I’ve written recently about the clear mental health challenges facing workers during COVID-19, with a combination of job insecurity and the associated financial concerns combine to produce a growing prevalence of depression and anxiety.

New research from Ohio State University highlights how this not only has obvious implications for one’s mental health and wellbeing, but also one’s engagement at work.

“A global pandemic can lead some people to think about their own mortality, which will understandably make them more stressed and less engaged at work,” the researchers explain.

Such risks can, however, be offset by an effective manager, who the researchers found was able to both reduce stress levels among employees and therefore also improve their engagement via an assortment of pro-social behaviors towards their team.

“Business leaders who are attentive to employees’ emotional needs and unite them behind a common purpose made a positive difference and helped workers stay engaged at work and contribute to their communities,” the researchers explain.

Testing engagement

The research consisted of three distinct experiments, the first of which required employees at a Chinese IT company to complete a survey twice a day over a few weeks during the COVID peak in the country.

The data showed that as the thoughts of employees turned to the pandemic more and more, their anxiety levels rose and they became less engaged in their work.  The best results came when managers exhibited “servant leadership” methods, with the priorities and needs of employees, which at this time included their emotional suffering, helps to empower employees and boost engagement.

Those employees who worked under a manager who was rated high on servant leadership reported lower anxiety and higher employee engagement than their peers who were not so fortunate with their manager.

“Servant leaders care about their employees’ well-being and prioritize their personal growth and happiness at their jobs,” the researchers say.  “These types of leaders made it easier for their employees to deal with the anxiety associated with the pandemic.”

Channeling stress

Of course, it’s well known that stress in and of itself is not always a negative thing, and if it can be channeled in the right way can help us to respond well to whatever situation we find ourselves in.  The research suggests that this is also something that servant leaders were able to do incredibly well.

For instance, when employees worked with a boss who scored highly on servant leadership, they also revealed that they would engage in various pro-social behaviors, such as volunteering in their local community, which also helped to reduce their stress levels.

“Servant leaders encouraged their employees to find meaning in the pandemic by channeling their anxiety into helping less fortunate people in their communities,” the researchers explain.

Follow up studies in the United States confirmed these findings.  For instance, in one, volunteers were asked to imagine they were advising a retail company on methods to increase their sales.  All of the volunteers were tasked with reading about the pandemic prior to starting the exercise, with half reading text that was designed to raise anxiety levels, and the other half reading a more neutral text.

As before, when anxiety levels were raised regarding COVID, it could be effectively dampened by displays of servant leadership, as participants who were exposed to additional text highlighting a kind and emotionally intelligent boss reported lower anxiety levels than their peers who were not.

Taking an interest

We’ve seen extensive time and effort going into how employers can make their workplaces physically safe for employees to mitigate any health risks associated with the pandemic.  The Ohio State research reminds us that employers should be paying just as much attention to the emotional and mental wellbeing of employees during what is an incredibly stressful time.

“We found that servant leaders who keep their employees’ well-being as a top concern can help their anxious workers stay engaged at work and encourage them to contribute to the broader community,” the researchers conclude.

So it’s clear that organizations should be striving to encourage servant leadership approaches wherever possible, but this should not be confined to the COVID-era.  Indeed, research from Exeter University shows that tailoring training and recruitment to help managers with empathy, integrity, and trustworthiness has a profound impact on the productivity of the company.

Having analyzed around 130 previous studies, the research found that servant leaders are able to create a culture of trust and fairness at work, which in turn helps to make their teams more positive and loyal, both towards them and the organization.  Such managers tend to be high in personal integrity and encourage their team to develop themselves.

“Our work shows that, as we expected, a ‘servant leader’ style of management which is ethical, trustworthy and has a real interest in the wellbeing and development of staff brings about real positives within the workplace,” the authors say.  “Employees are more positive about their work and therefore also often feel empowered to become more creative. The result is a rise in productivity.”

As in so many areas, COVID is prompting us to think afresh at just what kind of world we want once the pandemic subsides.  Wouldn’t it be great if it was a world run by servant leaders?