8 actions employers can take to foster resilience

resilience

Resilience can’t happen in isolation; it happens when both the employer and the individual employee take some responsibility for it. But, as we said in this article, employers can’t expect employees to be resilient if there are too many stressors in the working environment.

So what can employers do to create this right environment?

This article suggests 8 ways employers can increase the likelihood of resilience in their workforce.

Don’t miss our sister event The Watercooler on 30 April and 1 May 2025 in London where several sessions will be covering the link between resilience and wellbeing. For more details on this event on shaping the future of work, health, wellbeing, culture and innovation, see here.

Create the environment for resilience to thrive first

Before you bring up the (sometimes) controversial ‘resilience’ word with employees, make sure you have looked at the stressors in your working environment first and are taking steps to minimise these. As discussed in this feature, you’re more likely to engage employees if they feel that the onus isn’t only on them to be resilient but the organisation is taking some responsibility too.

Providing resilience training without looking at factors like job design or workload could cause resentment. 

“It could look as if you’re saying that if employees struggle then they failed to be resilient enough, whereas what you should be saying is: why are they struggling, and is there anything we can do differently and how can we as an employer offer support? ” says Jo Forbes, Health, Safety & Wellbeing Strategy Manager for law firm Osborne Clarke LLP.

As Bella Ikpasaja, Global Workplace Safety & Culture Specialist, says, resilience should arise as a natural byproduct of the “standards, behaviours, and protocols” that you cultivate in your workplace.

Try using the term ‘wesilience’

Chris Tamdjidi, co-Managing Director of Awaris, a mindfulness and resilience consultancy, and author of The Resilient Culture: How Collective Resilience Leads to Business Success uses this word to convey ‘we’re in this together’. He admits, when you first use it, it may sound a bit clunky but it gets across the idea clearly of shared responsibility:

“People like the term ‘wesilience’ because it captures that and employees want to hear that their company takes responsibility.”

Foster a Culture of Psychological Safety

There is a clear, evidence-based link between psychological safety at work and resilience. 

Amy Edmondson, who coined the phrase psychological safety, has done research which shows how psychologically safe teams are better able to learn from setbacks, for example.

“If you create an environment where employees feel comfortable raising concerns, asking questions, and admitting mistakes without fear of retribution, it could reward you enormously, within and beyond your team,” says Ikpasaja. “By this simple measure, you can increase trust, foster open communication, and potentially build a continuously improving team culture – just like team sports.”

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Forbes agrees: “it’s about creating an environment where people feel able to speak out if they’ve made a mistake, or if they’re struggling, in the knowledge that their manager and team will react supportively to help find a solution”.

This leads to better performance and more innovation because employees aren’t afraid of trying new things and potentially failing.

By contrast, if a workplace or team isn’t psychologically safe then employees are more likely to experience stress and anxiety, which are known to damage resilience and creative thinking.

Be very careful about comparing resilience levels

Things like ‘scorecards’ or ‘resilience profiles’ should be used (if at all) with caution because, as one professional in the legal sector says, “it could cause shame and it could fail to recognise that we’re all individuals and we don’t start from the same starting point”.

As he says, gender, race, socioeconomic background, neurodivergency and other characteristics could affect default resilience level and so any solution has to be personalised. “It can’t be just a generic ‘10 easy steps to resilience’ or a ‘one size fits all’ course,” he says.

Ikpasaja, in her work with clients to improve team resilience, emphasises “the importance of designing solutions to specific needs, operational realities and context”.

This involves conducting needs assessments, analysing risk factors and developing, personalised training programmes and policies that address the specific challenges faced by the individual organisation and their teams.

Ask: does your system make it easier for some employees to be more resilient than others?

A good way to gauge this is to look at the people occupying the top roles in your organisation. Are there any commonalities?

There is a growing acknowledgement that some industries do make it easier for certain types of employees to thrive. Legal is one of these industries (a legal stream was added to the most recent MAD World Summit in October reflecting a desire to change from some parts of this industry).

As another legal professional says: “there’s just this acceptance that lawyers are going to have 24 hour days, they’re going to be stressed, get burned out, have mental health crises and we’ll lose some of them to suicide, and more of them to alcoholism and addiction.” 

In a toxic environment like this, the type of person who typically is able to handle so many stressors and therefore deemed “resilient” are those, he says, that tend to be “laden with privilege”. They tend, in his experience, to have advantages like wealth, childcare, restorative holidays, a cleaner and a top university education:

“Their pools of resilience, if we want to call it that, are always going to be deeper to draw on than someone who’s living on the edge of a mental health crisis, or who’s a carer for a disabled or elderly relatives, or who’s keeping the bailiffs from the door, or who’s going through a messy divorce…we need to dismantle the stereotype of what a ‘good’, ‘resilient’ employee looks like because it’s so toxic and pervasive.”

As Tamdjidi says in this article, to balance the playing field, employers may have to provide more resources and support for those employees facing more stressors. But it’s important this is done without the attachment of shame, perception of being weak or penalisation in terms of progression.

How can you support those for whom your system makes it harder for them to be resilient?

While it’s undoubtedly a more expensive option, one to one coaching is one of the most effective ways to support employees facing multiple stressors because it’s exactly tailored to the individual. 

Mentoring, sponsorship, role modelling and creating networks for like-minded employees to visualise ways to deal with their stressors and thrive are recommended.

Use data to pinpoint solutions that will work for your organisation

Osborne Clarke’s wellbeing strategy is supported by data and when this comes to resilience it means measuring levels of burnout and psychological safety, and reasons for it, across the law firm. This is done via an anonymous survey every quarter; each employee is asked to participate once a year.

“Then we draw up action plans to address the real changes at root level that are needed rather than just launching a yoga class, for example,” says Forbes.

This kind of data gathering, which recently won an Mindful Business Charter award for “sustained Commitment to meaningful change”, also enables the firm to see where teams are thriving and work out why, so this can be replicated. 

“More focus and attention can be put on those teams that are doing less well,” she says. “We can pull together themes so we know what needs to change, both at firm level and at team level, and we’ve got something really concrete to go to our leaders and talk to them about. It places our people’s wellbeing at the heart of the business agenda as we are able to make the link between positive wellbeing and high performing teams.”

However, she advises that if you’re going to ask for feedback from employees “you need to be prepared to do something about the answers.” If you’re not, it’s better not to ask the question at all.

Increase social connection

“Social connection is one of the strongest predictors of resilience,” says Tamdjidi. “If you look at the different types of stressors, social well-being is one of the best ways of helping people deal with change, stress of conflict and stress of uncertainty. That’s why organisations going through transformations need to invest in the social fabric of their company.”

The good news, he says, is that social wellbeing is a skill that can be cultivated by “just taking the time to listen to people”. It may sound “fluffy” but social wellbeing is the best predictor of longevity and happiness according to the long-running Harvard Study of Adult Development.

Ways to do this include events, creating social spaces at work, acknowledging landmark dates like people’s birthdays, away days, etc. Social connection can (and should) be built into online interactions too.

“Nowadays so often you start an online meeting and it’s straight to the agenda before any pleasantries like asking how each other, and their families, are. This is basic, but fundamental,” says Tamdjidi.

Bruce Daisley, formerly Vice President for Europe at Twitter and now a culture consultant, has written a book on resilience, Fortitude: The Myth of Resilience, and the Secrets of Inner Strength. He agrees, believing work has become so “intense” and “transactional” that all the “slack” has been taken out of the system meaning there is no time for the organic, enriching flourishing of relationships. While this may seem efficient and like a ‘good thing’, it’s hugely detrimental to culture, resilience and wellbeing levels in the long run.

Don’t miss our sister event The Watercooler on 30 April and 1 May 2025 in London where several sessions will be covering the link between resilience and wellbeing, including Ellie Orton, sharing where resilience fits in with NHS Charities Together’s ‘psychological safety’ initiatives, a panel exploring where resilience fits with proactively supporting global employee health and wellbeing and Yelp’s Chief Diversity Officer shining a light on how storytelling is helping to build resilience and enhance remote work culture. For more details on this event on shaping the future of work, health, wellbeing, culture and innovation, see here

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