The quick-spreading Omicron variant continues to create new and urgent challenges for employers. ComPsych, the world’s largest employee assistance and behavioral health provider and the leader in absence management services, reports a spike in employee leave requests in the last 2 weeks with roughly 40 percent related to Covid. As infections rise and more schools across the country switch back to virtual classes or close, working parents are stretched thin managing childcare, illness and worries.
“Apart from the human toll of illness and loss and the effects on people’s mental wellbeing, absenteeism costs businesses in lost productivity. This means lost revenue, delays on projects and potential damage to work culture and team morale”
“Working parents are under a tremendous amount of stress – either sending their kids to school during what feels like the worst Covid wave we’ve seen yet, or scrambling to manage childcare,” said Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ComPsych. “Employers must be prepared to address ongoing challenges of working parents, as well as the abrupt significant reduction in staff.”
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A recent ComPsych Tell it Now℠ poll reveals 53 percent of employees are feeling more stress and anxiety as a result of the Omicron variant. Top concerns for working parents are school closures, adaptive learning transition and caregiving.
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“Apart from the human toll of illness and loss and the effects on people’s mental wellbeing, absenteeism costs businesses in lost productivity. This means lost revenue, delays on projects and potential damage to work culture and team morale,” said Chaifetz. “Having a strategy in place for managing leave and absence will support both employees and the business.”
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