Worcester Business Journal

22 Worcester Business Journal | March 29, 2021 | wbjournal.com The first months of the pandemic introduced new and persistent stressors to our lives. Over the past year, this stress burden has started to seem like a normal part of life. Yet, even though we've gotten more accustomed to living with stress, it still affects our mental health. With an ongoing need to deal with uncertainty, social isolation, grief, illness, and societal change, many have experienced a decline. Business leaders are in a unique position to help employees. 10) Recognize the pandemic is affecting the mental health. The Center for Workplace Mental Health reports the rates of depression and anxiety have nearly tripled among adults. 9) Offer flexibility when you're able. Employees are managing a wide range of personal responsibilities. You may see consistent productivity – and loyalty – if you can allow remote work, shifts in work hours, or other changes to mitigate stresses. 8) Incorporate self-care into everyday life. Getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and maintaining healthful eating and drinking habits are all important. Taking breaks, whether to eat, help a child, or chat with a coworker, can help. 7) Be aware employees have children who are also experiencing a mental health decline. A Cen- ters for Disease Control study showed a 24% increase in the proportion of mental-health-related emergency room visits among ages 5–11. 6) Talk about mental health to reduce the stigma. 5) Offer resources for mental illness. Let all em- ployees know about them. 4) Remind employees medical privacy laws protect them if they disclose a mental health con- dition. They're also protected if they need to request reasonable accommodations for that condition. 3) Facilitate communication. If your employees are working remotely, they may be isolated, which can lead to loneliness. Even if they do see colleagues or clients in person, they may not feel as connected. 2) Check in with your employees, whether they seem to be struggling or not. They may be good at projecting positivity, even when they don't feel it. 1) Acknowledge how difficult it is to stay mentally healthy. Show empathy by acknowledging your stress, how you're coping, and what you're doing to support your own mental well-being. K N O W H O W 21 steps to protect your digital privacy in 2021 F lexible schedules are becoming more common, a way for employees to better balance home and work, especially with added responsibilities of higher education, long commutes, or multiple jobs. For employers, flexible scheduling is seen as a way to better recruit and retain employees, and to increase their job satisfaction. e manager trusts them to manage their time, right from the start. Availability hours can replace working hours. Team members need time to take children to school and attend their own appointments, while you may need someone who is not necessarily working, but ready for opportunities and emergencies. "Set a defined period of availability hours during the week," writes Unito CEO Mark Boscher at Entrepreneur.com. "ese are periods during which all employees need to be available …ese periods shouldn't be eight hours long. Instead, pick a period of three to four hours at the start or near the end of your typical workday. is should give your team ample time to interact with and support one another, while still providing far greater schedule flexibility," he writes. Know that it's better for productivity. e idea that employers can better supervise productivity if workers clock in on site is a myth, with statistics showing working remotely increases productivity, working 1.4 more days per month on average in 2019. FlexJobs. com says remote workers are evaluated on their actual work quality, as opposed to their mere presence in a physical location. Find the best match for your company, advises SHRM.org. Maybe a four-hour workweek, or compressed workweek, works best for your business, depending on its type and size. But flextime may be the way to go for others, or shi work could be the best option. Part-time schedules or job-sharing are other potential ways to handle getting all tasks accomplished, with SHRM recommending an organizational assessment by an outside consultant if necessary. 1 0 T H I NG S I know about... ...How employers can help workers' mental health BY BRUCE MENDELSOHN Special to the Worcester Business Journal T oday, devote 60 minutes to review and update settings on your browsers, social media, email, and virtual home assistants. Find out where you may be vulnerable to cyberattacks, malware, phishing scams. 1) Use the free analyzer at Privacy. net to evaluate your browser privacy. e tests list info any website, digital ad, or widget can collect from you. 2) Discover if your data has been breached. Search for your email address on Have I Been Pwned? to cross- reference it with data breaches. 3) Opt out of data sharing. Use a program like Simple Opt Out. 4) Clear your cache. You'll have to re- enter your passwords when you return to frequently visited sites, but it's good practice to oen change your passwords. Social Media e best way to protect your privacy on social media is to not be on social media. Most of us can't extricate ourselves from social media. Follow the tips below to increase your privacy. 5) Reduce your exposure to identity the. In your profiles, hide your phone number, birth date, email address, and location. Don't geotag your photos. 6) Cull your contacts. Remove those you haven't contacted in five years. 7) Review Facebook's shortcuts. 8) Privacy Checkup guides you through your settings. 9) Review the basic info on your profile and limit who can see it. 10) Edit the privacy and settings for apps and games. 11) Review your settings on Twitter's Safety and Security page and Instagram's Privacy and Safety Center. 12) Consider migrating from WhatsApp to more private and secure messaging apps like Signal or Telegram. Email One in every 131 emails contain dangerous malware, so be vigilant when using email. 13) For shopping, contest entries, or other commercial activities, use a burner email account. 14) Use strong passwords and change them oen! 81% of cyberattacks are based on weak or stolen passwords. Password manager apps like LastPass and 1Password generate and sync passwords. 15) Guard your email address. Cybercriminals troll social media, blogs, podcasts, so avoid sharing your email. 16) Use two-step authentication. Virtual home assistants Using Alexa, Echo, Google Assistant, or other smart devices is a calculated risk increasing your vulnerability. If you don't want your conversations listened to, don't use one. If you use a VHA, protect yourself. 17) Turn off the camera and mics. 18) Change your wake word. Open the Alexa app, find your speaker in devices and choose a new wake word. 19) Change your settings. Open the Alexa app and tap the menu button. (Alexa app > Alexa Account > Alexa Privacy > Manage how your data improves Alexa). Disable the button next to Help Develop New Features and the one next to your name under Use Messages to Improve Transcriptions. 20) Turn off automatic purchasing. In the Alexa app, disable Purchase by Voice or create a PIN. 21) Put a reminder in your calendar to check digital health around July 4th. While you can't make your online security and privacy airtight, you can make your PII tougher to access. When it comes to protecting yourself, a little paranoia can be healthy. Bruce Mendelsohn is the CEO of marketing firm The Hired Pen. Reach him at bruce.mendelsohn90@gmail.com. BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal By Carolyn Langer, M.D. Carolyn Langer, M.D. is the senior vice president and chief medical officer for Worcester insurer Fallon Health. 101: F L E X I B L E S C H E D U L E S W W W

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