Building resilience to help us get through

Adapted from Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Strike Team 

COVID-19 puts even the healthiest and most well-balanced people at risk for burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury. By focusing on developing resilience, we can flatten the behavioral health impact curve and get through the next months with collective strength and hope.

 Behavioral health in the workplace 

The most common affects to the behavioral health and wellness of employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic are burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury. 

• Burnout: Tiredness of body and mind, and lower motivation because of work stress or frustration that does not end. Burnout occurs when there is an unequal balance between the demands of the job and the coping resources that an employee has. 
  
  
• Compassion fatigue: Emotional and physical tiredness leading to a decreased ability to empathize or feel compassion for others. It is also described as secondary traumatic stress.
   
• Moral injury: Strong feelings of guilt, shame, and anger about the frustration that comes from not giving the kind of care or service that an employee (often a healthcare worker) wants and expects to provide. 

The best way to address these common concerns is to develop resilience, which is defined as the process of adapting well during hard times, trauma, tragedy, threats, or major sources of stress. It involves changing behaviors, thoughts, and actions. 

The REST model 

Use the REST model as a simple tool for maintaining resilience. 

Reward: Reward yourself for a job well done. Build reinforcements into your work. It is harder to do this when you are stressed. Try to acknowledge successes and wins. 

Establish: Establish healthy boundaries. Focus on keeping work at work and leaving it there. When you are off duty, stick to that boundary. Avoid bringing work into your personal time or space to the extent that’s possible. Have clear on-duty and off-duty hours if you are working in your home space. 

Share: Share your feelings, concerns, and stories. Participate in support and affinity groups. Make time to prioritize connections and activities in your life. 

Trust: Trust your support network and reach out as needed. Refer people elsewhere if you are too tired or compromised emotionally to be able to offer support. If the issues seem larger than can be supported by friends or family, reach out for professional consultation and assistance. 

Adapt, connect, practice

Make adjustments to your physical space and work times as needed. Look for opportunities to do things differently if the pre-COVID processes aren't working anymore.

Work on maintaining existing social relationships, and be creative in developing new ones.

Think short term if too-big picture seems overwhelming. Develop small, manageable goals to practice success.

To build resilience in the workplace, identify and put into practice these four resilience ingredients on both organizational and individual levels: 

• Be able to adapt and be mentally flexible. 
• Focus on developing social connections, both big and small. 
• Develop a shared sense of purpose. 
• Focus on hope. 

Building resilience in teams 

• Meet directly (virtually face-to-face) with your team members regularly to increase connection within groups and teams and develop relationships among team members. 
• Increase social “water cooler talk” discussion time during meetings by building it into your meeting schedule using a question of the day or some other similar activity to increase connections between team members. 
• Encourage (but don’t require) video participation in virtual team meetings, which allows everyone to see each other and get a sense of engagement and body language. 
• Model self-care and boundary-setting that others can follow. This is a very effective way of changing group dynamics, and behavior and shifting the culture of team priorities. 

To learn about more coping skills and how our brains work during times of stress, check out the Department of Health’s blog post and new podcast. 

In summary: COVID-19 puts even the healthiest and most well-balanced people at risk for burnout and other effects. By focusing on developing resilience, we can flatten the behavioral health impact curve and get through the next months with collective strength and hope. In the latest Insider, the Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Strike Team offers tips for building resilience, individually and as a workplace team.  

Three win prizes in latest QUICK Award drawing

Kathy Davis, Communications

Aaron Brown

Three WSDA employees became eligible to select a prize because their names were randomly selected in the recent QUICK Awards drawing. Agencywide, employees handed out 30 awards to their coworkers.

QUICK Awards are presented by employees who see their peers demonstrating good work and service to others – either inside or outside the agency. Here are the prize recipients from the most recent quarterly drawing.

Aaron Brown, Pesticide Management Compliance, Spokane  

Aaron is recognized for his foresight, innovation and initiative in changing the lock on the pesticide container storage to a combo lock so that companies can access the unit while WSDA continues to work remotely during COVID-19.

Brennan Kimbel

Brennan Kimbel, Animal Services Livestock Inspection, Olympia 

Brennan puts 100% into her position, has a great work ethic and is a huge asset for the program, as well as the division. I appreciate all the time she puts into walking me through web updates or answering questions.  Thanks for all you do! 

Paula Moore, Commodity Inspection Seed Inspection, Yakima 

From January to August, the Seed Program converted our billing from QuickBooks Proia to the Great Plains system, transitioning three program to communicate into one!

Paula Moore

Paula was the driving force behind this project and instrumental to the process. Without Paula's knowledge and experience and help testing in Pure Harvest, this would not have been possible. Thank you Paula for helping the team!

December 31 next drawing deadline

When you catch one of your coworkers doing something special for staff or customers, why not let them know with a QUICK Award? You can find the award form on the intranet. 

The lower number of awards this quarter may have been affected by a glitch that caused the online from on our intranet to malfunction for a time. That has been fixed, so feel free to recognize your colleagues with this peer-to-peer award! 

In summary: WSDA staff presented 30 QUICK Awards during the third quarter of 2020. Three names were randomly drawn to receive prizes. See who they are and read why they were recognized by their colleagues.  

Survey results show impacts of COVID-era work experience

Kathy Davis, Communications 

Seed Program staff in Yakima, adhering to mask-wearing and
social-distancing protocols. Left to right: Richard Gilbert, field
supervisor; Nancy Jones, lab supervisor; Theresa Otto, office
supervisor; and Paula Moore; program manager

WSDA leadership issued a survey in late September to learn how agency employees’ work experience has been affected by changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Key findings of the survey show a significant shift to home-based work, with high levels of productivity and satisfaction with teleworking. Others indicated their job duties require them to work in the field or a facility and cited mask-wearing and other ways their work experience has changed.

In March 2020, state stay-home orders and other restrictions caused the bulk of WSDA office-based staff to begin working at home. Other employees, such as inspectors, were deemed essential staff and continued to support the agriculture industry in non-office settings. 

Survey results summary

More than half the agency workforce (53%) took the survey. 

Less than half of all respondents (47%) were based in Olympia. Another 40 percent were from Eastern Washington, with 20 percent representing Yakima. 

The survey confirmed a significant shift to some level of telework status. Before COVID-19, about half of all agency staff worked fulltime in a facility, such as an office. The rest indicated some combination of field, facility and home-based locations. 

Since pandemic restrictions took place, about one-third of all WSDA employees work fulltime from their homes, with another third spending at least some time teleworking. The other one-third reported working exclusively in an agency facility, in the field, or some combination of the two locations. 

Those not teleworking

Of those who answered that they spent no time working at home, more than 8 in 10 said they did so because their job duties require it. Comments largely reflected that these employees are required to conduct inspections at industry facilities, or needed to be in an office to perform their job duties. 

Most of these field or facility employees cited mask requirements as the primary way their work experience had changed. Nearly half also noted fewer colleagues in the workplace. 

Many reported “other” ways work had changed for them, especially in warehouses and industry facilities. Concerns about conditions and lack of following COVID-19 recommendations was a common theme. 

Teleworking employees

Most employees who are working at home, either fulltime or at some level, reported being satisfied with this experience. More than 8 in 10 are very or somewhat satisfied, while 12 percent were dissatisfied. Just one-quarter indicated that their work had changed due to COVID-19. 

The majority indicated they had a laptop, smartphone, and monitor provided from the agency to use at home. About one-quarter are using their own personal printer for work. Nearly 40 percent have moved an office chair and other furniture or supplies from their office for home use. 

Many responded that they have purchased items on their own to use in a home office. More than half bought a table or desk, and 44 percent bought an office chair. Just under one-third have paid to have their home internet connection upgraded since working at home.  

Productivity impact

More than 8 in 10 reported their work productivity was either the same or had improved. Just 16 percent said their productivity had suffered. 

The top factors (in descending order) respondents credited with increasing productivity were:

1. Fewer interruptions
2. No commute 
3. Less socializing
4. Comfortable environment
5. Supervisor support

While fewer survey respondents said their productivity had declined, the top factors for that drop were:

1. Less functional work station
2. Less connection (work and social) with coworkers
3. Slow internet
4. Children schooling at home

Future of teleworking

When COVID-19 restrictions are eventually lifted, employees indicated a strong preference for continuing some level of teleworking, even though more than three-quarters had no teleworking agreement before the pandemic. 

Nearly 30 percent said they would like to continue to work from home fulltime, while another 64 percent want to mostly telework, or at least do so more than before COVID-19. 

The top reasons for preferring to continue some level of teleworking were:

1. Knowing they could fully perform work from home
2. Eliminates or reduces commute
3. Better work/life balance
4. Flexible schedule
5. More productive

The full survey results are available on the WSDA intranet. 

In summary: More than half of all WSDA employees responded to a survey seeking to learn how agency employees’ work experience has been affected by changes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show a significant shift to home-based work, with high levels of productivity and satisfaction with teleworking. Others indicate their job duties require them to work in the field or a facility, citing mask-wearing and other ways their work experience has changed. Read the summary of results and find a link to full results in the Insider. 

Emergency preparedness steps; get two-weeks ready

 Erin Coyle, Rapid Response and Emergency Management

This year has turned out to be one of disruption. Along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires again swept through the state, making 2020 the second worst wildfire season on record. 

Now, we are heading into the severe winter weather period that could bring strong winds and rain, deep snow and flooding. As the recent ShakeOut exercise reminded us, Washington is a hotspot for earthquakes; the next one could strike at any time. 

It can feel overwhelming to contemplate all the possible hazards that could threaten our safety. But you can draw strength from the realization that we are not helpless! 

We have the control to plan and prepare for whatever might happen. Taking steps now to become disaster ready will give you the confidence and assurance to respond to all-hazards incidents.

WSDA wants you to be prepared. To help, the Washington Emergency Management Division offers the Prepare in a Year Guide. 

It’s as simple as completing one activity each month. At the end of 12 months, you’ll be much better prepared. Think of disaster preparedness not as a checkbox, something to do once and never again, but rather a continual process of learning, restocking supplies, and encouraging others to be prepared.

 Start talking to your family as the first important step in your plan. During an earthquake, for example, your family might be separated at school, work or on the road. 

Create a communications plan covering what happens if you are separated. Planning solutions now can help ensure calm, decisive response when it’s needed, because everyone will know what to do.

Three key steps to preparedness

Learn your hazards: Learning about the hazards near where you work, play, and live will help you and your family prepare for disasters that could happen.

Have a plan: Having a family disaster plan gives you the confidence of knowing just what to do when a disaster happens. Decide as a family on your meeting locations and your out-of-area contact.

Build kits: You and your family may be on your own for at least two weeks when a disaster happens. Build a “2 Weeks Ready” kit at home and smaller kits for work, school, and vehicles.

Find more information and resources about the three steps to preparedness, the Prepare in a Year Guide and 2 Weeks Ready. You can also find information about pet preparedness, assembling disaster supply kits, videos and publications on the Emergency Management Division’s webpages. 

In summary: It can feel overwhelming to contemplate all the possible hazards that could threaten our safety. But you can draw strength from the realization that we are not helpless! We have the control to plan and prepare for whatever might happen. Taking steps now to become disaster ready will give you assurance and confidence. Find out how you can prepare on the Insider blog.