Those in the north of the north island have had it hard so far in 2023, most of the year being spent in a state of emergency for various weather events. The uncertainty, last minute cancellations, being housebound for safety and emergency alerts on our phones are all reminders of the pandemic era.

Post pandemic we’ve already established the toll living in fight flight takes. Our bodies are not designed to do much beyond survival when we’re under threat. This means working is harder, getting our brains to think logically, articulating ourselves in meetings and even replying to emails can seem like monumental tasks. This is normal when our bodies are diverting all their energy and attention to survival and making sure our organs are working and our body is ready for the perceived threat. The problem for us is this feeling has been constant of late and its exhausting. Usually once the threat has passed we’d return to normal and yet back to back emergencies may have us all feeling a little below par, overloaded with cortisol and less tolerant of those around us. Know that this is normal given what we’re coming off the back of and go easy on yourself (and each other).

Burnout, empathy fatigue, change weariness and the post pandemic trauma are impacts we’ve seen and themes that emerged as part of my State of the Workplace report for 2023.

After a few years of disruption 2023 seems like a chance to stabilise and rebuild. Yet we’re still struggling to strike the balance with hybrid working, our teams are less engaged, burnout is on the rise and the economical impacts of the last few years are causing concern.

Pulling together the trends and research from across the globe, here's a few themes:

Global engagement and wellbeing trends are stable but low
Employee stress is at an all time high
The global economy has lost trillions to low engagement
Before the pandemic engagement and wellbeing were rising globally for nearly a decade -- but now, they're stagnant.
Only 57% of employees in Asia Pacific are satisfied with their job.
One-third plan to ask for a raise in the next 12 months and one-third plan to ask for a promotion.
One in five intend to switch to a new employer.

Whilst it looks like lockdowns might be a distant memory the future is far from rosy as we anticipate the challenges that lie ahead. The last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a significant toll on the physical and mental health of workforces around the world. Supporting worker well-being has become a priority for many companies.

Get your copy of the report here https://mailchi.mp/jessstuart/euh9jaclzp

Kia kaha Aotearoa