How to Support Deskless Workers Through Winter Blues and COVID Fatigue | HR News

After nearly two years of COVID fatigue – plus a year of staffing shortages – it’s no wonder that 45% of British workers say their mental health had worsened by the end of 2021. Without urgent change, it’ll become tougher than ever for managers to maintain employee engagement, and support mental wellbeing – particularly for ‘deskless’ workers who’ve toiled through multiple lockdowns already.

So, what can we do to protect employees from burnout this winter, and become more compassionate, agile, successful business leaders? HR News tapped Steve Tonks, SVP EMEA at WorkForce Software, for his best tips on how managers can make every moment at work matter and better engage their workforces in 2022.

Before we begin to make changes to our workplace, we need to find out what our workers want. Along with regular one-to-ones with line managers, we can set up anonymous surveys, suggestion boxes or even chatbots, to which staff can submit their thoughts, and managers can use to assess levels of sentiment, wellbeing, and engagement.

“Workforce management software makes it easy for staff to share ideas with colleagues, check future shifts, book holidays, access payslips, and much more. Meanwhile, using AI to automate menial work can free up workers to focus on tasks that afford greater freedom, creativity, and satisfaction,” Tonks says.

It’s also crucial that employers provide their teams with tools to make their jobs easier. This can benefit all parties involved, he argues.

“Deskless workers make up 80% of the global workforce, yet receive less than 1% of a company’s average software spend,” Tonks says. “In fact, many don’t even have a company email address, leaving them facing slow, manual processes. Workplace technology doesn’t just boost efficiency and productivity—it plays a huge part in worker wellbeing, too.”

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