Indian companies struggle to help workers suffering mental health effects of coronavirus crisis

Vijay Laxmi has never seen anything like it. The 31-year-old is an in-house psychologist at the tech services giant HCL Technologies, the source of the testimonials. She now counsels as many as 40 employees a week, four times the number during the first Covid wave last year. She’s had to ration her time and make sessions shorter because of the overwhelming demand.

For years, her job involved coaching staff through annual reviews or soothing love-struck employees around Valentine’s Day. Now, she sees people with trauma so debilitating they’re struggling to get through the next day. In one recent case, a 30-something employee was hit with severe insomnia and anxiety after losing her mother-in-law to Covid-19. The two had squabbled constantly and the younger woman felt intense guilt over her behaviour.

“Employees are gripped by fear from the suddenness and the intensity of the second Covid wave,” she said. “The shortage of ICU beds, oxygen and medical supplies only adds to the anxiety and panic.”

While India’s coronavirus outbreak has infected 29 million and left more than 350,000 dead, the effect on citizens’ mental health has spread even wider. Tech companies like HCL realise the psychological impact on workers and their families will endure beyond the pandemic’s peak.

HCL and peers like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services have long been at the vanguard of employee welfare in India, in part because of a philosophy that a healthy workforce tends to lead to a healthy business. Managers stress work-life balance, while in-house psychologists like Laxmi have been standard for years.