Kavitha Sivasubramaniam: Rising to the challenge with resilience

Kavitha

As our Building a Resilient Workforce Week, in association with Aon, draws to a close, it is time to reflect on some of the trends and issues currently shaping employers’ strategies in this area.

The issue of resilience has slowly been climbing its way up employers’ agendas since the beginning of the pandemic, with an increasing number of organisations recognising that employees need to feel supported and prepared for any setbacks they may face.

Training courses, particularly for line managers, can be an effective way of helping boost resilience among the workforce. After all, if managers are adequately equipped then they can be a good source of support for staff. But training alone is not enough.

Offering help in the form of related employee benefits can be helpful, especially if it focuses on key areas such as physical, mental, social and financial wellbeing. Flexibility is key too, as the way people work and their individual needs differ. This is where open and honest communication plays a vital role.

Employers would also do well to remember that while building resilience can help avoid employee burnout, it will not stop it happening altogether. After all, resilience is not a synonym for stamina.

By building a resilient workforce, and building a workplace culture that supports resilience, organisations themselves will be able to respond to any challenge or opportunity that presents itself.

Whatever stage you are at and however you support staff at your organisation, Building a Resilient Workforce Week was designed to help take this to the next level through exclusive insights and opinions uncovering best practice in this area. These included: