Is it just me, or was returning back to work after the pandemic and the lockdowns akin to returning to an alternate universe? Things looked familiar and felt familiar, and yet the landscape was totally different.
To set the scene, I work within a vibrant training school that delivers apprenticeships in hairdressing and barbering, a business that has gone from strength to strength for over 40 years. As a small business our team was incredibly close, which made it extraordinarily difficult to see colleagues/ friends I have known for years return to work with various sets of challenges, priorities, and many struggling with their mental health.
Hairdressing is a fantastic industry to work, particularly because of the people it attracts- extremely vivacious, creative people. It was clear that some of my colleagues struggled to find their “new normal” after the pandemic, while dealing with challenges they had never experienced before. These included, for example, anxiety standing in front of the classroom, imposter syndrome, or fear of coming into the city centre location, where we are situated.
Some colleagues decided to change career to pursue a better work life balance outside of the challenging FE sector. This left leaders with the difficult task of managing a nervous and depleted team, whilst scrambling to recruit during a national teacher shortage.
