Keys to Employee Resiliency
Employees who worked for supervisors who practiced inclusiveness and employees who worked in inclusive groups may feel more supported, "fostering their coping capabilities," the report suggests.
"[Employees] may be more likely to voice their unique ideas and contributions regarding better ways to adapt" when they have a supervisor and workgroup who value their uniqueness.
Having access to team members and social resources—such as communication platforms like Slack—also contributed to employee resilience during the pandemic. This access fostered camaraderie, provided a way for workers to share their personal experiences and offered an outlet for co-workers to assist colleagues in managing increased workloads, researchers suggest.
This is not surprising, said Alex Topakbashian, vice president at Gap International who is responsible for the company's Breakthrough Diagnostics practice.
"When leaders and teams actively build strength in their relationships, as the study shows, they become well-prepared to deal with the unexpected," he said. "Our experience suggests that when we are not dealing with the pressure of an externally driven crisis, camaraderie can even serve as a platform to create resilience that propels the organization forward, beyond the normal, everyday results."
Leaders' empathy also contributes to employee resiliency, according to the report. Leaders who understand and care about employees can "buffer the effects of adversity," researchers noted.
But being resilient, they pointed out, doesn't fall solely on the shoulders of individual employees or leaders. Resiliency has to be fostered and cultivated by organizational culture and resources and through workgroup and supervisor behavior.
"We may not be able to predict with certainty the next major adverse event," the researchers conclude in the report. However, these findings "may help senior leaders brace for and overcome the impact of future adversities."