With the first five days of November marking International Stress Awareness Week, now is as good a time as any to ask ourselves how well we are managing our mental health in the workplace.

Psychological wellbeing has always been crucial for helping workers to get the best out of their careers – but also remains a subject of great concern to many of us. This much is borne out by Mental Health Foundation research that has found a quarter of workers are affected at mental health issues at some point.

However, despite mental wellbeing having become an increasingly common buzzword – in and away from the workplace – significant numbers of us are still unaware of exactly what mental resilience is, and how we can harness it.

Explaining what mental resilience is – and what it isn’t

As workplace health expert Dr Wolfgang Seidl was recently quoted as saying in the Evening Standard: “Resilience is the ability to adapt and bounce back from difficult events, challenges, disappointments or adversity. It’s not about being strong or having a ‘stiff upper lip’.

“Your resilience level isn’t set in stone. It’s dynamic, and you can increase it.”

Employers have an important role to play in encouraging resilience among their staff

While, in the words of freelance Happiness Officer Danielle Woods, “the emotions we feel are ultimately a choice,” she added that the task of building resilience was not solely down to the individual, with employers also needing to take responsibility for the environment they create.

It is crucial, then, that organisations do not simply blame struggling employees for not doing enough to make themselves resilient, if there are aspects of the workplace that could be adjusted to help build resilience.

Research has indicated that less than half of employees would feel able to communicate to their line manager about suffering from stress – which underlines that there is still a very real sense of victim-blaming in some organisations.

So, how can you help boost resilience – in yourself and your employees?

Dr Seidl encourages a focus on the four Cs:

• Commitment, including individuals setting goals and staying dedicated to them, as well as employers setting out specific and inspiring company values, and making them a reality
• Control, so that staff feel trusted to manage their own workflow, instead of being micromanaged or remote-controlled
• Challenge, or specifically, approaching challenges as opportunities. Employers and staff alike should aim to adopt flexible mindsets, with an openness to new approaches, instead of simply being of the view that “this is the way we have always done it”
• Community. A sense of community has become harder to maintain for some firms, amid the strains of the last few years and the greater prevalence of remote working. However, it is still possible to cultivate “watercooler” moments even in today’s increasingly digital workplace, which in turn, can help ensure employees feel supported as part of a well-functioning and likeminded team.

We can provide your firm with invaluable specialised assistance

As corporate governance and compliance professionals here at London Registrars, we are well-placed to help your business manage the many challenges that may be posed to its back-office processes at this time of recovery for many UK firms.

For a more detailed conversation about solutions of ours ranging from registered office addresses and directors’ service addresses to the preparation and submission of your annual Confirmation Statement and register of shareholders maintenance, please feel free to contact us on 020 7608 0011.

November 2021