How to improve employees’ mental health resilience

As many as 81% of employees have experienced mental health symptoms, including stress, anxiety, depression, burnout and loneliness, in the past 12 months according to Sonder’s January 2026 research. This suggests there is space for employers to offer support and improve employees’ mental health resilience.

Changes in mental health

Mental health resilience is the ability to bounce back and cope with stress and difficulties by putting in place supportive strategies. This enables people to grow from adverse experiences.

Building resilience can be learned, developed and strengthened over time, explains Letitia Rowlin, principal strategic consultant for health solutions at Aon UK.

“It can include learning coping skills, shifting mindsets and building supportive connections,” she says. ”Resilience is influenced by the individual and the system in which they operate. A sustainable workplace strategy for mental health cannot rely on building individual resilience alone.”

There is an increased awareness of mental health these days, along with more personalised support and a focus on training managers to listen and ask what they can do to help.

Debra Clark, head of wellbeing at EveryWhen, formerly Towergate Employee Benefits, says: “There has been a change to prevention and proactivity versus intervention and reactivity, and we will see more of this in the future.”

Reviewing support

If staff are struggling mentally they will not perform at their best or may take sickness absence, sometimes for an extended period. It can have an impact on productivity, absenteeism and retention, so it is in an employer’s best interest to help them build resilience.

Christine Husbands, commercial director of RedArc, says: “If an employee sees their employer being open about mental health, listening and providing helpful services, they are going to be more loyal as they’ll know their mental wellbeing is being taken seriously.”

A resilient workforce can lead to improved performance and reduce absenteeism costs. Additionally, looking at what can cause stress and applying a preventative approach could help employers seem attractive to future candidates who require mental health support.

Before building a mental health resilience strategy, employers should first consider reviewing what support they currently offer. They should also listen to staff to learn what the issues are and determine what is and is not working.

It is important to review support on an ongoing basic because it may not be as effective as organisations think, or might not be actively used, says Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for industry body Grid.

“It’s critical to monitor the usage rate to see what does and doesn’t help,” she says. ”This enables employers to ask why and look at what else might be available. Employers should aim to help their employees to thrive at work, as sometimes aiming for resilience isn’t enough.”

Organisations should also look at whether the available options resonate, if employees know what is available and if it is easy to access. It helps to invest in effective mental health support that will actually be used.

Employees’ challenges and what they need will naturally evolve over time, particularly if the workforce is multi-generational, adds Clark.

“Products and services are changing too, so employers need to review this to make sure they are offering the right things to help the right problems based on their data and insights, rather than following trends,” she says.

Building mental health resilience

A good place to start when considering how best to build mental health resilience is by listening to employees and where they might feel their resilience is challenged. This can be done through feedback using surveys and forums.

Management can provide the right environment to deliver support by creating the right culture of trust and psychological safety, which enables staff to accept the support in the manner it is given, explains Clark.

“It’s a fine tightrope because it is something employers need to be aware of and address, but how they position it is critical to its success,” she adds. ”There are tools for them to see if they’re as aligned as they think they are with employees’ views on their wellbeing packages. This is useful as sometimes there can be a disconnect.”

Organisations should also look at what they already have in terms of support services. They should ensure they know how these work and whether they will help staff to get in touch with external support or just signpost to it.

“Employers can provide a quiet space for employees feeling stressed, flexible working, online tools or complementary therapies,” says Husbands. “An external service can provide case management support to help staff recognise their triggers, build coping strategies and put in place solutions to become resilient again.”

Some group risk and healthcare benefits include embedded support, adds Moxham.

“One example is employee assistance programmes that have both online and in-person support around mental health resilience, how to build it, counselling and advice about looking after themselves,” she says.

Offering wellbeing tools should be underpinned by an effective communications strategy to ensure employees know these exist and can access them. The more employers communicate what is available, the more support is likely to be used.

Digital options using employee data enables them to get the most appropriate support tailored to their personal situation, such as coaching or therapy, says Rowlin.

“Forward-thinking organisations support building resilience from a [preventative] angle, by looking at work design, workload planning and improving psychological safety,” she adds.

Improving and maintaining employees’ mental health resilience should be a priority for employers to ensure staff can cope with any issues that may arise and, ultimately, thrive.