The pandemic wrecked havoc on the mental health of the nation as working lives changed, fragmented, paused or intensified.
‘I used to work five to six days a week, then the pandemic came and everything got turned upside down,’ she says. ‘There was no demand for me anymore. The stress of a public-facing role intensified the anxiety that came with the pandemic, but in the summer of 2020 when restrictions eased a little, Mencie felt she had to push to get as many fares as possible.
Elsewhere in the industry, delivery drivers have experienced the opposite problem, as workloads increased so much that they have been left mentally drained and exhausted. ‘I don’t know any drivers that take a lunch break,’ he says, ‘toilet breaks are very difficult to do and finish your day at a reasonable time because any break you take is all just added onto the end of your day. There’s no allowance for that.’
This is despite only being legally allowed to drive each day for a certain number of hours. Charlie has a tracker in his work van to monitor this driving limit, but he is concerned whether it works properly.