The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically altered the blog content covered by Monkey Puzzle across 2020. Many of our additional articles addressed the impact of the virus on the mental health of the workforce, and with good reason. It affected everyone, at all levels, both inside and outside of work.

Much has been made of the impact of the pandemic and the effects of remote working on the wellbeing of employees this past year. As we tentatively return to some semblance of normality, it will be the resilient organisations that will recover the quickest.

Burnout has been one of the most talked about organisational topics throughout the pandemic. As business and government press for a return to office life, the organisations that stand the best chance of successfully managing burnout will be those that recognise what has happened to their people while they’ve been away. There’s a lot more behind the problem than workload.

Despite the pressures of the pandemic on home and work-life, especially impacting on mental health, new research finds that actual take up of wellbeing programmes is running at 23%. (HBR/Gartner 2021). This is despite much higher numbers of employees admitting to mental health issues.

As we close another turbulent year in the world of work, it is increasingly clear that the biggest challenge for organisations next year will be retaining their exceptional people. 

We started to read about the ‘great resignation’ in the summer with research from Microsoft predicting that up to 40% of the global workforce were re-evaluating their careers.

It’s one thing to know you want change to take place, it’s another to see that change become reality. Awareness is only the start, you need to be able to take action - congruent, consistent and real action. And if you are a leader, you’ll only see the change you want if you can take your people with you.