Managing people’s fear and anxiety during times of crisis is vital, argues Dr Alan Watkins, CEO of Complete and co-author of HR (R)Evolution: Change The Workplace, Change The World.
As a medical doctor, with a degree in psychology and a PhD in immunology, I was fascinated to see the global psychological response to the immune challenge to our health that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most organisations understood their legal and moral responsibility towards their employees, pointing staff towards practical advice from reputable sources, such as the World Health Organization.
That practical advice mainly revolved around hand washing, social distancing and making plans to work from home, where possible. But given the profound interaction between a human being’s psychology and immunology, it was not enough.
Organisations must do much more during times of crisis if they genuinely care about their people.
The stress hormone cortisol impairs human immunity more than anything else. The greater the level of fear and anxiety we experience, the higher the level of cortisol we have coursing around our body. In essence, the more we panic, the less effective our immune system becomes. (This is particularly disastrous when the crisis in hand revolves and a dangerous virus.)
During COVID-19, responsible organisations needed not only to offer practical guidance to their people, but to offer emotional guidance too. They had a responsibility to help employees calm rather than fuel the panic and anxiety. In fact, reducing fear and anxiety for employees must be a priority for all organisations. This is the case in any crisis situation – whether specific to an organisation or on a wider scale.
At times of crisis, our workforce is often bombarded by worrying or scary stories – either internally or (in the case of a global crisis) via mainstream news and social media. People’s anxieties are being fed by the constant flow of news, rumour and speculation.
While there is little control organisations can exert over the news reaching their employees from outside, they should take care not to amplify employee fears in their own internal communications.
The right information helps to reduce anxieties – and good internal communication is a start when it comes to addressing the emotional aspect of any crisis. But practical guidance only goes so far; some messages might even directly increase fears and anxieties.
During the pandemic, many employees were encouraged to work from home. They might also have been asked to self-isolate if they had been in contact with someone who had COVID-19. However, social distancing, while absolutely necessary from a physical health perspective, also affected our mental health, creating feelings of isolation which heightened anxiety. Without social support networks in the office, people may have felt less able to deal with the anxieties they faced.
All of this means that the best advice I can offer organisations, during times of crisis, is to help their workforce to emotionally self-regulate. In other words, to help them move away from a state of fear and anxiety towards a state of resolve.
Embrace the classically British mantra: “Keep Calm and Carry On!”. Panic will not help you. It will undermine your immunity and make you more likely to make the wrong choices for your situation.
Effective emotional regulation starts with stabilising your breathing. This means breathing rhythmically and evenly through the heart area. (Not deep breathing and not abdominal breathing.) Such a breathing pattern stabilises your biology.
Then try, deliberately, to experience a state of optimism, resolve or patience. Really try to feel this emotion in your body rather than just thinking it. Positive thinking won’t cut it. Positive feeling will increase the levels of the vitality hormone DHEA in your system. DHEA is the body’s main antidote to cortisol.
Enabling employees to become masters of their own emotional state is critical to reducing fear and anxiety. It was very relevant to the pandemic but I believe it’s something that will soon be seen as central to any effective employee wellbeing programme.