The majority of working Canadians say they are comfortable having fewer social interactions than before the pandemic, a LifeWorks study released Thursday found. And these employees are not doing any worse psychologically.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
According to the survey, the level of optimism and general psychological health of Canadian workers has declined since January. It is even at its lowest level for the last 23 months. The war in Ukraine, inflation, rising gas prices and social division over the pandemic add to the prevailing pandemic demoralization.
Constantly adapting for more than two years, the majority of workers who responded to the survey, 66%, say they are comfortable having fewer social interactions than before March 2020. And this group gets a mental health score two points higher than the national average.
“Interacting is also a demand for energy”
The president of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec is not surprised by these results, in particular because of deconditioning and pandemic fatigue.
It’s like we’re trained to go out in the morning and interact with lots of people and for two years we hardly did that. We went from everything to nothing. It’s as if we had stopped training and had to start again.
The DD Christine Grou, President of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec
The pandemic has been long enough for people to adapt to the changes, argues DD Christine Grou. Resuming life before, abruptly returning to all the interactions we had before, can seem uncomfortable, she raises.
The two years of adaptations and losses, for some, have caused fatigue in the brain, which now has a lower energy level, says the specialist.
As the survey indicates, many Canadians have poorer psychological health. Some are more anxious, more depressed, have experienced more relational tensions, which leads to lower energy levels.
Interacting is also a demand for energy. Some will say to themselves, interacting less is less tiring. Even when you are well, you should not underestimate the effects of pandemic fatigue.
The DD Christine Grou
Depending on their age, some found they were fine in the evenings at home away from the 5 to 7. The DD Christine Grou also observes that the pandemic has made people question how many interactions they had and which ones really mattered. Cultivating healthy human relationships has undeniable beneficial effects on mental health, recalls the psychologist.
Change career goals
The lingering impact of the pandemic has also changed the career goals of 30% of workers. A third of respondents are considering training, a quarter of quitting to look for another job, while 21% intend to retire.
Other interesting data: 82% of respondents say they are comfortable being themselves at work, 71% that they are satisfied with the degree of control they have over their work and 78% believe that their work is important to their employer.
LifeWorks, a human resources services company, has published a report on the mental health of workers every month since April 2020. It compares the scores obtained with the reference data collected in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
LifeWorks’ monthly survey was conducted via an online survey in English and French from 1er as of February 8, 2022, from 3,000 respondents residing in Canada.