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No One Is Immune To Stress—But These 3 Groups Of People Have Been Hit Hardest During The Pandemic

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The pandemic has been tougher on some than others. And as business leaders steer their companies through the process of returning to something approaching normalcy, they would do well to pay special attention to the needs of employees from three groups—women, minorities, and young people—who have been hit hardest. Experts agree that the mental health effects of the last year will linger long after the virus itself is under control, and face masks are stashed away.

One way to look at the pandemic is as a kind of stress test: one that has revealed which groups, individuals, and institutions are most vulnerable and most in need of greater resilience. Those vulnerabilities and inequities were always there, but a once-in-a-generation global health crisis has amplified them and made them impossible to ignore. 

We can embrace the difficulties of the past year as a learning opportunity—a chance to, as President Biden has put it, build back better.

Women

Stanford study published earlier this month shows that women experience much higher stress than men during the Zoom calls that have become a ubiquitous and nearly indispensable feature of work-life for most of us. So-called "Zoom fatigue" affects everyone, but women especially—to the point where it can be a significant cause of burnout. The unbroken eye contact, along with the difficulty of reading nonverbal cues, exacts a more significant toll on women, who are more conscious of the emotional subtext of human interaction. This increased emotional labor can drain women in subtle but significant ways.

Business leaders can tweak remote meetings to counter this draining effect. Video does not have to be the default option. An alternative is to allow people to connect visually at the start of the meeting and then switch to audio. But although the Stanford study's focus on Zoom meetings may seem narrow and like a fleeting problem, it sheds light on two more fundamental concerns.

First is a longstanding gender stress gap documented by the American Psychological Association and others. Disparities in household responsibilities and caregiving are both sources of additional emotional labor for women. During the pandemic, working mothers have been 28% more likely to experience burnout than fathers. That gender stress gap predates the pandemic but has been exacerbated by it. Going forward, business leaders should be more mindful of how household disparities can translate into stress and inequality in the workplace.

Second, women have long been subject to subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) inequities in in-person workplace meetings—dynamics that seem to be amplified online. Studies show that when male executives speak up often, they are seen as more competent; with women, the effect is the opposite. With alarming frequency, women experience slights like being interrupted and spoken over or having others take credit for their ideas. As we return to in-person meetings (and pivot to a new normal where Zoom meetings will continue to be prevalent), business leaders should pay special attention to such dynamics and intervene to ensure equal and balanced participation.

Minorities

We are all generally aware of how the coronavirus has disproportionately affected African-Americans, Latinos, and other minorities. But we may not be fully cognizant of how these disparities translate into increased stress and mental health challenges in the workplace. Moreover, broader societal strife and tension around racial injustice also produce subtle ripple effects in the workplace.

Covid infection, hospitalization, and death rates among black, Latino, and Native American populations are two to five times higher than among whites. Economic loss and insecurity have also hit these communities hard. Some of this increased vulnerability is because people of color are far more likely to work in essential jobs where remote work is not an option. Even if this does not describe your company, the odds are good that your minority employees have family members at increased risk. African-Americans are three times as likely to know someone who has died of Covid. This, in turn, leads to a greater mental health toll.

The Harvard Business Review suggests several ways employers can proactively support their minority employees. First, leaders can give employees explicit permission to take time off or for other accommodations for dealing with what psychologists call "vicarious trauma." Second, they can acknowledge the disproportionate strain that the pandemic has had on people of color. Third, they can be quick to challenge even minor manifestations of racial bias or insensitivity in the workplace. Finally, companies can take strong and meaningful stands on broader issues of racial justice.

Young People

It might at first come as a surprise that young people—specifically, Gen Z teens and young adults—would be amongst the groups most severely affected by pandemic stress. We tend to think of young people as inherently resilient, and in many ways, they are. But they are also in a crucial formative stage of life. Our brains, the frontal cortex, in particular, do not fully mature until we are twenty-five. 

The most recent Stress in America survey reports some "alarming" findings, according to one physician. "Half of young Generation Z teens have said that the pandemic has affected their outlook on their future, with a similar number saying that it's made their futures seem downright 'impossible.'" A high level of stress amongst the younger generations predates the pandemic. According to the APA, stress, depression, substance abuse, and problems with physical health have only intensified in the past year.

One cause of distress for young people is the loss of traditional milestones by which they mark their maturation into adulthood. Rites of passage like graduation, moving from home to college, and summer vacations have been postponed or radically altered. Employers can help their young hires overcome this disconnect by creating their own traditions and milestones. They can also bridge the acute sense of isolation and loneliness young people have felt the past year by going the extra mile to facilitate opportunities to connect with colleagues and the community.

The pandemic is a magnifying glass showing us fissures and fault lines that have been there all along. Enlightened business leaders will learn from the past year's trials and take proactive steps to support those groups hit hardest by the pandemic. In doing so, they will build stronger, more resilient cultures and a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

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