Now's not the time for Worker 'State of Origin' over Covid-19

Australian employers need to stay mindful of a new kind of conflict in the workplace, borne out of the current Covid-19 outbreak and lockdowns experienced in Sydney and Melbourne. 

That’s the warning from Converge International today – one of Australia’s largest and most experienced corporate mental health providers, covering more than 2 million workers across dozens of industry sectors. 

“We’ve all seen the debate playing out in the news and across social media: which State is best, or worst, managing the Covid-19 pandemic,” Cate Page, Converge International’s Director, People Assist said. 

“This differentiation between States can mean additional complexity in the workplace – especially for managers – at a time when compassion and understanding of differences in experience is what’s needed.”

More than 36,000 Aussies have received psychological support for COVID-19-heightened mental health issues during the pandemic through Converge International’s services.

“We continue to build our understanding of the psychological impact of lockdowns and how the ‘Covid-era’ affects the Australian worker,” Ms Page said.

“A lack of acknowledgement by colleagues about this impact coupled with judgement about how respective States might be ‘tracking’ is an emerging conflict within the workplace to be cautious of.

“While rivalry is part and parcel of working life for colleagues in businesses with an interstate presence, what might have previously been seen as good-natured ribbing, takes on a different meaning when individual circumstances and wellbeing are involved.

“In particular, the current cross state differences played out online and, in the media, can create strained team environments - as can a forgetfulness between team members about which team members might be in lockdown and what it means for that individual. 

“Issues being debated in public forums such as whether Sydney should have gone into lockdown earlier or Melbourne’s bad luck with Covid outbreaks, to topics such as mask wearing, vaccine hesitancy and intergenerational debates can easily creep into the workplace discourse. 

“Managers need to stay watchful if these conversations start to migrate to ‘online water cooler chat’ in workplace forums like Teams, Slack or Yammer.

“The reality is it can create a conflict environment,” Ms Page said.

“Some team members may have had a family trip planned during the school holidays that’s now been cancelled; others may have had their kid’s birthday party scuppered for the second year in a row; many will have partners or friends in insecure work that’s affected their household’s ability to pay the bills.” 

Ms Page said the most common issues that are presenting in calls include stress, anxiety, and family-related issues such as that related to the spouse or partner or managing child and parenting duties.

The first week of Melbourne’s recent, fourth lockdown in late May / early June 2021 saw a spike of nearly 500 additional calls to Converge International’s services (Australia-wide) compared to the same period last year. 

Ms Page recommended areas for leaders to keep an eye out for, include:

• Posting memes on internal communications channels and staff noticeboards relating to lockdown.
• Jokey comments in team meetings regarding others needing to go into ‘lockdown’ or disguised comments such as “plans for the weekend?”.
• “Over-concern” and covid fatigue. For certain colleagues, being asked multiple times if they are ok may also be creating a covid-fatigue in itself. Leaders should lean on their knowledge of their team members based on the experience of the last 12 months around which employees need a regular check-in and others that might be less frequent.
• Ongoing fatigue and lack of support to middle managers and team leaders seeking new ways to keep their teams and themselves energised, focused and performing well.

Ms Page said it was important Managers nip any poor behaviour in the bud. 

“If something is said or done – even if it was meant to be harmless, address it quickly. Lean on your company values to ensure the right conversations and awareness is felt and seen in your team. 

“The best advice is to practice kindness and stay mindful of the dramatic change in circumstances fellow workplace colleagues are facing. 

“Victorian colleagues can lead the way here with their experiences over the last year in terms of how to talk supportively with co-workers and how to respond empathetically but without being patronising.”

Media Contact: Bas Bolyn 0447 486 195

ABOUT CONVERGE INTERNATIONAL

We partner with 1200 organisations in supporting Australia’s workplace mental health by ensuring over two million Australian employees are covered and have access to our EAP and workplace mental health services.

This looks like:

• Workplace support to over 2 million Australians – 1 in 20 workers access Converge’s counselling services.
• 3800 incoming calls every week.
• 650 Australian workers supported by EAP counselling every day.
• 36,000 Aussies have received psychological support for COVID-19-heighened mental health issues during the pandemic.