UK employees have not had it easy over the last few years. Pressures on their finances, mental wellbeing and physical health have been almost ever present since the start of the pandemic in 2020, and the last six months has seen a cost-of-living crisis amplify these pressures further.
To understand how resilient the UK working population is, Barnett Waddingham surveyed 3,000 employees in its latest research, The power of positive resilience, representing a cross-section of full- and part-time permanent workers, across all major industries and locations throughout the country.
From the results, two groups were identified based on their answers to certain questions: employees that show high levels of resilience, and those that do not. We then used this divide to examine other questions in the survey, to display the difference between individuals with positive and negative resilience, and how that differentiation could impact on employers.
We asked the question: What, if anything, would be your main coping strategy or strategies when you are faced with a setback?
Those with positive resilience displayed a well-rounded set of coping strategies to deal with challenges, which span from physical aspects such as sleep and exercise, through to asking for help. When faced with a setback, these employees will likely be self-sufficient enough to power through. Within the negative resilience group however, just under 60% of respondents indicated they had no coping strategies whatsoever.
This obviously raises issues for employers, as if they find that their staff do not have a strong resistance to setbacks, any challenge the business faces is likely to be exacerbated further.
We also asked: Over the last two years, have you had to rely on your family or social network outside of work for specific mental health support?
Again, the positive resilience group displayed good coping strategies here, with four out of five (81%) of those surveyed having access to a social or family network for support with their mental health. And, as before, the negative resilience group fare worse, with only 44% having a similar support network in place.
This is where support at work is crucial. In place of a support network outside of the office, it is imperative that an employer picks up the slack, either internally or by providing access to external support groups. If it does not, it risks employees becoming demotivated, which as we can see below has a big impact on productivity.
In answer to the question, on average, what percentage of your working hours are productive, if any?, the positive group averaged around 70%-80% producitivty a day, whereas the negative group averaged 60%-70%. Interestingly, no one identified as having positive resilience answered ‘not sure’, with everyone having a clear idea of their typical productive output. Within the negative resilience group, ‘not sure’ was the most selected answer, perhaps pointing to an unhappy workforce, so impacted by everyday challenges that they can not accurately say how much work they are getting done on any given day.
Even of those who could estimate their productivity, there is a significant disparity between the two groups at the higher percentage level; 65% of the positive group estimated that they are productive for over 65% of their day, compared to 35% of the negative group. Only 24% of the negative group claimed to be productive for 70% or more of their day, half of the percentage claiming the same in the positive group.
The above all highlights that supporting employees is more important than ever. Identifying the make-up of a workforce, and the split between those able to stand up to challenges and those that may need a little more help, can help start to improve an organisation’s overall resilience to adversity.
Riaan van Wyk is senior wellbeing consultant at Barnett Waddingham