August – The Sunday Night Of Summer. Four Things Leaders Can Do To Calm The Scaries.

The rude shock of the sudden, gear-screeching acceleration into September’s back-to-school frenetic pace, has a name in France: La Rentree. It evokes the overnight flip from the drowsy, heat-filled days of swimming, BBQing and napping to the exhaust-filled and exhausting congestion of commuting, and juggling work and family stresses and schedules.

For some, especially parents, the dread is palpable. For others, it’s an excuse for a new pair of fall boots. Made for walking. Many employees (some 40%) will be returning to work with one eye on the exit. Employers may want to polish their welcome mats.

In our collective, post-pandemic, return-to-the-office pressures, we could use a class in transitioning back in. Into the office, into another pace, into the change of seasons, into the start of another year, into the next chapter of the New Normal. The Sunday nightmares of teachers – even after retirement – are well documented. How do they cope with the sleep-disrupting sweats about turning up naked in front of the wrong class, without notes, getting the once-over from jeering teens?

We are facing something similar this fall. How will we return to this changed world that is supposed to be post the century-shifting trauma of a global pandemic, while mired in war, inhuman temperatures, and a range of crises that seem to be heating up as fast as the mercury.

Going back to work is going to take some work. Leaders will want to take note. Companies have invested in wellness and started to address the mental health struggles that are exploding. 81% of employees appreciate the effort. It requires something companies have been cost trimming for years: management. Even the much-maligned middle sort.

Middle managers and line managers became key in protecting employees from excess stress, mental health challenges and burnout during the extreme conditions of the pandemic. It’s no time to lay down the gauntlet. Recovery from global trauma, no matter how much CEOs want to sweep it all under the that-was-then carpet, will take time and energy.

The pros and cons of remote working will be debated for decades, but the reality, notes Harvard Business School Professor Chris Stanton, was a 10-point increase in its prevalence, from 6% of the US workforce to 16%. It’s here to stay and will be avidly fought for by the majority of workers whose lives were eased by its arrival – the young, the parents, the older.

As we zoom into the fall of the year, companies may want to start leaning on the wisdom and relative happiness of people in the fall of their lives. Companies are grappling with staffing and recruiting, still digesting the 47 million people who quit in 2021 and are still haemorrhaging older workers, squeezed out by a complex array of Covid fears, lack of development, and rampant ageism. Attracting, retaining and developing talent in their Third Quarters (50+), and buddying them up in talent teams with younger, pressured colleagues will give companies a leg up on the current, massive demographic shift. It could provide precious inter-generational mentoring and support. Maybe even a bit of context.

4 Leadership Muscles For Fighting Fears

What’s the leadership role in helping calm back-to-work angst?

1. Skill-up on emotional intelligence – Name and normalize the emotions of the moment. Share your own, listen and watch for others’, respond proactively to create physical convenings that are psychologically safe, engaging and meaningful. Recognize and manage your own emotions and get support if you need it – before you spread your stress to the rest. Reread Peter Drucker’s Managing Oneself. It’s when times are tough that self-management becomes such an essential leadership priority.
2. Communicate hope – Role model resilience, celebrate people being physically together again, with intentional, meaning-making gatherings large and small. Read Priya Parker on the Art of Gathering. Pull people together intentionally and regularly to (re)create a feeling of new beginnings and shared commitment to a bigger goal or vision.
3. Create a culture of care across a range of stakeholders. Get older employees to mentor and intentionally integrate younger employees who’ve only ever known the land of Zoom. Leverage gender and generationally balanced teams to build relational skills, knowledge sharing and support systems. Give a shit. Understand what your people want and need at different points in their lives and careers. Money, insists thinkers like Daniel Pink in his book Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, was always an inefficient way to retain and motivate people. Caring about them (and their cares) goes a long way further towards real engagement.
4. Embrace flexibility and wellness – Embrace future of work realities, make your workforce both flexible (in time, place and across career decades) and sustainable, by innovating and experimenting with new ways of working and delivering. Integrate work/ family realities at all life stages, from childcare to elder care, with the clear intention of embedding wellness, tailored development, lifelong upskilling and mental health. A recent report says 87% of employees are very open to learning new skills – but only 48% of employers believe them. Believe them.

This Labor Day weekend, as you sip that last cocktail and tearfully hug your loved ones goodbye, know you’re not alone. We’ll all be marching into the office with bleary-eyed tales of nightmares knocking.

So Tuesday morning, go back to work… gently. Lay out the welcome mat in your mind – and in your heart.