Michael Bugenhagen, FEI Business Development Manager

Resilience. What does it mean?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides the following definition: “An ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”

But what does it mean for the workplace?

Workplaces are often more focused on the “recover” and “misfortune” aspects of this definition. Take health insurance as an example. Health insurance is provided, in many cases, to help people recover from some misfortune.

Another example might be your employee assistance program (EAP). Has your organization considered using the knowledge and experience of the EAP to review policies and provide workplace development? Are you communicating regularly with the EAP about how training, lunch-and-learns or expanded promotion of the EAP’s counseling benefit could help employees better understand and address areas of concern? These are critical steps towards incorporating workplace resilience and recovering from misfortune.

Unfortunately, in today’s cost-driven world, many organizations have lost sight of the value of a robust EAP partner. Those with embedded EAP programs are rarely aware they even have an EAP; if they do, they receive limited to no account management (meaning HR and members of leadership do not have a readily available consultant to reach out to when tackling workplace concerns). This has resulted in less and less engagement with EAPs, and diminished the opportunity to impact both employee and organizational resilience.

But it is not just EAP companies should be engaging in conversation about. To achieve lasting resilience, today’s organizations need to consider at least four development areas:

Organizational Development

Via manager consultation and necessary training, address employee conflicts, substance abuse policies, harassment, or critical incidents (such as workplace deaths or other traumatic events) knowing you are in good hands with a provider well-versed in organizational best practice.

Workplace Violence Prevention

Preventing incidents of workplace violence is of growing importance to organizations. Using training techniques that emphasize trauma-informed de-escalation to deal with anger management and conflict resolution creates a safer workplace environment for everyone.

Crisis Management

To expect the unexpected and maintain business continuity, invest in crisis management services and provide emergency inquiry solutions, accounting for people protocols, next of kin communication, victim/family assistance, media guidance, or training, drills, and exercises to prepare for any crisis scenario.

EAP and Wellness

Finally, EAP alleviates life’s daily challenges (including the effects of stress) through the availability of child and elder care, legal and financial services, mental health, smoking cessation, nutrition, wellness coaching, training on diversity and multigenerational workplace challenges, and so on.

So, what next?

FEI recently released a white paper, Journey to Resilience: Strengthening Organizations with Integrated Solutions, that fully explores the benefits of incorporating these four services into your organizational blueprint.

Curious how else you can improve workforce resilience? Let me know in the comments, or reach out directly.