Resilience Training is one of the most innovative strategies to improve the health and wellness of employees. This method of training has been in practice for over a decade and focuses on three main areas of concern; physical, mental and social. As an essential component of Resilience Training, an individual gains insight into his or her own strengths, weaknesses and the required action needed to improve them. The course includes exercises and assessments that help identify weaknesses in the work processes of an individual.
Physical resilience training addresses the body and its ability to be injured or affected. This can include an analysis of the physical structures, how these structures operate, how they can be sustained, and any issues that could be leading to the onset of future injuries or problems. As well, employees are taught about their capabilities to perform certain tasks. Employees are encouraged to be active in their own recovery and rehabilitation as well as being aware of the associated costs. Employees learn to adapt to the demands of their jobs and to do so safely and without compromising their quality of life.
Mental health resilience training is designed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of employees at all levels - from the front line to managers. This course works on reducing the negative effects of stress and develops methods of reducing employee stress by improving their coping mechanism skills. A resilient person experiences fewer symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression and is more alert, functional and focused. High job satisfaction and retention rates are linked to high levels of mental health and the delivery of effective resiliency training increases job satisfaction, lower absenteeism and reduces turnover costs.
The third area of focus for Resilience Training is their emotional health and resilience training addresses areas related to the physical health. Emotional health includes the ability to manage positive and negative emotions and to effectively communicate through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Employees learn to manage work-related stress and to build healthy relationships in the workplace. Building resilience programs with scientific backing identify the factors that are involved in the development of emotional health and use them to design wellness programs.
Many employers are concerned about the number of sick leave presenters they have to deal with each year and have attempted to reduce this by implementing a workplace wellness and illness prevention program. However there is still quite a large amount of presenteeism amongst those employed in the healthcare environment. Resilience training helps to build the necessary skills to handle the demands placed on the presentee and gives the employee additional skill sets to help them when finding work or during their recovery. Employees who have worked in environments where presenteeism was common to find the new setting much easier and the chance of a return to full-time employment greater.
A key aspect of the Resilience Training course is knowledge building. Employees learn how to identify and evaluate their own strengths and weakness so that they can increase their effectiveness in both areas. They also learn to identify and manage the challenges that they might face. In this way they can improve their overall performance both in terms of productivity and effectiveness. A stronger understanding of one's strengths and weaknesses enables them to become more efficient in their daily responsibilities and can help them to become an important part of any team.
The workplace resilience training program builds upon the already considerable benefits of participation rates in the UK. A high participation rate in the workforce has been shown to lead to higher productivity, higher levels of staff satisfaction and improved emotional health. An improvement to the workplace culture is also likely to result from increased morale amongst existing staff and a boost to employee engagement levels.
Many employers have seen a beneficial impact in terms of improved morale amongst staff as a result of the work that their employees do. It also builds and supports strong relationships with customers and helps people feel more positive about themselves. This, in turn, helps people get the most out of their day-to-day responsibilities, which can help to improve the overall quality of life.
