EG’s mental health survey: Pandemic pressures bring down wellbeing

We don’t often talk about feeling alone. It can feel like something we should be ashamed of. When we do consider reaching out for help, the fear of being perceived as weak can make the words stick in our throat. We withdraw. We remain silent. We try to carry on. But this year, isolation has touched all of our lives. We have been separated from loved ones, friends and colleagues. Having a chat over coffee or going for drinks after a difficult day at work vanished during lockdown, leaving us to connect only through computer screens. And EG’s annual mental health survey reveals the stark impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the mental health of people across the industry. We received responses from close to 300 real estate professionals who spoke out about how the pandemic has either triggered poor mental health or worsened existing issues. Most believe the state of the property workforce’s mental health is worse now than it was a year ago – even as companies do more to address it – and many feel a relentless pressure to work harder than ever before, fighting to keep their jobs in the face of widespread redundancy programmes. Real estate leaders described the situation last year as a “mental health epidemic”. Now they fear that it is on the brink of spreading even further. Where to find help If you need help with any of the issues raised in this article, you can obtain support from: Mind: 0300 123 3393 – mental health charity that provides advice and support to anyone experiencing a mental health problem The Samaritans: 116 123 – confidential 24-hour support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, or having suicidal thoughts LionHeart: 0800 009 2960 or 0121 289 3300 – charity for RICS members and real estate professionals The Covid crisis Last year’s survey results showed the industry was at a crisis point. A quarter of respondents had considered suicide, but just 3% had turned to their employer for help. Property professionals were struggling to cope with a workplace culture in which long working hours and a focus solely on profit were the norm. Data from EG’s mental health survey shows that little progress has been made in tackling these pressure points, and Covid-19 has exacerbated the issue. More than half of respondents this year say that their state of mental health has not improved or has worsened since last year. Two-thirds say the impact of Covid-19 on their working life has had a negative effect on their mental health in various ways. The level of support you can give to individuals post leaving the business is significant – you can still help with referrals, training and development Jason Sibthorpe, Avison Young Feeling isolated from colleagues, and experiencing anxiety as a result, was a commonly cited issue. “In the beginning, lockdown didn’t affect my mental health,” says one respondent. “However, as time went on, there was less and less communication between my team. I found them hard to get hold of, less supportive and less easy to work with – as they were struggling with their own lockdown issues – and it started to impact me more and more.” Juggling a mounting workload alongside childcare was a challenge for many. “Trying to balance work and childcare responsibilities has been difficult,” one respondent says. “After a few months, the sympathy most people had appeared to disappear.” One of the biggest fears that property workers have struggled with during the pandemic is the threat of losing their job and worrying about their financial security. Redundancies are at an all-time high, according to the Office for National Statistics, and property has been no exception. Over the course of this year, widespread redundancy consultations have taken place across the industry, particularly within the agency sector, which has been hit hard by transactions drying up. “The pressure of my job has intensified during lockdown,” one respondent says. “Working from home has no let-up, and the management board is trying to keep the business running while cutting staff and salaries.” Another respondent says the pressure to perform at work in order to protect her role has been overwhelming. “I’m doing more hours than ever before, and much more than I’m contracted to,” she says. “My team are flat-out busy, with no time to answer calls or emails – they are extra-busy partly to ensure the income pipeline for the business is being driven forward so there is no job risk.” Jason Sibthorpe, Avison Young’s UK principal and president, says it is “troubling, but not that surprising” that the majority of property professionals have found working through Covid a struggle. Real estate is a people-focused industry, Sibthorpe says, but lockdown has removed our ability to interact with colleagues and clients, making the job much harder and creating a “high-pressure situation for a long period of time”. He adds: “I do think the property industry is struggling more than many other professions.” In reference to the anxiety many people will have experienced being put on furlough or made redundant, Sibthorpe says that “many difficult decisions” have been made by companies in terms of cutting staff headcount. “I’m not trying to sugar-coat anything here,” he says. “Clearly, if someone loses their role, it’s an incredibly difficult situation, and you can’t really make it a whole lot better.”  But companies can, and should, help those colleagues even after they have been let go, Sibthorpe adds. “The level of support you can give to individuals post leaving the business is significant,” he says. “You can still help with referrals, training and development. There are a number of things you can do to ensure you play a positive part going forward.” From a mental health perspective, the ability to work flexibly and have more balance in your life to allow you to juggle home, family and other commitments that you have… must be a good thing George Roberts, Cushman & Wakefield Working from home With Covid leaving the majority of property professionals isolated from their colleagues, real estate has made an argument for the importance of the office – and a return to the workplace. Allianz Real Estate West Europe chief executive Alexander Gebauer said recently, not related to the survey, that the office was “irreplaceable” as “a place to exchange, to create, to invent”; Great Portland Estates chief executive Toby Courtauld said a long-term shift to homeworking would be “nonsense”; and Helical chief executive Gerald Kaye has said offices are “vital”, while arguing that homeworking is “pretty lonely and boring”. More than half of respondents to EG’s survey say their wellbeing has suffered from being away from the office. “The lack of face-to-face meetings and interaction has been difficult to manage,” says one respondent. “The ad hoc chats and ability to bounce ideas off colleagues just isn’t there. It makes the job harder. We’re humans, and humans are sociable animals. I think the change in working practices has been unsettling.” But 43% of professionals say working from home has improved their mental health, and many want remote working to continue. “Going into the office every day was stressful and affected my mental health,” says one respondent. “Working from home full-time has meant I have had time to become physically healthier.” Another respondent agrees, saying they feel less pressure over presenteeism while working from home: “In the office, I always felt bad to get up and go for a walk at lunchtime, but at home there is no one to judge.” When restrictions were eased during the summer, some people felt pressured to return to the workplace. One professional says: “I feel the pressure to keep coming into the office, but I prefer working from home. I thrived when we were all forced to during lockdown, but it was after measures lifted that I really struggled.” Cushman & Wakefield’s UK chief executive, George Roberts, thinks the solution is simple: let people choose how they work. “I think it’s inevitable that we will move to an environment where people have the chance to work flexibly, and from a mental health perspective the ability to work flexibly and have more balance in your life to allow you to juggle home, family and other commitments that you have… must be a good thing.” LISTEN: Where do we go from here to improve mental health in property? Progress made It is unquestionable that Covid has had a damaging impact on property’s mental health, but it has also set back more meaningful progress that could have been made following EG’s survey in 2019. Half of all property professionals surveyed said they have experienced unmanageable stress and/or mental health issues in their current role, up from 42% last year. This is also much higher than the national average: according to NHS statistics, one in six people will experience a mental health illness while working. Around 77% of respondents said that they know of colleagues suffering from a mental health illness or unmanageable stress, up from 72% last year. It makes for a sobering read, says Grainger chief executive Helen Gordon. “While very worrying, these findings are unfortunately not at all surprising,” she says. “Mental health was already a significant issue, and Covid-19 has exacerbated this for so many.” However, progress has been made in other areas – especially in terms of raising awareness about mental health and destigmatising the issue. Around 69% of property professionals say their company has improved its focus on and approach towards mental health since last year, and 61% say they feel comfortable addressing mental health illness or unmanageable stress with their employer, up 20 percentage points from last year. The Crown Estate’s head of HSE and wellbeing, Henrietta Frater, says the improvement presents a “massive opportunity to keep the momentum going” in the industry’s efforts to talk openly about mental health. “We need to understand mental health at a much greater depth than we ever have before,” she says. “We need to be much better in earlier intervention, when people do need support and help.” While very worrying, these findings are unfortunately not at all surprising. Mental health was already a significant issue, and Covid-19 has exacerbated this for so many Helen Gordon, Grainger A post-pandemic world A glimmer of hope emerged earlier this month. The encouraging progress of Covid-19 vaccines could signal the start of a route out of the crisis and towards a new normal. But even once the pandemic passes, it is expected that the mental health fallout from it will be significant, and property must make sure it places mental health at the very heart of a post-pandemic blueprint, Sibthorpe says. “I feel privileged to have that opportunity to engage with colleagues in a different way,” he says. “It’s so important, as we go into 2021 – when hopefully we will start to get back to some level of normality and start to have more physical interactions with colleagues again – that we do not lose the momentum in terms of the strength and breadth of communication that firms have put in place over this period. That engagement is what has made a huge difference.” This year will be one that many will want to forget. Covid has dried up the market, wreaked chaos on balance sheets and caused many to feel like they are fighting for their jobs – working harder and for longer than ever before. But lessons have been learned. Covid has revealed that communication is a lifeline, and many companies have recognised the paramount importance of focusing on the welfare of staff. As we move into 2021, when we may come together once more, we must make sure that the conversation does not stop – or we might find that we feel more alone than we did when we were apart. To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette