Stress at work is the silent killer of productivity. But the solution should not be about ‘fixing the individual’. The solution is to fix the culture, and build organisations where employees don’t just survive, but thrive. This is what Dr Leandro Herero, Mike Tyler, and others argue.
Fruitful Insights, a wellbeing company, has released new data that shows a link between employee stress and decreased productivity. This is especially true when workloads are unmanageable. Stress is not just about deadlines. Stress is also about being supported and seen. It’s also about culture and behavior.
Productivity losses for those who can manage their daily affairs well, who are resilient, are reduced by more than half compared to those who cannot. This is directly influenced by the culture of an organisation. These findings will be expanded upon later.
In the meantime, some context. In recent years,’resilience’ may have become a dirty term. In our opinion, however, it is time to rebrand.
Fully resilient and “ready for battle”
Around a decade ago, building a resilient workplace to reduce stress at work was all the rage. When you think about the definition of resilience, it is the ability to overcome difficulties and to manage daily life.
“A culture that focuses on training people to be resilient is different from a culture of resilience.”
Then management consultants and tech platform providers seized on this. Then, boom, resilience training was created as a ready-made solution.
This idea is that it is up to each individual to improve their resilience. How? How?
Resilience is a quality that comes from within. It’s true. A culture that focuses on training people to be resilient is different from a resilient culture. A culture of …’ can be achieved through training, but it is not the same as a resilient culture.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “we built our house, and then they built us”, we can say that resilience and culture are closely related. The environment of an individual and their surrounding behaviours play a vital role.
The focus has shifted from ‘fixing the individual’ to a more holistic approach. It had to because, despite the many training solutions, the work-related stress continues to rise.
Health and Safety Executive data show that work-related stress levels in the UK have not decreased significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the same time though, awareness of the importance of stress risk assessments/psychosocial risk management, has improved. Tools and guidelines, whether they come from the HSE Management Standards standard or the international standard ISO 45003 are available to employers in order to identify and manage workplace stressors. Stressors can range from bullying to high workloads.
All of this is important, just like training. We would say that there should be a better balance between “doing no damage” and “actively doing good” in organizations. The positive in terms of feelings and functions does not automatically appear when you identify and remove the negative. This requires a focus of culture and behavior. All too often, culture and behaviour are put on the back burner.
Rebranding resilience: the modern skillset for today?
According to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus from Ephesus “the only constant in the world is change”. Organizational change is nothing new. Employees who are resilient will thrive, as they can handle the uncertainty and demands of their jobs better.
The productivity of those who are able to handle their daily tasks well is much higher than that of others. Our focus should therefore be on improving the tail.”
Fruitful Insights data shows that employees who are able to manage their daily tasks well have a much higher productivity than those who do not.
The productivity loss for those who “definitely agree” that they manage daily affairs well is PS4,600, which is 57% lower than the loss of productivity for those who “definitely disagree”, at PS10700.
This is why it’s important to point out that productivity losses will never be zero. You might end up with burnout and stress at work if you think that it is possible.
It is important to note that those who are able to handle their daily tasks well suffer a lower productivity loss. Our focus should therefore be on improving the tail.
Culture and resilience are completely interrelated
Fruitful’s research shows that culture is directly linked to resilience. Employees who are resilient report more energy and less burnout. Sixty-three percent of employees who reported high resilience said they felt energized.
Also, they are more likely to be valued and supported. Seven out of ten people who have high resilience say that they also feel valued. More than 8 in 10 people feel that they receive high support from their managers.
What should organisations do based on the key takeaways?
Don’t abandon the training or stress risk assessments. However, it is important to understand that these are not the only solutions for work-related stress.
A balance must be struck between the two, with an emphasis on culture. This aspect is all too often overlooked. Researchers (Schaufeli, Barker and Anthony McMann) have long emphasized the importance of finding the right balance.
“It’s important to foster and instil the daily behaviours which create conditions that allow employees to feel valued, supported and resilient.”
It is important to cultivate and instil the daily behaviours which will make employees feel valued, supported and resilient.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to achieve this through a set of written values or even by merely demonstrating leadership. Social copying and peer-to-peer influence large-scale behavior change. We are influenced by “people like us”.
As a result, the Chalfont Project developed’viral change’25 years earlier, a program for culture transformation and large-scale changes.
It involves identifying the people who have influence within an organization, and then getting them to adopt a few simple daily behaviours. This is supported by storytelling, with leaders playing a background role.
You must also monitor your progress because, if you don’t have a way to measure the impact of your efforts, you won’t be able to tell if it was successful or if there are still problems.
Real change can only happen when behaviours become part of everyday life. Only through real change can we create organisations where employees don’t just survive, but thrive. Let’s launch a resilience rebranding revolution!
References
Schaufeli, W. B. and Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resource and their relationship with engagement and burnout: A multi-sample analysis’. Journal of Organisational Behaviour 25(3), available at: https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/209.pdf
Anthony-McMann, P.E. (2014). The study examined the relationship between employee engagement and workplace stress among IT professionals working in community hospitals. Human Resource Development Theses & Dissertations, Paper 3, available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311529398_Exploring_Different_Operationalizations_of_Employee_Engagement_and_Their_Relationships_With_Workplace_Stress_and_Burnout_EXPLORING_DIFFERENT_OPERATIONALIZATIONS_OF_EMPLOYEE_ENGAGEMENT
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