“With the global pandemic, mental health has become not only a broader societal issue, but a top workplace challenge,” says Emily He, senior vice president of Oracle’s Cloud HCM division. “It has profound impact on individual performance, team effectiveness and organisational productivity. Now more than ever, it’s a conversation that needs to be had and employees are looking to employers to step up and provide solutions.”
In a fascinating twist, however, the study found that the
very technology that was allowing companies to stress out their employees,
could also be used to take the pandemic weight off their shoulders.
“People want more from technology than collaboration tools
and instead want technology to support their mental health,” the study found. And
they would prefer humans over robots to support their mental health, because:
- they believe robots provide a judgement-free
zone (34 percent),
- robots are an unbiased outlet to share problems
(30 percent);
- robots can give quick answers to health-related
questions (29 percent).
“So far, so what,” one might say, at least if one is in
management: “less than a third of my people would turn to machines”. But that
is just the tip of the iceberg.
“In our survey, 68% of respondents say they would prefer to
talk to a robot over their manager about stress and anxiety at work,” say the
researchers. “People have grown more confident that technology innovations can
help them in exciting new ways. But it also reflects that there is still a
stigma, and therefore some hesitation, around discussing mental health at work.”
The manager, in other words, is literally the last person the
stressed employee expects to help resolve stress and anxiety issues. There is
even more damning data: 80 percent of people are open to having a robot as a
therapist or counselor. If anything, this is a massive indictment on the
ability of companies to deal with such issues through regular human resources
processes.
Many companies have recognised this reality, and have
started introducing the equivalent of robot assistance: artificial intelligence
(AI) software.
In fact, exactly three quarters of participants in the study
said AI had helped their mental health at work. The main benefits should make managers
sit up and pay attention:
- AI increased employee productivity (63%),
- AI improved job satisfaction (54%);
- AI improved overall well-being (52%).
- it provided the information needed to do their
job more effectively (31%),
- it automated tasks and decreased workload to
prevent burnout (27%);
- it reduced stress by helping to prioritise tasks
(27%);
And, most of all, it helped 51% of workers shorten their
work week and allowed them to take longer vacations.
The researchers warn: “Employees worldwide are looking for
their organisations to provide more mental health support and if this help is
not provided, it will have profound impact on global productivity as well as
the personal and professional lives of the global workforce.”
Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence,
stated the case in no uncertain terms: “With new remote work expectations and
blurred lines between personal and professional lives, the toll of COVID-19 on
our mental health is significant – and it’s something that workers across every
industry and country are dealing with.
“The pandemic has put mental health front and centre – it’s the biggest workforce issue of our time and will be for the next decade. The results of our study show just how widespread this issue has become, and why now is the time for organisations to start talking about it and exploring new solutions.”
Read more on the next page about the key findings from the study.
Pages: 1 2 3
