Disruption defines the modern workplace: COVID-19, natural disasters, the Great Resignation, to name just a few seismic events. That’s why it’s critical to foster a culture of resilience. The more resilient your employees, the more likely they are to conquer the big and small challenges that come their way.
Employees are asking for help.
In response to internal assessments and hard data, employers large and small are moving to offer solutions that help their employees manage stress. Eighty-six percent of employers say mental health, stress, and burnout are a priority. These employers realize that ‘people investments’ are ‘business investments.’
Data indicates that when you treat employees with an additional level of care and concern, they respond with loyalty and greater productivity. Eight out of 10 people say they would stay in the job where they felt supported and valued. Without this sensitivity to employees’ needs, employers run the risk of employee burnout, turnover, and disengagement.
Finding the right person for the job is expensive. Keeping that person on board will save you administrative costs; costs associated with an employee’s lack of motivation prior to leaving; and costs related to the loss of institutional knowledge. These costs quickly erode profit and revenue.
If you want results, focus on stress management.
As employers think about a strategy to promote resiliency, it’s important to keep this fact in mind: Stress is a universal human experience. It’s also a normal human reaction. While some health and wellness solutions may only apply to a subset of your employees, a resilience solution that puts stress at the center applies to everyone. Globally, 94% of workers say they experience chronic stress at work. In the United States, 63% of workers are ready to quit their job to avoid work-related stress.
Find the right fit.
There’s clearly room for improvement, and employers can lead the charge by providing employees with tools to manage their stress in a healthy way.
Here's what to look for in a resilience solution:
- Clinical expertise. Does the solution incorporate a board-certified health coach to help employees cope with their stress?
- Interventions backed by behavioral science. Does the solution include challenges and tools that empower individuals to practice and test out new techniques?
- Validation. Does the solution use surveys to assess someone’s actual level of stress?
- Mobile format. Is the solution available as an app that employees can easily download and access at any time?
When is the best time to launch a resilience solution? Now.
Here’s why:
Stress is an everyday occurrence. In this busy world in which we all live and work, stress is unfortunately an around-the-clock problem. Although it may increase at times (e.g., when rolling out new technology, filling staffing vacancies, or meeting critical deadlines), it remains fairly high most of the time. Eighty-three percent of U.S. workers suffer from work-related stress. Nearly three in five employees say they’ve experienced negative impacts of work-related stress, including lack of motivation, cognitive weariness, emotional exhaustion, and physical fatigue. Even when things are calm at work, events in your employees’ personal lives can cause stress levels to rise.
Stress is predictably unpredictable. It’s the nature of life. You know stress is coming, you just don’t know exactly when. Everyone is on different personal and professional journeys, and stress strikes at different times. That’s why there’s never a bad time to launch a resilience solution. Even if an employee doesn’t feel compelled to take advantage of the solution in the short term, they probably will in the long-term because again: No one is immune to stress. It’s a universal given.
Stress is something employees can manage—with your help. The question about timing becomes irrelevant when employers realize the success of a resilience management solution is more about the education you provide about when and how to use it. Teach employees to pay attention to their stress. Then give them a tool to manage it. If you provide the right tool, employees can help themselves 24/7—whenever stress feels unmanageable. And they’ll be grateful to you for the support.
Conclusion
If you wait for the perfect time to launch a resilience solution, you’ll quickly come to this conclusion: There is no perfect time. Every minute of every day presents opportunities for stress to creep in, and erode employees’ health, motivation and performance. The best thing employers can do is launch a resilience solution as soon as possible and then encourage employees to use it. To learn more, visit https://pivot.co/mental-well-being.
