How the pandemic will change the way we care for our employees

The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated health and well-being – emotional, mental, and physical – to the top of many employers', and employees' list of priorities. As the needs of the workforce evolve, employers must also change their approach to incorporate greater empathy and understanding for workers' concerns and challenges.

As people adjust to life amidst lockdowns, remote working, and other social restrictions, larger focus is being placed on maintaining emotional, mental, and physical health. The pandemic has taken over every aspect of daily life in such a short amount of time, and many have been thrown into a situation where they have had to adapt using what has been termed as ‘surge capacity’ — a collection of mental and physical adaptive systems that humans draw on to survive in acutely stressful situations, such as natural disasters. The rub is that disasters occur over a short period of time, whereas the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be felt long after the outbreak.