Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER MAY 2018 NEWS 11 Linking resiliency to health, engagement and productivity Each of the four pillars of the Total Health Index can impact employee resiliency BY BILL HOWATT WHAT role does resiliency play in predicting employees' health, engagement and productivity? Most HR leaders would agree re- siliency is being discussed more often, and has become more im- portant in helping employees to cope with change and to keep up with the demands of work. However, only a small percent- age of leaders have the actual data to specifi cally demonstrate a di- rect link between employees' re- siliency levels and health, engage- ment and productivity. ose leaders who can demon- strate that employees with higher levels of resiliency are more likely to thrive than employees with lower levels are better-positioned to make the case that investing in employee resiliency is good for business. Resiliency refers to an em- ployee's ability to recover from adversity and setbacks, according to the 2018 article "Improving Re- siliency in Healthcare Employees" in the American Journal of Health Behavior. Any time an employee has a diff erence between what she wants and what she has can be per- ceived as negative and a setback. Setbacks come in different forms, from the minimum to the major. In a typical day, most em- ployees need to deal with mini- mum setbacks both at home and at work that drain their energy. When the average employee is asked what he does daily to build up his resiliency reserves, he won't have a clear answer. is kind of response implies that resiliency is something you have or don't have, like a personality trait — which is not accurate. Resiliency is not static — it's dynamic. It requires intention, focus and action. It's a trainable skill that employees can learn to help them better manage the va- riety of setbacks presented by life and work. Resiliency can be developed by daily micro-decisions and habits. From a total health perspective, each of the four pillars of the To- tal Health Index (physical health, mental health, work health and life health) can be a source of energy or a drain on energy that impacts an employee's resiliency reserves. Consider the following two employees and determine which would have more resiliency: Sam: He gets four hours of sleep a night, 60 per cent of his diet comes from fast food, he av- erages fewer than 5,000 steps a day, doesn't enjoy his work, is in a strained marriage and has credit card debt issues. Sally: She gets eight hours of sleep a night, averages 10,000 steps a day, is in a loving relation- ship, is active in her community and is passionate about her work. Clearly, Sally is better-posi- tioned than Sam because she has learned how to better manage each of her four pillars. Sam lives in chronic stress and, because of this, even a minor setback has the po- tential to impact him much more than Sally, who has more energy to push through life's challenges. Employees like Sally who invest energy into each of their four pil- lars each day are more likely to operate from an internal locus of control, and understand the value of paying attention to their micro- decisions and habits. By building up her resiliency re- serves, Sally is prepared to man- age the unknown challenges she may face in life and work. Research has found that the higher an employee's Total Health Index (THI), the more resilient he is. e following resiliency ques- tion from the THI is aligned to the above resiliency defi nition: "I usually recover quickly from set- backs (such as making a mistake or receiving negative feedback)." e above chart shows aggre- gated data from the THI data- base that includes tens of thou- sands of employee fi les from a large cross-section of organiza- tions across Canada. is data set provides a benchmark against which employers can compare employee profi les. It clearly shows employees with higher scores on this one resilien- cy item have higher THI scores that predict better health, engage- ment and productivity outcomes. When an entire workforce is put into one of the fi ve THI pro- fi les, it's not diffi cult for HR pro- fessionals to compare the diff erent THI profi les. For example, comparing the Strained Health category to Ac- tive Health, the diff erences are quite signifi cant, especially when it comes to the number of days employees are at work feeling unwell. The strained employee is costing the organization much more than the active one. is kind of data suggests em- ployers that invest in resiliency to help employees stay in the green, and to move employees from the lower categories to green ones, have the potential to both save costs and boost productivity. We're in a period where the one constant is change. It ap- pears that resiliency levels and total health profi les can help pre- dict which employees will thrive more than others. Employers can't make employ- ees resilient. However, they can facilitate strategy and resiliency programs that enable employees to develop awareness and tools to build up their resiliency reserves. Resiliency matters, and those employees who have it are more likely to be keep up with constant change, maintain their health and be more engaged and productive. Bill Howatt, Ph.D. Ed.D., is the chief of research and development, workforce productivity, at Morneau Shepell in Toronto. For more information about the Total Health Index, visit www.morneaushepell.com. JOINT VENTURE BY: 12-PART SERIES This is the fourth of a 12-part series on total health that will explore the links between employees' health, engagement and productivity: 1. The total health framework 2. The 4 pillars of the Total Health Index 3. Senior leadership 4. Resiliency 5. Alcohol 6. A respectful workplace 7. Manager effectiveness 8. Financial health 9. Going beyond traditional engagement 10. Productivity 11. Mental health 12. Physical activity, nutrition, sleep Total Health Index score Average number of chronic issues Employee engagement index Average sick days per year Average discretionary effort Average days feeling unwell per year Resiliency question 85 0.3 86 1.9 93% 6.7 88 75 0.5 74 2.6 90% 15.9 76 66 1.1 64 3.6 87% 37.4 69 56 2.1 52 5.0 85% 74.5 61 45 3.8 39 6.8 81% 129.1 50 Demonstrating the link between perceived resiliency and total health Optimal Health LEGEND Active Health Strained Health Problem Health At-Risk Health Morneau Shepell offers a full range of mental health solutions to help organizations build and implement a strategy that addresses risks to employee health, productivity and engagement. Helping employers help employees At Morneau Shepell, we understand that a mentally healthy workplace begins with an organizational strategy but requires employee participation in order to succeed. Morneau Shepell works with organizations by leveraging our experience in delivering employee and family assistance programs, absence and disability management solutions, and health and benefit consulting. It's this broad range of experience, services and tools that uniquely positions Morneau Shepell to help employers create mentally healthy workplaces. Supporting your organization and employees to create a mentally healthy workplace Let us help. Discover how our unique approach can improve your workforce engagement and productivity. 1.800.461.9722 | morneaushepell.com

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