The Employee Experience
For Resilience Index

Following is an example of the template filled-in with rating levels on each of the 10 factors across 5 themes used to assess employee resilience.

Sources:

The Employee Experience for Resilience Index is a broad synthesis of factors published by a variety of sources including: The World Economic Forum, Gallup-Healthways, The Labour Force Survey by the UK Office for National Statistics,  CIPD, The WELL Building Standard, The Department Of Health, BUPA, Psychology Today, TIME Magazine, PsychCentral, FM World, Harvard Business Review, and ICM Research.

Psychological models used by the Index and strategy for use include acceptance and commitment therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, multi-braining, mindfulness and techniques drawn from positive psychology.

Important Orientation

You may have noticed that change models for employee wellbeing lead from the ‘head’ with complex theory and structure.

Taking a different approach:

The ResilienceMentor model leads from the heart, simply by asking the employee ‘how do you feel?‘.

The Index is assessed from the employee’s own perspective, not what the organisation thinks they have provided (employee orientation). Data can of course be analysed to decide on focus points for new Wellbeing and Resilience initiatives.

Two questions are asked for each of the 10 factors:

1. How satisfied are you with this at present?
2. How supported do you feel with this at present?

For example (from Theme 1: Inspired for Purpose, on Organisational Goals):

1. How satisfied are you with your visibility of and connection with the organizations goals?
2. How supported do you feel to stay visible of and connected with the organisations goals?

The exact wording depends on the specific situation and appropriate style of conversation.

One more example from Theme 4 (Habits for Health), on Autonomy:

1. How satisfied are you with your level of autonomy within the organisation?
2. How supported do you feel to have a satisfying level of autonomy within the organisation?

The Employee Resilience Index comprises 5 broad themes divided into 10 factors scored on a scale from 1 to 10 as a subjective measure of contribution to resilience.

Let’s dive in…

 Theme 1: Inspired for Purpose

Organizational Goals

Emphasis: Broader insight and connection to the mission of the organisation adds a deeper sense of meaning and purpose to the employees efforts. This underpins engagement and lasting psychological resilience.

• I have clear visibility of the organisation’s policy and investment decisions.
• I understand the organisations goals.
• I agree with the organisations goals.
• I see evidence of the organisations goals.
• I understand how my role fits in with the these goals.
• The organisation makes good use of my role to help achieve these goals.
• I believe in my ability to serve the organizations goals.
• I am optimistic that the organisation, along with me, can and will achieve those goals.

Performance Contribution

Emphasis: Being able to achieve and exceed expectations enlivens a positive mood and builds resiliency through positive expectation, optimum and self-belief.

• I have a clearly defined role and remit.
• I agree with and like my role.
• I have clearly defined performance objectives.
• I make realistic personal goals that I’m confident enough to achieve.
• I am making progress towards my agreed objectives.
• I get fair and balanced compensation for my efforts and results.
• I am mindful of myself, my skills, my current limitations, my development and my value.
• I lean in to experience the full range of my potential, my capacity and my resiliency, trusting that I’ll bounce back from adversity and thrive over time.
• I am facing my fears to overcome limitations on achieving my objectives.
• I find personal meaning and satisfaction in pursuing my agreed objectives.
• I see and believe in the possibilities of what my role can develop into.

Theme 2: Learning for Development

Job Training

Emphasis: Feeling competent and able to perform at a good standard removes basic daily stress.

• I feel supported to understand and perform my basic job role.
• I am given opportunity to increase my knowledge and skill for my job.
• I have role-models (mentors, managers) who I look up to and enjoy learning from.
• I am given health education to help me stay physically and mentally well and engaged.
• I acknowledge difficulty in my role and give myself permission to be vulnerable and seek mentoring, support or contribution.

Career Progression

Emphasis: Without personal opportunity for progress, a feeling of stuck-ness develops. This blocks engagement and lowers resilience. Seeing clear career progression builds engagement and supports resilience.

• I am given learning and development opportunities to expand my remit.
• I am given support to progress my career in- or out-side of the organization as appropriate.
• I am given financial education to help me prepare for the future (pension, investment, savings, etc).
• I feel that my brain is kept sharp through learning and development to help me progress.
• Creative days are available to help me broaden my talents and exercise my creativity beyond my current work remit.

Theme 3: Generous for Recognition

Receiving Recognition

Emphasis: A global study funded by the World Economic Forum indicates that when employees feel like their employers care about their wellbeing, they are eight times more likely to be engaged. Giving frequent positive recognition for ideas, challenges and efforts (not only achievements) helps employees feel that employers care.

• I am well listened to when I have creative ideas or grievances.
• The support-people around me listen with empathy without rushing to brush me off with a ‘quick fix’ or give me ‘advice’.
• I am given ample space to grieve personal issues and work through negative emotions when they arise.
• I am given positive recognition by my immediate manager for the small contributions I make.
• I am also recognized by my manager within our team.
• I am also recognized for my contributions cross-functionally.
• My manager gives me visibility among senior management for my contributions.
• Senior management congratulates or thanks me personally and visibly within the organization.

Giving Gratitude

Emphasis: Feelings of appreciation, both shard and received, boost coherent patterns in our physiology via the heart rhythm’s response to goodwill. Expressed ‘heart-felt’ gratitude builds resilience in both giver and receiver.

• I feel grateful for the efforts of others that support my achievements.
• I feel comfortable giving praise and recognition to other members of the team.
• I am given appropriate opportunities by the organization to share my gratitude for various people in the organization.

Theme 4: Habits for Health

Autonomy

Emphasis: Providing employees with autonomy empowers a sense of self-control which is vital for positive life experience. An important contributor to resilience.

• I can choose the amount of time I spend on different projects.
• I can choose the teams I am involved with.
• I am able to influence who I work with in the organization.
• I feel able to adapt flexibly to changing circumstances within the organization.
• I feel the organization supports my work-life balance, including all of my social roles (e.g. parent, spouse/partner, friend, spiritual searcher/observer, worker/employee).
• I am given space to manage my workload to suit different life events (holidays, celebrations, sickness, family events, etc with flexible hours).

Rejuvenation

Emphasis: We must feel appreciated as human beings first, before we can be ‘human doings’ effectively. Time, space and support for rejuvenation in various forms significantly boosts health and mood, and therefore resilience.

• I understand the physical exercise opportunities available to me (stretching, cardio, desk-posture).
• I do enough exercise to feel fit for high performance at work and in life.
• I get ample rest, quietude, and sleep.
• I know and make use of many different ways to take a break from work. (duvet days and more: examples).
• I have good opportunity for healthy lunches (environment, food options, duration, consistency).
• Good hydration is easy at the office (clean water filters at hand).
• I am encouraged to use sensors and wearables for health monitor.
• I have enough work variety so as not to become mindlessly bored in my day to day work.
• I have access to some kind of counselling and life management programme.
• I get good opportunity to take breaks during the work day (time outdoors, micro-breaks, power-naps).
• I know when I need to step back from something that may over-tax me.
• I am involved with groups (in or out of work) who reflect my core values as a whole being, not just an employee.
• I have healthy self-care habits that keep me balanced, well, and engaged for the long-term.
• I feel the organization genuinely cares about my wellbeing, not just my performance.

Theme 5: Culture for Collaboration

Positive Environment

Emphasis: Our surroundings highly influence our energy levels and capacity for engagement. Providing a WELL (www.wellcertified.com) environment supports all aspects of resilience.

• Physical resources are sufficient for good performance (equipment, stationery)
• The physical environment is clean, safe and comfortable (air, light, decor, ergonomic, with building material transparency, i.e. I know what’s in the walls!)
• Distractions from work are avoidable (break-out areas, meeting rooms)
• The technology around me is efficient, effective and practical.
• Facilities are available for different formats of work (break-out areas, meeting rooms, etc)
• Biophilia is supported via features that involve natural elements (e.g. water fountains, plants and other greenery, sky visibility, etc.)
• Business travel is organized for positive experience, physical comfort and health.
• My work-life supports my personal life and other social roles (parental leave, child care support, family support).

Team Cohesion

Emphasis: Empathy and connection mitigates experiences of loneliness or isolation. Experiences for collaboration stimulates our drive to serve, and therefore it stimulates engagement and supports resilience.

• Team collaboration is smooth, friendly, supportive, fun, and effective.
• I have plenty of opportunity to be involved with different parts of the organization.
• I feel comfortable enough with the team to share when I am unsure of the best approach or don’t have ‘all the answers’.
• I feel comfortable to enlist the help of various people in the organization.
• I have opportunity and ability to inspire, influence, and develop others.
• The Management style promotes a culture of mutual trust and respect.
• I am developing a keen social awareness: the ability to sense, understand, and react to others’ emotions while comprehending social networks.
• Change initiatives are well-managed so I feel ‘in-the-know’ and not disrupted from focusing on my performance.

How To Use The Employee Resilience Index

We see 5 main uses for the index:

1. Individual employee engagement appraisals

Complete a wheel while thinking of a specific individual employee or a specific team within the organization to get a subjective sense of gaps in resiliency initiatives that cn be launched.

2. Employee self-assessment of job satisfaction

Allow employees to rate their own current satisfaction level for each of the 10 factors by filling in the Index wheel. This adds as feedback for the organization and also a means of working with individual employees to help support their resiliency and engagement.

3. Employee objectives setting and review

Use the template to agree and assess employee objectives in a quarterly review process. This allows more than just ‘job role’ objectives to be developed and supported, spanning the spectrum of what makes and keeps employees resilience and engaged, thus contributing to performance objectives.

4. Team-wide workshops for wellbeing

Huddle together in a meeting room and use one large print-out of the blank wheel template to brainstorm ideas on areas and opportunities for improvement that will contribute to greater resiliency and engagement.

5. HR/Organizational Development self-assessments

Involve the strategic personnel responsible for HR and organizational development to discuss, plan, initiate and review new initiatives for resiliency, wellbeing and engagement.

If you are a senior HR/OD thought leader and would like to help evolve this work, get in touch.