Establishing employee resilience in my team

Have you ever wondered how teams create great things? How employees form lasting relationships and collaborate harmoniously? These qualities are usually unlocked through employee resilience. 

The truth is, without strength your team is prone to poor wellbeing, job satisfaction and generally low morale –  just to name a few.

We’re diving into the workings of employee resilience. Revealing how leaders and HR teams alike can boost the toughness of their workforce. Once you’ve read through our guide to employee resilience, you’ll be ready to build teams that can endure the ups and downs. 

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What is employee resilience? 🔎

When we think of things like employee wellbeing, retention, performance and other great workplace qualities, it’s hard to imagine them existing without employee resilience – after all, resilience is what pushes us to achieve the following: 

• Look after our health and wellbeing in difficult times
• Stick in a role when things get tough
• Work at our best when we hit hurdles

The list goes on, and what leaders must recognise is that employee resilience is the backbone of all these amazing attributes that small (or large) teams require.

The CIPD defines employee resilience as saying “Resilience is an individual’s ability to recover from or stay well in the face of adversity”. 

Ultimately, it’s the strength your team has to fight against all the instability the world faces, currently. But it is as much a reflection of the leadership and a company and its ability to build employee resilience. 

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How to strengthen employee resilience 💪

Now that we’ve discussed the meaning of employee resilience, let’s look at various tactics you can apply to your small team. Whether you’re a startup or a leader of a department, the strategies we discuss below will help tremendously. 

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Employee resilience training for managers 

Believe it or not, resilience has to be actively encouraged in a small team. This means that managers must know what drives a team to develop strength and toughness and what doesn’t. 

It’s understanding the ins and outs of morale, motivation and support. If, as a leader, you can boost the atmosphere of a small team in challenging situations, motivate them to achieve results in the face of adversity and support them at their lowest, then employee resilience will thrive.

Organisations must look for leadership training programmes for managers. Sites such as Udemy and Skillshare are great places for affordable leadership courses.

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Prioritising mental health and wellbeing 

Secondly, leaders should consider how they prioritise employee wellbeing, such as mental and emotional wellbeing. Through regular conversations, training and other resources, employers can help their team take control of health and happiness.

Here at Heka, we’ve built an employee benefits platform that empowers employees to take control over their wellbeing through an array of experiences, products and services. 

Whether it’s with an employee benefits platform or an internal programme, there must be a prioritisation of health and wellbeing in the workplace. 

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Understand that building resilience is a long-term strategy 

Resilience cannot be achieved overnight, in a week or even a year. In fact, employee resilience must be a long-term strategy. Only when leaders learn this can they really make a difference. 

Employee resilience must be built into the company culture; it must be in the way team’s collaborate, communicate and support each other. We recommend that senior teams sit down and devise a plan of action to boost resilience in the workplace; including a plan for the next twelve. 

This strategy should be refined, using employee surveys and questionnaires to uncover areas for improvement; especially when it comes to things like morale, engagement and more. 

By doing this, leaders can take control of employee resilience and set achievable outcomes for now and the near future. 

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Resilience questionnaire for employees 📋

As we’ve discussed some of the strategies for building resilience in the workplace, let’s now look at some resilience questions for employees that can form the basis of your strategy.

It’s worth remembering that although these resilience questions for employees are a great starting point, we recommend you add more questions to your surveys and focus on the areas that apply to your workforce. 

1. How often do you worry about adversity in the workplace?
2. How would you describe the collaboration within the team?
3. Do you feel employee wellbeing is a priority for the business?
4. Would you say that management inspires and motivates the team?
5. Have you considered leaving in the past three months?
6. How would you describe the resilience of the team?

As you can see, these questions cover everything from employee motivation to engagement and collaboration and more. You should consider adding some more questions from our wellbeing meeting post. 

While these aren’t specifically related to employee resilience, they can help you understand the health and wellbeing of your team. 

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Meet your new employee wellbeing platform 🎉

When it comes to employee wellbeing, we know a thing or two here at Heka. In fact, our platform is host to more than 3,000 wellbeing experiences, services and products, spanning more than 50+ categories.

Everything from bouldering, counselling, axe-throwing and sleep aid is stocked on our platform for employees across the UK to access each month via their allowance. 

We’d love to walk you through our platform and give you some insight into how Heka can work for your team – because healthier, happier employees are engaged and thrive more.

Alternatively, if you enjoyed our employee resilience post, we recommend checking out some more of our content on our blog.