Soaring numbers of tech companies are turning to wellbeing specialists to optimise staff’s growth mindset mode. 

PUSH Mind and Body, a leading wellbeing and mental health training company which seeks to make work better, reports a 54% increase in requests from tech companies looking to support their people’s growth and innovation mindsets. 

The rise coincided with the first year of the pandemic which saw the issue become even more of a challenge with tech teams working remotely – many of whom, according to a YouGov survey on mental wellbeing in the workplace, don’t want to return to the office full-time. 

PUSH, which has worked with TikTok and supported two of the four big tech companies, says the tech businesses face unique hurdles as they navigate rapid change and periods of growth, including upskilling staff so they can compete with emerging start-ups. 

The answer, says PUSH Founder Cate Murden, is to invest in growth mindset programmes centred around development, both professional and personal. 

The pandemic changed many people’s attitude to their working and personal lives and addressing this can be key to ensuring good mental health and wellbeing, allowing staff to thrive in the workplace, whether that’s at home or in the office. 

The YouGov Workplace survey commissioned by PUSH revealed that 40% of tech workers were anxious about returning to the workplace.  More than half (57%) said they did not want to return to the office full-time as they believe working from home (WFH) is better for their mental wellbeing. Around the same number (55%) felt more productive WFH. 

Before the first lockdown only 13% of them worked from home all the time, although 25% would have liked that option. That figure shot up to 67% after the first year of the pandemic. And post-Covid almost four-fifths (78%) felt employers were supportive of WFH. 

Cate Murden said, “It’s been fascinating to see the change in attitudes that have occurred over the pandemic and the swing in acceptance of homeworking. However, there are challenges for tech companies who want to remain successful : how to optimise their people for change and growth; how to keep them in a growth mindset mode and not stagnate. Then there are the unique termination policies that some companies adopt – notoriously firing people who aren’t performing.  

“So it is important they continue upskill the people they hire, keeping them ‘match fit’, rather than churning through staff and compromising on culture. 

“The impact of Covid has been detrimental to many individuals’ mental health, especially within the workplace but mental health sits at the foundation of everything – workplaces are more likely to thrive when they’re psychologically safe and able to support employees within the new working environment.” 

Since its founding  in 2014 London-based PUSH has run wellbeing programmes with tech companies and a range of other businesses and organisations, focusing on mental health and wellbeing to empower employees to flourish in their workplace. Through its work tens of thousands of employees have been helped to enhance their working lives with many organisations being supported free of charge.