MANAGERS: PREPARE YOUR POST-COVID WORKPLACE FOR MEDIATION

We have survived more than a year of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many have endured isolation, anxiety, grief and trauma. As people are now returning to their workplace we have to recognize all that has been experienced by our fellow colleagues.

A recent article in The Atlantic brings that trauma to light. More than 580,000 Americans have died so far from Covid-19 leaving some 5 million grieving parents, children, siblings, spouses and friends. Millions became sick, many still dealing with symptoms months afterwards. And millions more experienced the stress of unemployment, financial strain, full-time parenting with children out of school and isolation. At the same time, the whole nation felt the tragedies of killings and mass shootings, the U.S. Capitol insurrection, wildfires, and the Texas power crisis. It’s unlikely that anyone has not be touched in somne way or another by one of these events. 

Even those of us who escaped major trauma have experienced the stress that impacts our mental health. Yes, we are resilient, but there is the cultural tendency to go it alone, to “bottle up” the stress, to not talk about our experiences.

Employers need to recognize that even small irritations as people return to the workplace can lead to conflicts that before such stresses were previously ignored. In one office as people returned a major dispute had arisen over one employee who typically removes her shoes at her desk and on occasion walks a few steps away for one reason or another. Before the pandemic her co-workers didn’t mind or would jokingly remind her to put her shoes on. Recently, however, this erupted into a major issue because everyone in the office was simply at the top of their stress tolerance.

A pre-COVID survey of workers in the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom asked what managers could do to manage conflicts. Fewer than 10% of workers felt that managers should do nothing. In fact, 40% wanted their managers to act as mediators. That percentage is undoubtedly a majority now and managers should realize that they do not need to be a certified mediator to address such issues. Any manager can use mediation skills to help employees in what will be a more stressful and more conflict filled few years to come.