Background: COVID19 pandemic which has already lasted longer than a year has disrupted the normal operations in banks and financial institutions.  This has resulted in potential systemic stress which in turn could exacerbate the stress on individual institutions. Also, there has been COVID stress at individual employee level affecting both health and morale.

As revealed in a survey in the USA, nearly 7 in 10 employees experienced moderate to extreme stress during last 6-12 weeks. Among those reporting stress, 62% noted losing at least 1 hour a day in productivity and 32% lost at least 2 hours a day due to COVID-19 related stress.

The prominence of stress among the workforce could prove costly for employers/institutions seeking to optimize workflow amid the pandemic. Lost time from work has been indicated in another study in USA to potentially cost employers upwards of $23 billion. And decreased efficiency of employees at work and resultant loss of productivity could further amplify these predictions. There is risk build up at more than one level. For instance, a dealer could potentially put through inappropriate deals with huge adverse financial implications for the institution when his mental health is under significant stress, accentuating operational risk for the institution. Thus, there is need for oversight on health conditions of employees working in sensitive areas of operations. Perhaps, several out of box HR strategies and processes need to be crafted to make sure that employers work together with the employees to track their health conditions non-intrusively and mitigate new risks to the institution and employees.

Coverage: This CAFRAL Webinar would be delivered through 5 short sessions. The sessions would seek to explore the developments, issues and challenges as far as COVID stress on employee health and productivity is concerned. Experts would discuss the issues from the regulatory, medical science, HR and leadership perspectives.