The decline of psychological resilience in the modern workforce: A growing challenge for HRs

Employees in the workforce face many challenges daily. This can mentally exhaust employees, especially when they face difficult challenges that haven’t been successfully solved. Building psychological resilience is essential to handle such challenges.

With the corporate world growing larger by the second, it is no wonder the workforce gets a diverse set of problems to work with every day. Tackling these problems can be tricky, which has caused a steep decline in psychological resilience today. This can impact the productivity and efficiency of the team. HR professionals and managers should collaborate to address this issue as early as possible.

This blog is aimed to discuss how HRs can address the decline of psychological resilience in the modern workforce.

Understanding the decline in psychological resilience

Resilience is the ability to adapt and overcome the challenges and failures faced in life. Being able to bounce back, and be ready for the next challenge is the resilience employees need today. Lack of resilience will result in reduced productivity, burnout, and lower success rates in problem-solving.

To address the decline in psychological resilience, one must understand what can contribute to such breakdown in resilience:

Low support in professional settings: When colleagues and upper management do not empathize with employees, they feel overburdened and unheard. This can lead to depressive thoughts, feelings of loneliness, and low self-esteem.
Low support from friends and family: Family and friends are some of the most important people in a person’s life. Lack of support from loved ones can lead to hopelessness, which is detrimental to resilience.
Workplace stressors: Due to the challenges faced in the workplace, there can be many workplace stressors employees have to deal with every day. This can chip away at resilience making employees vulnerable to mental health problems.
Frequently failing to complete tasks: Sometimes artists and writers go through “artist’s block” or “writer’s block” respectively. This is when they are unable to write or use their creative phase due to low inspiration or motivation. Employees can also undergo such blocks where they are stuck in a loop of failing to solve or complete tasks. This can cause a breakdown of resilience and self-esteem.
Loss of a loved one: Losing a loved one whether it is a colleague, a friend, or a family member. It can be difficult to cope with the loss of loved ones. In situations like this, symptoms of depression like loss of appetite, reduced sleep, increased anxiety, and stress, can be a few signs to look out for.
Any significant professional or personal loss: When employees don’t receive the promotion or the salary hike expected, it can be perceived as a loss in professional life.

An accumulation of these events can cause any person to have a complete breakdown of resilience. This can bring many mental health challenges to this person. It can cause severe depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse, among many other long-term problems. Therefore HR professionals should work to tackle this early on.

HR challenges in addressing psychological resilience

Psychological resilience is a new concept introduced to the workplace. Many people do not acknowledge the need to build and nurture resilience but rather believe it should come naturally. Stigma and other hurdles make addressing challenges in psychological Let us take a look at how HR professionals can begin addressing psychological resilience in the workplace:

Identify: HR professionals should train to identify signs in employees of declining psychological resilience. Early detection of such difficulties means the sooner one can work towards tackling it.
Stigma & communication barriers: Stigma around mental health is one of the biggest reasons employees do not reach out for help when struggling with mental health. Work towards removing this stigma in the workplace and discuss freely about mental health issues.
Lack of resources: Providing adequate access to mental health resources allows resources to be readily available to aid mental health issues.

Strategies for building psychological resilience in the workforce

Building psychological resilience in the workforce is key to maintaining a healthy workspace. There are a few ways HR professionals can begin to encourage the team to build psychological resilience:

Promote mental health: Introduce education and training programs to raise awareness of workplace mental health issues.
Encourage Open Communication: Foster a culture of safe and open communication in the workplace to discuss mental health issues and resilience difficulties without stigma. Ensure coworkers and managers are equipped to support and guide in these times.
Implement resilience-building workshops: Implementing programs that teach mindfulness and stress management techniques can help with building resilience within the workplace. Learning effective coping mechanisms from these workshops will help employees regulate emotions and adapt to situations better.
Flexible work arrangements: Offering flexible work arrangements like remote work, flexible hours, or mental health days can build resilience and reduce stress.
Resilience-focused leadership approach: Adapting a resilience-focused leadership approach can subtly boost resilience within the workplace. Providing words of encouragement and inspiring the team even after facing losses as a company can provide professional support and build resilience in the long run.

Addressing the decline of psychological resilience in the workplace is crucial to maintaining productivity, efficiency, and morale in the workplace. HR professionals and managers can work together to tackle this issue as low resilience within the team is detrimental to the company's performance. Keeping in mind the contributing factors and methods to build the team’s resilience is important. Implementing workshops and providing resources for mental health support and aid can bring both short and long-term benefits to the workplace.

FAQs

Why is psychological resilience important in the workplace?

Psychological resilience helps employees cope with stress, maintain productivity, and adapt to challenges, leading to a more stable and productive workforce.

What are some signs that an employee may be struggling with resilience?

Common signs include increased absenteeism, decreased productivity, withdrawal from team activities, and frequent stress-related complaints.

How can HRs support employees in building resilience?

HRs can offer training programs, provide access to mental health resources, promote open communication, and create a supportive work environment.

What are some effective resilience-building programs for employees?

Mindfulness training, stress management workshops, and peer support groups are effective programs for building resilience in the workforce.