Return to Work Stage Three: Well

Ensure mental well-being and psychological safety

We will be discussing the third stage of our work readiness model: Well.

Aduro’s Work Readiness Model™

The Work Readiness Model comprises five stages of “readiness” starting with “Not Ready” and ascending all the way to “Kinetic Performance™,” which is a sustainable level of peak performance for individuals, teams, and the company as a whole. To learn about all five stages of the Work Readiness Model, access our Interactive Work Readiness Handbook.

Stage Three: Well

People cannot feel psychologically safe if they feel their physical safety is at risk. Moving from “safe” to “well” cannot occur if baseline safety protocols are not maintained for an extended period of time. But when physical safety has been secured, it’s time to increase your focus on well-being.

The goal of stage three is to ensure mental well-being and psychological safety through the provision and tracking of mental and emotional health programs.

Companies who are “Well” have secured physical safety over an extended period of time such that they can increase their focus on well-being and psychological safety.

Employee Needs

Employees are likely to have suffered many anxieties and hardships while transitioning to and from working at home. For example, separation anxiety, grief, and depression may accompany the early stages of returning to work for many people. Our ability to focus and be effective may be greatly compromised as our mind wanders to and worries about all the many things beyond our control, from what’s going on at home to what’s happening around the world.

Solutions

Well-being trackers, behavioral health coaching, health screeners, mental health programs, and on-site coordination become even more important in the “Well” stage as companies work to hold the line on safety protocols while also addressing the underlying issues that may be impacting an employee’s well-being and therefore their performance.

In the “Well” stage, solutions carried over from for Stages 1 & 2 become more important:

• Coaches – Anticipate the incidence of separation anxiety, grief, and depression among your employees that will accompany the sustained stages of returning to the workplace. We could all use a little help getting back to baseline and further reaching toward our full potential. Expert coaching, rooted in science, can help individuals identify their needs and create plans for overcoming difficulty and discover new possibilities for fulfillment in a changing workplace context.
• Resources – Additional resources such as interactive content and peer-to-peer connections can help reinforce positive attitudes, behaviors and beliefs while helping adjust to new routines and a different feeling in the workplace. Systems that provide alerts, nudges and personalized action are powerful tools for maintaining gains in well-being.
• Well-being Tracking – Tools that encourage employees to “check-in” on a daily basis, providing information about their physical health and mood can help employers provide support to people when it is needed most, while also identifying potential health risks to the broader population of employees.
• Effective Communication – Effective and consistent employee communication remain critical to maintain the safety gains achieved through stage 2 and build upon in stage 3.

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Are You Stage Three Ready?

If you have yet to determine your risk tolerance, return to work triggers and workplace policies it’s not too late to do.

We created Aduro’s Interactive Work Readiness Handbook to offer practical guidance on what should be considered when deciding when and how to reopen your offices. We hope you find it to be one valuable source among many to help guide your decisions during one of the most challenging times in world history.

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Not sure what stage your organization is in?

Let Aduro help with a return-to-work planning consultation.

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