Employees are better able to stick with projects and “achieve bigger goals” when they have stronger emotional resilience, and employers can help them build it, according to a new report.
Based on a study of 1,590 employees, the Global Corporate Challenge Insights report, released today, found workers are more productive when they have high levels of resilience or “grit” – defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals.
The study compared employees’ health, psychological wellbeing and performance during the GCC 100 Day Journey last year against the ‘GCC Grit Scale’, where employees rated how well a number of statements relating to resilience described them.
GCC data scientist Dr Olivia Sackett says the study found grit was strongly related to health, wellbeing (in terms of sleep quality, happiness and stress) and productivity.
“We found that, on average, employees increased their grit levels by 4.3 per cent when their wellbeing improved and stress levels went down,” she says.
“Research shows that grit is highly predictive of achievement. If you want to build a team of people who will stick with a project, fight through the obstacles and keep going until they find a solution; the characteristic you need to focus on building is grit.
“People who have grit are very valuable to an organisation because they achieve bigger goals – and more of them.
“Cultivating grit in employees is not only good people management, it’s also smart business practice.”
Fortunately, resilient employees “are not just born that way – they can develop the skill”, the report says, noting that this means organisations can “potentially transform their entire workforce into a tougher, more determined group of employees”.
Employers should improve the health and wellbeing of their employees if they want to have a direct impact on their resilience levels and in turn their productivity, GCC’s chief medical officer Dr David Batman says in the report.
“People need education, motivation and encouragement to make lasting positive changes to their lifestyles,” he says.
“A resilient person is able to cope with challenging situations and to spring back and often succeed against what might seem to be insurmountable odds. In a world that has changed dramatically since the financial crisis of 2008, where uncertainty and change have become the norm, grit has never been more important.”
Batman says low resilience, on the other hand, can lead to absenteeism, poor performance, ill health and loss of talent, and it’s vital for employers to look out for early warning signs.
Struggling employees may exhibit gradual changes in performance and attendance rates, reduced concentration and memory, and are more likely to be involved in accidents, he says.
Programs that help employees transform the health of their teams are “a great outcome for everyone because you not only create happier, healthier individuals, you also create stronger, more determined and focused employees”, Batman says
