“Burnout is an issue that many employees across industries and roles sadly navigate on a daily basis, with four in five workers saying workplace burnout has had an impact on their health and wellbeing. However, it’s important we look at how burnout in people’s personal lives further compounds any issues they may face within the workplace. With parents making up a significant proportion of the workforce, parental burnout is a real issue and one that employers need to help people navigate.
During the pandemic, levels of stress, anxiety and depression rose among parents and carers as they balanced an increased childcare load with their regular employment. Now they face evolving challenges as hybrid working habits blur the lines between work and personal lives and childcare arrangements are anything but fixed. Meanwhile, cost of living pressures from increased food shops to mortgages doubling in price, further compound the stress facing families and working parents.
Not only is there a strong moral case for employers to look after the mental health of working parents, it makes good business sense, too. Employees struggling with their mental wellbeing are six times more likely to miss work, resulting in an annual loss of 200 million workdays. Healthy workplaces also attract and retain the best talent, mitigating expensive and disruptive staff turnover.
Employers must prioritise creating a psychologically safe working environment where people can proactively talk about and address their mental wellbeing, which always includes work and home. Access to comprehensive mental health support, which may include guided digital self-help and when needed, access to care from a counsellor or therapist, creates a flexible support system and a choice of support methods for employees. Support with parenting skills, for example, could really help ease burnout and aid parents in striking a balance between work and home. Creating this culture of paying attention to and cultivating mental health is a responsibility and social opportunity shared by everyone at an organisation, notably executive leadership, who can have a tremendous impact on culture change through role-modelling”.
