, and, especially close to home for Canadians, residential schools, and the inescapable trauma to Indigenous communities. It is clear there is lots of work to be done by companies before starting the return to the office. The psychological state of the world may have fractured, but employers who lead the way in building a plan that includes psychological supports will separate themselves from the merely good ones.
 
Employers will need to take a deep dive into the policies and practices around teamwork making it more flexible, understanding and agile. New training will need to be developed for frontline managers on how to create a psychologically safe workplace and how to manage in a hybrid work environment. Employers will need their managers to understand:

• Their own communication style and its impact on the team,
• Their own social position in society and how they are observed by others, and, most importantly
• How to create a work environment that supports diversity and inclusivity.

The Canadian Mental Health Association has created an excellent toolkit that can be found online for employers. It is a psychological toolkit for heading back to work.
 
While reviewing the new paradigm of teamwork, employers also need to ensure  they are engaging and seeking feedback from their managers. For the past 20 months, and continuing, managers may have borne the brunt of the pandemic, learning how to manage performance and build team cohesion in a remote setting. There are lots of new managers who have never seen the individuals of their team or had a group meeting and are prospering. Employers need to ensure we engage them in the discussion of teamwork and support before they become disengaged.
 
To sum this all up, a business continuity plan is now more important than ever for any business that wants to not only thrive, but simply put, survive. The world is a different place and companies now need to make sure that the return to the office is not only done safely, given we are still not out of the COVID woods, but also efficiently and with a positive impact on productivity. Revising aspects like teamwork and caring more about the mental health of employees are pivotal when creating the great return to the office plan. Above all these, companies must consider events that have unfolded in parallel with the pandemic. It will not be easy, but together, we can all do it.