Member Article

Long Covid, burnout and crisis fatigue drive staff shortages

A large proportion of UK workers are leaving work due to long-term illnesses, mental health stress and burnout according to a new report.

The report from leading shift work platform, Deputy, reveals that mental health stress and burnout is now taking its toll on workers, and that long Covid symptoms are estimated to be responsible for 15% of job vacancies.

The Big Shift: Rise of the Neighbourhood Economy shares learnings from the UK hospitality industry, which was one of the worst hit industries during the global pandemic and has since been finding new ways to tackle widespread staff shortages, alongside the many challenges that all businesses are facing from energy price hikes, the cost of living crisis and ongoing supply chain disruptions.

The report was created in partnership with independent labour economist Shashi Karunanethy PhD, who provided expert insight into market conditions over an analysis of more than 2,341,565 shifts and 17,342,037 hours across 41,884 British hospitality workers.

Businesses that prioritise the financial security, health and wellbeing of their staff will thrive, according to the independent labour economist. Shashi Karunanethy advises businesses and their HR teams to focus on four key areas to attract and retain the best talent:

1.   Change your mindset from competing with other businesses to attract new staff, to looking at how you can improve the experience for your staff to prevent workers from leaving your business
   

2.   Find ways to demonstrate the sustainability of your workplace and culture to prevent workers from burnout
   

3.   Support the mental health and financial wellbeing of your team
   

4.   Lead with compassion and embrace a culture of wellbeing
   

Shashi Karunanethy predicts that given the tight labour market and the cost of living crisis, employers who emphasise the financial security and mental well-being of workers will have a significant competitive advantage.

He says, “Just like the rest of the population, British hospitality workers are experiencing burnout from the accumulated stress of having to balance work and family commitments, as well as crisis fatigue from constant exposure to news about local and global challenges.

Deputy data reflects this, with 20% of workers feeling “frustrated”, “stressed” or just “okay” post-shift in 2022. This data was recorded via Deputy’s Shift Pulse feature, which tracks worker sentiment and captures continuous anonymous feedback for managers to action.

“All of this comes on top of a shortage of workers across the industry, which has resulted in many working longer and harder. Moving forward, leading with empathy and creating a positive working culture will set businesses apart, allowing them to attract scarce talent, and increase retention.”

Commenting on the report’s findings, David Kelly, General Manager for EMEA at Deputy said: “This is the second year that we have provided a detailed analysis of the UK hospitality industry’s ‘shift work economy’. Last year braced us for some of the challenges businesses faced due to Brexit, Covid and staff shortages. Nobody could have predicted the conflict in Ukraine, the resulting energy hikes and the cost of living crisis that have followed.

“Through it all, it’s been heartening to see the resilience of business leaders and workers who have been able to adapt to changes and keep their spirits high.

“With a recession looming, many workers are looking for more security, higher wages, predictable schedules and flexibility from their employers – all practices that UK businesses need to embrace to make it through the tough times that are ahead of us.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Thomas .