For the past two years, the pandemic has been a source of great global stress. In fact, you'd be well within your rights to say it has launched a mental health crisis (coupled with the already stressful effects of pre-pandemic life, of course). And this crisis is leading to an even more worrying problem - burnout.

Employees are quitting en masse in what is being termed 'The Great Resignation' with the majority siting burnout as a major factor. Research by Monster found that 95% of US workers were looking to change professions as a result of high stress levels - the figures are similar in the UK, with more than three-quarters of staff reporting symptoms of burnout to Ceridian in a recent survey of over 1000 employees.

Unsurprisingly, the topic of overwork is gaining more and more traction amongst the press as high profile figures and companies jump on the bandwagon. Recently, the announcement of a four day-week trial involving over 30 UK businesses (and even more worldwide) took the country by storm. The move hopes to help promote a better work-life balance and boost employee mental health, whilst also not cutting pay. So far, general reactions have been largely positive and many expect shorter work weeks to become the new norm.

But simply cutting hours isn't enough to heal this health crisis. That's at least according to Prince Harry (yes, the Prince Harry).

In a brand new interview as part of Inner Work Day, hosted by BetterUp, the mental wellbeing app where Harry works as  Chief Impact Officer, he explained how he takes 45 minutes every morning to wind down and meditate in amongst the chaos of the working day. "I experience burnout," he said, admitting he was familiar with the consequences of 'burning the candle at both ends' as he termed it. "That is when you are forced to look inside yourself," he added.

With the pressures of modern life, parenthood, money, and now the added stress of the pandemic, it's an inconceivable task to expect workers to be able to juggle all of this whilst also carving out separate time for self-care. That's why Prince Harry is urging employers to incorporate "me time" for staff into their HR policies. Some of his key tips (as summarised by LinkedIn News) include...

The Prince's comments haven't been without backlash, with many finding hypocrisy in his words considering his privileged upbringing. But on the whole, his comments seem to be indicative of a wider trend towards safeguarding employee health, both mental and physical, in increasingly uncertain times.

At NearU, we take pride in our employee-first approach. For too long people have put up with tedious commutes and uninspiring offices, just for the sake of in-person productivity. But as the pandemic opened the world up to new styles of working, from remote to hybrid, employers have seen that forcing their workers into the office every day, wasting time, money and energy, doesn't have to be the only way.

In fact, allowing for more flexibility at work can be the key to unlocking better mental health for your employees. We caught up with NearU co-founder, James Solomides, to see what else he suggests to help improve work-life balance and leave your staff feeling happier.

"Our social team have recently taken to organising some more mindful activities, like yoga and meditation. While these might seem a bit out-there at first, I've actually really enjoyed them and so has the rest of the team! Taking time out of your to-do list to either exercise your body or your mind is an absolute must for any team working remotely or on a hybrid basis."

"Along with the mental wellbeing activities, everyone likes having a laugh together and it turns out virtual bingo is a great way to do this! Some of our team are more nervous to take part in mindfulness exercises, and some are just really big fans of Bingo (mainly our Head of Sales, Nick Ross), so this is a great bit of fun to break up the week.

As well as this, we also encourage staff to pop along to weekly 'coffee roulettes' - basically just half hour one-to-one chats with colleagues across different departments where the only rule is, you can't talk about work! It's really helped to stave off isolation for team members who perhaps don't have as much interaction in their job roles."

"Giving time back to employees has been one of the key benefits to emerge from hybrid working. It is arguably the most precious commodity an employer can offer, as individuals are then able to choose how they spend that time. Our platform not only allows our own staff, but also our many clients the freedom to work-from-anywhere that suits them. 

For some, myself included, this is their home office, where they can still be on hand for child (or dog) care duties during the day. For others, that might be a fully-equipped on-demand workspace 15 minutes away from home to allow for that work-leisure separation whilst forgoing that long commute into town. Whatever the reason, as long as it enables you to perform at your best then I believe it makes sense for everyone to have the choice in where they do their work."