Town hall series: Emotional fitness – with coronavirus update

On 1 June, Julia Dannath, Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, led the last edition of the town hall series “Well-being in challenging times”. Prompted by the coronavirus crisis, the series was launched last December, and has so far covered the following:

-        Social fitness

-        Physical fitness

-        Mental fitness

Last Tuesday, emotional fitness was on the agenda: How do we recognise our feelings? How do we express them? And how can we keep things in balance? A number of experts were on hand to share their insights and offer valuable advice.

Latest news on coronavirus

To kick things off, Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Infrastructure and leader of the ETH Covid-19 taskforce, briefed us on where things stand, and explained the main thrust of the new master plan, which takes effect from Monday, 7 June. ETH Zurich is relaxing the work-from-home requirement– which may well help boost emotional fitness. However, any ETH member returning to work on campus for at least one day a week is expected to sign up for the CoVMass testing programme or carry out another PCR or antigen test.

Good feelings about working from home

Nadine Bienefeld, Senior Researcher in Gudela Grote’s group at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics (MTEC), then presented the initial results of the second survey on working from home and virtual collaboration at ETH. Some 1,800 people took part in this second survey, which ran from January to March 2021.

A very positive picture emerged: most survey participants seem to have had a predominantly good experience of working from home and virtual communication over the course of the last year. They particularly appreciated being able to work flexibly and in a focused way. Many claimed that their productivity was higher at home and even that communication was better, but stressed that social contact and exchange is crucial.

Not surprisingly then, the majority of respondents favour a hybrid working model in the long term, with two days a week working from home.

You can find the report on the study Download here (PDF, 3.1 MB).

Power, powerlessness and processing emotions

To follow, Petra Schmid, a professor at MTEC, spoke on how emotional fitness is linked to power, powerlessness and other emotions. Her research shows that people who feel powerful – i.e. those who recognise where they can have control over a circumstance – experience less anxiety and stress. This is particularly valuable during the current crisis with its many restrictions and loss of control.

Petra’s research also shows that the more threatening individuals perceived the Covid-19 crisis, the more anxious they felt. But this doesn’t mean we should simply suppress our negative feelings. Quite the opposite, as emotions that haven’t been dealt with effectively can build up and suddenly give rise to stronger symptoms later. It’s far better to acknowledge negative feelings and process them.

Improving mental health in academia

To round off the event, computer science student Tiyam Nikray presented external page MeWell, an initiative led by students and scientific staff at ETH Zurich to improve mental well-being. Doctoral students in particular often report mental problems or even suffer from a mental illness, especially depression. By spearheading a range of activities for the academic community, MeWell seeks to raise awareness and destigmatise mental illness.