In this wellbeing focussed article, Jo Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at Verve says, “We spend our careers helping people plan for every eventuality. Looking after ourselves and each other is not really so different.”
Let’s be honest. Paraplanning is not a career renowned for its laid-back pace and easy workloads. We work in a high pressure environment, with tight deadlines, regulatory demands, complex cases and the weight of knowing our work genuinely matters to the people at the end of it.
All of which is compounded at tax year end. And yet, despite all of that, stress is still one of the least talked about things in our profession.
I’m not only someone who happens to speak to people in finance in a variety of roles, multiple times a day, I am also a trained counsellor and mental health first aider and in the last few weeks, nearly every single person I’ve spoken to have shown stressor indicators in one way or another.
We’ve all seen the colleague who is suddenly making uncharacteristic mistakes, or the extrovert office clown who has gone from being chatty and engaged to quiet and withdrawn.
Maybe it’s the person who used to grab a coffee with you but now eats lunch at their desk every single day, eyes fixed on a screen, shoulders somewhere up near their ears.
These are some of the signs. Stress does not always announce itself loudly. Sometimes it creeps in quietly and the person experiencing it is the last one to recognise it in themselves.
Which is exactly why it matters that we, as colleagues, associates, managers or even just as friends, keep an eye out for each other.
Some things to look out for in the workplace:
- A change in behaviour. If someone who is normally reliable starts missing deadlines or making errors that are out of character, something is usually going on. Similarly, someone who is normally measured and calm becoming snappy or emotional is worth a gentle check-in.
- Withdrawal. Pulling back from team conversation, skipping social moments in the office, not engaging in meetings they would normally contribute to.
- Physical signs. Yes, we can sometimes spot them. Tiredness, looking a bit morose, or more manic than usual, or someone mentioning they haven’t been sleeping. These things matter.
- Presenteeism. Coming in, being physically there but clearly not there at all. Working long hours without the output to match. Sometimes this is more concerning than absence.
Luckily, you don’t have to be a counsellor or psychologist or even a team leader to be able to help, the simplest of things can go a long way.
First, and most importantly, just ask. Three simple words: “Are you OK?” And then, crucially, actually mean it. Not the passing-in-the-corridor version. Sit down with someone, make a cup of tea, and create the space for an honest answer. You don’t need to have a solution. You just need to be present and actively listen.
There is a huge amount of power in simply being heard. Most people under pressure are not necessarily looking for someone to fix it. They want to know they are not invisible.
Beyond the chat, there are some practical things we can do:
Share the load where you can. If a colleague is drowning and you have capacity, offer to help with a specific task. Not in a condescending way, but in a “I’ve got five minutes and I can take that off your plate” kind of way. Specifics matter, asking someone who is already overwhelmed ‘what you can help with’ often adds more burden.
Normalise talking about workload. In a profession that can sometimes operate with a bit of a “head down and get on with it” culture, it matters when senior team members openly acknowledge when things are pressured. It gives everyone else permission to do the same.
We have a weekly stand up where groups of our paraplanners talk about their upcoming week; their workload and any problems they foresee. It works as a great forum for swapping cases, evening out the workload and addressing problems before they become, well um, problems.
Point people to support. Know what is available in your firm. Workplace benefits, people coaches, mental health first aiders, HR, even external apps such as Headspace can be helpful. You do not need to solve everything yourself. Sometimes the most helpful thing is knowing where to direct someone.
And remember to put on your own oxygen mask first, as all of the above applies to yourself too. We are notoriously good at looking after our clients and our colleagues while quietly ignoring our own warning signs.
If you are running on empty, working evenings and weekends as a norm rather than an exception, and the to-do list is starting to feel genuinely hopeless, it is worth pausing, reflecting and asking for help.
You cannot do good work if you are not good yourself. That is not just sentiment, it’s fact. The way we feel absolutely impacts our productivity and output. The quality of what we produce matters, and it is directly affected by the way we feel.
Recognising that in ourselves is not weakness. It is self-awareness, and it is every bit as professional as the technical knowledge we work so hard to maintain.
We spend our careers helping people plan for every eventuality. Looking after ourselves and each other is not really so different. And in the words of Jerry Springer (yes, I’m also old and probably not ‘alright’), look after yourself and each other, especially in and around tax year end*
*I added the last bit myself. I have no proof but I’m not sure how much Springer really cared about TYE.
Main image: lina-trochez-ktPKyUs3Qjs-unsplash
