Strollers against the San Francisco skyline. Chief information officers have tried to counteract the isolation of teams working from home.
Photo: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
This year, many chief information officers gave priority to the mental health and well-being of their employees more than ever before, offering access to psychological resources and sharing personal experiences to strengthen bonds.
Social distancing, enforced isolation and the stress of working from home while managing one’s personal life in the midst of a deadly pandemic has taken a toll on mental health. Psychologists say confinement can take a psychological toll, including depression and compulsive disorders, WSJ has previously reported.
“The new approach for CIOs must be technology plus empathy,” said Carol Juel, CIO of Synchrony Financial, one of 45 information technology executives who responded via email to CIO Journal’s annual end-of-year questionnaire. Employees at Synchrony have been offered virtual mental health counseling services and therapy, and self-care tools such as Talkspace and Sanvello.
Between March and August, more than 15,000 U.S. employees at Ernst & Young have participated in virtual counseling and mindfulness sessions to focus on their mental health and well-being, said Jeff Wong, global chief innovation officer at EY.
“We take a lot for granted when we see each other in person every day,” said Colleen Berube, CIO at Zendesk. Hallway conversations, casual interactions and the ease of reading body language are all gone, she said. “In this environment, you must be more purposeful in checking in with people.”
CIOs such as Hitachi Vantara’s Tim Langley-Hawthorne spent a lot of time this year talking with teams about the importance of self-care, including taking time away from work.
Max Li, global chief information officer of Automatic Data Processing, and host of ‘Morning Coffee With Max.’
Photo: Automatic Data Processing Inc.
Max Li, global CIO at Automatic Data Processing Inc., began hosting “Morning Coffee With Max” sessions, offering virtual check-ins with colleagues around the world. “I take 20 minutes to connect on anything and everything—work, kids, dogs. This has kept me far better connected with my team than ever before,” he said.
Earlier this year, Mark Spykerman, CIO at AmerisourceBergen Corp., said he shared personal stories with his global IT department on how he had been coping with the pandemic. After the meeting, his inbox was flooded with notes from colleagues who opened up about how they were managing it, he said.
“It was an instant reminder about the need to have purposeful, and sometimes more personal or vulnerable conversations,” he said. “These shared experiences are part of our community and keep us connected.”
Maya Leibman, CIO at American Airlines Inc., also spoke more openly this year about her own challenges navigating the pandemic. “If you can’t be real in the middle of the pandemic,” she said, “when can you?”
People world-wide are struggling with the emotional toll of the pandemic, said Kimberly Anstett, global chief technology officer at Iron Mountain Inc. “That gives us a common bond, a common element that we’re focused on,” she said. It is important to continue to have regular conversations about difficulties, or else employees will burn out or leave the company to find support elsewhere, she said.
This year, Ms. Anstett has held monthly meetings with her technology team. “It’s my goal to check in far more often to make sure that all of my employees feel emotionally supported,” she said.
David Vidoni, vice president of information technology at Pegasystems Inc., said being authentic and supportive is critical. “I think we all realized that it’s not just about the work,” he said. “You don’t hang up your personal life at the door when your work laptop turns on.”
Write to Sara Castellanos at [email protected]
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
