For many companies, the end of the year is their busiest and most stressful time. On top of workplace stressors, many of your employees face personal challenges during the holiday season. To help them cope and boost productivity, consider offering resilience training as part of your workplace health program.
Keep reading to learn more about resilience and how you can foster it within your employees!
The High Cost of Workplace Stress
While stress is a modern epidemic, some industries are more stressful than others. Healthcare, law enforcement, military, and tech jobs are notorious for their intense demands and high stress levels. When you add in Bay Area-specific factors, like our long commutes, it’s no surprise employees are overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, all of that stress is impacting your employees’ health and lifespan. Employees with high levels of workplace stress are 10-40% more likely to have a heart attack and 35% more likely to have a physician-diagnosed medical condition. Additionally, Harvard and Stanford University working paper attributes $190 billion in health costs to workplace stress.
Occupational stress also causes decreased productivity, presenteeism, and absenteeism. Unfortunately, occupational stress isn’t going away. 65% of employees report that work is their top stressor and 40% believe their job impacts their health.
What Is Resilience?
When an employee has high levels of resilience, they are better equipped to cope with stress, trauma, and adversity. These employees can withstand and even grow in tense or demanding situations. While some people are innately resilient, you can also build your tolerance to stress.
There are several ways to foster resilience in your workplace, ranging from in-person programs to mobile apps. These programs offer a variety of techniques that involve modifying thought processes, problem-solving, and desensitization. They might also address topics as diverse as dealing with difficult people, sleep habits, physical health, and work overload.
Research shows that resilience programs offer numerous workplace benefits. According to the American Heart Association, 76% of surveyed employees consider resilience training beneficial. More importantly, employees who receive resilience training have overwhelmingly positive views of their employers’ outlook on employee health and wellness.
Take Advantage of Our Alliance Partners’ Resilience Training Programs
If you’re not sure where to start with workplace resilience training, the Canopy Health alliance can help. With over 5,000 physicians and 18 hospitals across eight Bay Area counties, our providers deliver a wide array of services and programs that encourage mental health, mindfulness, and resilience.
For example, John Muir Health and Marin General Hospital help create workplace wellness programs that address stress management, physical health, and other important issues.
Create a Workplace Culture That Values Work-Life Balance and Health
Resilience training alone won’t solve all of your workplace stress issues. You should also assess your business culture and consider how it impacts stress levels.
Most employees attribute work stress to:
- Lacking a health plan
- Shifting or long work hours
- Job insecurity
- Conflict between work and personal obligations
- Low job control
- High workplace demands and expectations
- Insufficient social support
- Organizational injustice
Work-life balance and wellness policies can alleviate most, if not all, of these work stressors. Solutions like flexible work schedules, increased paid leave, and workplace health initiatives can improve morale and reduce occupational stress.
Resources
American Heart Association Center for Workplace Health Research and Evaluation (2017, October 11). Resilience in the workplace: An evidence review and implications for practice. Dallas, TX: Author. Retrieved from https://healthmetrics.heart.org/resilience/
Lynch, S. (2015, February 23). Why your workplace might be killing you. Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved from https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-your-workplace-might-be-killing-you