We have a had a range of things happen. Its difficult to say theres a pattern.
Because the office staff wfh. Field staff carried on. A week after lock down we decided to close the majority of the business, so field staff were working. Apart from ones working on the nighingales.
Most office staff were furloughed. My whole team was leaving me running things. Peollea mebtal health took a bashing during this period. The stress of trying to get H&S in place, holding together a department, plus extra work to keep us going while we prepared to return was difficult. Plus those of us who manage people were still supporting furliughed staff, ensuring they understood what was happening, making sure they were updated, we were addressing any concerns.
We generally turned to eachother, Not HR, for support. We are slowly bringing people back. The vast majority of staff have been great. Some are causing huge issues and putting more strain on their managers. Dont want to return, even though wfh.
We do have a few people who can't wfh, really genuinely anxious about returning.
We also had quite a few people who asked to be the last to return and moaned we weren't closing for longer, they are now causing issues because they haven't returned yet. They seem to have realised that us running at almost full capacity, without them, might mean we don't need them. A few are kicking off and saying we are pushing them out on purpose. Thankfully their managers followed up all discussion in email.
Like I say the vast majority have been great. But, at a guess, the groups whose mental health has been impacted was those who were not furloughed, but trying to keep everything together so the business survived. Kids or no kids. The problem has been, this isnt been recorded anywhere because people have turned to colleagues. Not to HR or H&S.
As someone who wasn't furloughed and has kids, I found it easier when on my own to juggle childcare. As long as I got my deadlines, I was fine. I was working odd hours. Sometimes very early morning, evening and getting breaks with the kids. Both mine sleep in so I could get loads done 5am-9am, far more than I could in the office. If calls were interupted by them, it was tough, they were interrupted. But we were getting to the point where we werent leaving the house at all. Which wasn't great. My kids also continued to see their dad during this time, so I worked extra hours those days. I think I am exceptionally, lucky to be able to achieve what I have and have the kids.