Building Business Resilience Building business resilience

From surviving to thriving

Building a resilient business

Building business resilience starts with creating the right culture for your workforce.

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One-third of workers have changed jobs up to two times in the past two years, with a further 10% changing employers between three and five times.

The changing needs of employees

Labour turnover is expensive, but is it a natural part of business life? Well, yes and no. People will always want to move on, but those reasons are not necessarily the same across the workforce.

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Employee resilience research

Here is an excellent example of something management can support through the employee value proposition (EVP), which is like a manifesto or promise for the workforce (replacing older models of employee management to refocus on the needs of the employee) and through the provision of better management training and mentoring. Getting the EVP right has a huge impact on business resilience and performance. In addition, open discussions about stress and mental health, and making services easily available, will benefit employees.

Creating a strong workplace community

By understanding which groups need support, in which specific areas and when, an organisation can improve its employees’ sense of belonging and their loyalty. In this way, the EVP should be geared towards supporting the resilience and wellbeing of employees.

It’s not easy, but it is worth doing

But be sure to listen, too, both to employees but also line manager feedback.

Communicate your reasons for engaging staff so you reach different employee groups effectively.

Employees of different generations, backgrounds and locations will digest and understand messaging in different ways, so use multiple channels and formats, and be prepared to use new methods.

Start with engagement – it’s always good to talk.

Change won’t happen overnight.

Culture takes time to adapt. But if your people see the executives running this project from the top down, you will begin to succeed in supporting employees from the bottom up, in turn helping them grow professionally and supporting their resilience. And a resilient workforce makes a far more resilient and successful business.

‘People risk’ – the financial or human risks associated with poor employee relationships – is a real and uncertain thing. Yet supporting employees to build a culture of resilience in the workforce is crucial if you want to build a robust, sustainable business that can develop and thrive. A sustainable business built on resilience will be better able to deal with times of stress and, in turn, have a sound future based on firm foundations. And it must become self-sustaining – so normal you don’t even think about it – and part of your DNA as an employer. The responsibility for nurturing such a culture must start at the top with the board and senior executives.

English Heritage is a national charity responsible for the conservation of the National Heritage collection, which includes historic sites such as Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall, battle sites, monuments and even blue plaques in London. Old buildings rarely have the most sustainable energy usage. But, if the charity is to thrive in the future, it needs to responsibly care for its assets.

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Creating a supportive and understanding working environment will help employees deal with the stresses they experience both inside and outside working hours. A compelling working community includes knowing one’s purpose, feeling appreciated, and being able to deal with stress without losing focus. Men claimed to be able to be calmer when dealing with stress than women (28% against 19%). However, we know people fear the stigma of mental illness and men may be less willing to be open about it. Even so, fewer than 30% overall said they are good at handling stress. That means seven in ten felt they lose focus at moments of high stress.

The power of positive resilience

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Our latest wellbeing research focusses on the resilience of the UK workforce, illustrating the role employers have in ensuring their employees are ready for any challenge.

Andrew Kennedy, Head of Human Resources and Volunteering

The whole of society is thinking strategically and practically about all things environmental and sustainability. We want to do the same in terms of how we heat and ventilate our properties using air source, heat pumps, solar panels, etc, to keep energy usage as sustainable.

Challenge

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English Heritage launched a salary-sacrifice scheme for employees to buy electric vehicles (EVs), reducing the organisation’s impact on the environment. But it also aligned its objectives with those of its people. The scheme was met with widespread approval and a high take-up rate.

Solution

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“It would be irresponsible for us to preach to our people about how they travel, as our sites are not always easily arrived at on bus, by bicycle or even walking. We knew there was a potentially tax-efficient way for people to purchase new and cheaper-to-run vehicles and we decided to explore it because there could be a win here for them, but also us as an organisation.”

Challenge

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These measures also have an effect on the broader organisation, as funding bodies increasingly ask for charities to demonstrate how they are tackling ESG and equality, diversity and inclusion matters.

Results

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Andrew Kennedy, Head of Human Resources and Volunteering

It turned out we were pushing at an open door. What I really like is the fact that I'm working for an organisation that not only has policies on sustainability, but is actually doing this at an organisational level.

Another significant consideration is the way senior management interacts with employees. For example, it’s considered good practice for senior management to work among employees and ‘walk the floor’. However, it’s possible to subscribe to the letter of the policy but not its spirit. Leaders may indeed be more visible, but are they approachable and relatable? This is what’s needed to create a real connection – and trust - between senior management and employees. By taking clear policy steps that unify both business objectives with the spirit and fabric of the organisation, this will help to address concerns, boost morale, and turn uncertain employees into active advocates.

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Many, but by no means all, of these may be seeking higher pay to help meet their financial challenges.

This is something that is constant across all pay scales, so not confined to those seeking higher wages to meet the cost-of-living crisis.

This shows that money isn’t the only factor increasing stress at work. In addition, we found a ‘resilient’ individual – one who is engaged and satisfied at work – is almost twice as productive as someone who's not. Again, this is not about money. It’s about happiness, fulfilment, and wellbeing.

Marginalisation

Unless you've taken steps to address the perception employees have (that their work lacks meaning), almost one-fifth of the workforce feel marginalised in their jobs.

Purpose at work

We also found that almost 20% didn’t understand their purpose at work.

Cost of living

90% of respondents in our survey suggested the impact of the cost-of-living crisis is extremely significant.

Our survey findings

Labour turnover is expensive, but is it a natural part of business life? Well, yes and no. People will always want to move on, but those reasons are not necessarily the same across the workforce. For example, 90% of respondents in our survey suggested the impact of the cost-of-living crisis is extremely significant. Many, but by no means all, of these may be seeking higher pay to help meet their financial challenges. But we also found that almost 20% didn’t understand their purpose at work. This is something that is constant across all pay scales, so not confined to those seeking higher wages to meet the cost-of-living crisis. On this evidence alone, unless you’ve taken steps to address this perception many employees have (that their work lacks meaning), almost one-fifth of the workforce feel marginalised in their jobs. This shows that money isn’t the only factor increasing stress at work. In addition, we found a ‘resilient’ individual – one who is engaged and satisfied at work – is almost twice as productive as someone who's not. Again, this is not about money. It’s about happiness, fulfilment, and wellbeing.

Some employees may be more fundamentally content at work because they already work at a company they admire. Other businesses may be better at gauging the mood of its workforce and take time to invest in them.

Aligning employee perceptions with business objectives is another helpful approach.

For example, by giving people clear goals – 43% of those surveyed have a set list of goals and refer to them regularly. This will go some way to addressing a perceived lack of purpose and fears about change.

Support can come through small interventions.

This is significant because of the amount of change every organisation regularly experiences, from technology and social attitudes to the expectations of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards.

Managing change is another big stressor, with large numbers of both men and women admitting it is something with which they struggle

Aligning employee perceptions with business objectives is another helpful approach.

Support can come through small interventions.

Managing change is another big stressor, with large numbers of both men and women admitting it is something with which they struggle