By Phelekeza Specialist

What does employee wellness look like in the workplace now that the country moved to COVID-19 level 1 lockdown? Many people experienced anxiety during the lockdown and are afraid to return to work either because they, or someone in their family, have a co-morbidity, thus fearing that they may expose these vulnerable people to the virus. Individuals also find themselves in entirely new situations where they are unable to fall back on prior knowledge of how to deal with the situation, which can be overwhelming to the individual. Many employees may fear that their concerns about returning back to work aren’t heard by management and intrapersonal conflict could exist should they not be given the opportunity to raise their concerns.

Similarly, employers fear the impact that flexible working conditions will have on the company's productivity. But knowing the makeup of individual team members, understanding their personality, emotional intelligence, and how the individual copes with uncertainty and stress will help a manager to better manage the expectations from the team's side so that the transition of returning to the office is smoother and the impact of this on employees mental wellness is minimised.

But what exactly is mental wellness?

Often, when we hear the word 'mental', we tend to think of diagnosed conditions such as depression, anxiety, or substance disorders. Day-to-day stress and anxiety, like the feeling of being overwhelmed with deadlines, can however also impact the overall mental wellbeing of an individual who does not suffer from a clinically diagnosed mental health issue. Therefore any company needs to ensure that it has systems and processes in place that allows for employees to talk to someone who can listen to them and in doing so helps them not to feel isolated or victim to their circumstances.

Emotional intelligence and workplace wellness

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, plays a major role in the overall wellness of employees in the workplace. It refers to whether a person can effectively deal with emotional information that is presented to him or her in the workplace, and how effectively a person handles those emotions. EQ is also determined by a person's own internal well-being, their happiness and how optimistic they are. How a person controls stress and their ability to control impulses further influences EQ.

A person who builds effective relationships with other people is expected to have a higher EQ. Similarly, if a person can put him or herself in someone else's shoes, in other words, show empathy towards them and understand why someone is acting the way they are, that person will be considered to have a higher EQ.

How an individual copes with change can also be determined from EQ. Does the individual have an internal locus of control that helps him or her to change things from an internal point of view, or does an individual react based on external circumstances?

These are all areas that are used in today’s workplace, and most human related difficulties can be addressed through an emotional intelligence intervention, especially on a managerial level and up.

Emotional reactions can be controlled or developed

Having low or high emotional intelligence is not always a bad thing. It is something that can be managed if too high (for instance so much empathy that it clouds their judgement) or developed if too low (being totally unable to relate to someone else’s struggles). How an individual approaches people, listen to others and take into account what they say, can all be developed through targeted interventions.

One such intervention is coaching. Often people aren't aware of why they react to certain situations the way they do. After an assessment and during the feedback or coaching session you can help the person become aware of their strengths, development areas and blind spots. A personal development programme is often also effective to use in managing the identified obstacles. Team workshops may also be useful in developing cohesive and well-balanced groups of people who effectively communicate with each other. Empowering a team to be aware of what EQ is and how to cope with their emotions as a collective unit, will certainly improve the team's overall functioning.

As businesses across the globe are busy finding their feet in post-COVID 'new normal' workplaces, being aware of the emotional intelligence of a workforce could be the differentiating factor in establishing a balanced and mentally healthy team of people even more than ever before. For more information on Phelekeza's wellness programmes and EQ assessments, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., you are also welcome to visit our website at www.phelekeza.com.