Suman Raman (name changed on request) loved her job with a reputed hospitality brand. As front office manager, she was involved in ensuring superlative guest satisfaction, strategic planning and team management. Her colleagues admired her ability to deal with various crises with a smile, while her seniors lauded her capability to multi-task.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, Raman was battling to keep pace with the demands of her professional role. She was expected to be accessible 24×7, provide top-notch service to guests patiently and calmly, while fire fighting innumerable issues that kept cropping up.
Even while she was trying her best to deal with difficult guests, rising competition, trolling on social media platforms and the constant battle for higher guest satisfaction score, the pressure to ‘serve with a smile’ slowly started resulting in a poor worklife balance. Raman soon became irritable and despondent at home, and at work, making her more of a liability than an asset to her company while her friends and family worried about her mental stabiity.
THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE
Raman’s is not an isolated case. Working in a high-pressure environment for long hours can take a toll on the mental health of most employees, irrespective of the sector they are employed in. This can result in higher cases of burnout or exhaustion – both physical and emotional.
Psychologist Nazneen Chunawala, Lead – Outreach and Content (Employee Assistance Program) at Mpower.
Excessive and prolonged stress also increases their vulnerability to depression and anxiety disorders, said psychologist Nazneen Chunawala, Lead – Outreach and Content (Employee Assistance Program) at Mpower. She opined that the erratic working hours and dealing with high-strung guests put employees in the hospitality industry under significant strain. “It requires tremendous mental strength and resilience to cope with this kind of pressure. Erratic working hours disturb the body clock completely, causing disturbed sleep and changes in appetite,” she stated.
This lifestyle shift further causes physical debilitation as well as disturbed mental health. It disrupts work-life balance, leading to unfulfilled expectations, dissatisfied relationships and resulting in conflicts.
In contemporary times, when the hospitality industry is trying to recover business lost due to COVID-19, it is all hands on deck.
Mental health can unfortunately take a backseat in such a setting. On one hand, there are customers who are sensitive about the pandemic and get easily distressed, leaving little margin for error. On the other, staring at losses, hoteliers are doing their best to get more guests to cross the threshold of their establishments.
“Such situations can cause employees to become more anxious while interacting with clients. Ironically, this can adversely affect their performance and upset customers, which is the last thing that their employees want,” stated Suruchi Pandya, a clinical psychologist. Moreover, she pointed out that employees in the hospitality industry are always anxious that a guest’s complaint could affect their appraisal. In addition to missed promotion opportunities, this could result in their self-confidence taking a major beating, leading to further dissatisfaction at work.
THE EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER RIDE
Since the gradual unlocking last year, hospitality professionals have been under tremendous pressures to keep the business going and mitigate losses as far as possible. They felt pressurised to subscribe to an always-on work regime, and avoid missing an email or message, however trivial.
Chunawala believed that lack of face-to-face interaction with their team members coupled with the fear of retrenchment, took a huge toll on their overall wellbeing. “Being laid off can be an overwhelming and extremely stressful experience. It can lead to an array of emotions, ranging from anxiety, fear, shock, disbelief, to shame, frustration, anger and irritability,” she noted. Moreover, one might experience physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances, weight loss/gain, muscle pain or nausea.
According to her, even those people who continue to work are undergoing varied emotions ranging from job uncertainty to the grief of seeing their colleagues get laid off, to anxiety for putting them in the crosshairs of infection while working. “How an individual deals with such difficult situations depends on the available support systems, their personal resilience, adaptability and further opportunities,” Chunawala pointed out.
This is where the management can step in to provide emotional support to their employees during this challenging time. They can encourage a safe dialogue between employees and their line managers about mental health coupled with managerial training on this subject.
Pandya suggested that since managers are the first point of contact for their teams, it is pertinent to organise training programmes that teach them to be more empathetic with their colleagues and engage
in an effective conversation. “They should be provided with techniques that help them communicate transparently and build rapport and trust with their team,” she advised. “They should also be educated about the common mental health concerns, so they can flag these at the workplace.”
Companies should create a supportive working environment that promotes positive wellbeing, and ensure this does not remain a paper exercise.
TAKING STOCK
The Japanese are reputed the world over for their superior work ethics. However, this has resulted in overwork, which later grew to such a big problem in the country that karoshi, or death from overwork, become an internationally recognised word.
This phenomena sparked conversations about the need for work-life balance and how lack of it can take a toll on a person’s mental health. In 2010, Japan declared mental illness as a priority disease. Two years later, China passed its first mental health law. In 2014, Indonesia modernised its legislation to acknowledge mental health challenges, while India, too, adopted its first mental health policy that year.
While globally countries are taking this issue seriously, companies, too, have realised the urgent need to have open discussions around mental health. To get with the programme, organisations should organise regular activities that promote mindfulness, express gratitude and use positive psychology, for all employees.
Chunawala suggested that they create a supportive working environment that promotes positive wellbeing, and ensure that this goes beyond just another paper exercise. Many organisations already have wellness programmes as part of their HR policy, which encompasses mental wellbeing. However, this often ends up as a checklist with boxes to be ticked.
To truly walk the talk, Pandya suggested that line managers be trained to spot employees struggling with mental health issues. They can also be equipped to offer initial support through standard certification training programmes.
ACCESS TO OVERALL WELLBEING
Creating a holistic wellness plan that can run at all levels will bring about tremendous mindset shift and cultural change in an organisation. However, there could be instances when companies need to recommend employees to opt for professional counselling to better deal with their challenges.
This is usually when their behavioural change lasts for over three weeks, they find it difficult to complete daily chores, or their attitude affects their relationships and wellbeing in general. Chunawala pointed out that companies can benefit by taking a proactive step towards ensuring the mental wellbeing of their employees.
“Having a joyful and happy workforce would result in increased compliance to workplace policies, better work and time management, effective teamwork and increased productivity. These are intangible, but non-negotiable, ingredients for organisational success,” she stated.
Moreover, a happier workforce would lead to reduced absenteeism and attrition rate, lesser number of
errors, heightened enthusiasm and greater chances of achieving deadlines. All these are key attributes for
a positive impact on business outcomes. What better motivation do companies need to adopt a hands on approach to support employee mental wellbeing?
