Resilience in the workplace: the crucial role of the employer
Prevention is better than cure, especially when it comes to stress and burn-out at work. Koen Van Hulst, responsible for psychosocial prevention at Mensura, explains how, as an employer, you can increase resilience in your organisation and reduce the risk of stress and burn-out.
The impact of stress in the workplace
Stress occurs in almost every organisation. Long-term stress can also lead to burn-out and drop-outs. Having a stress prevention policy can help you limit the risk of absenteeism, and keep your employees at work and in good health. The basis for such a policy? Psychosocial risk analysis.
4 facts about stress and resilience
The impact on an organisation of (too) much stress and (too) little resilience is often underestimated. Attention to these 4 facts about stress and resilience in the workplace is therefore crucial for your prevention policy.
Identify risks
Since 2014, a psychosocial risk analysis is mandatory for every organisation. “The analysis forms the basis for an efficient prevention policy that puts the welfare and productivity of employees first,” explains Koen. “Moreover, the mandatory nature automatically creates additional prevention awareness. However, 2 out of 3 organisations still have no prevention plan for mental problems.”
“A psychosocial risk analysis is a proactive way to get a picture of the causes of mental problems before your employees and your organisation experience the negative consequences. On the basis of the analysis results, you can establish clear choices in an action plan to, for example, keep the stress level – and therefore the risk of burn-out – manageable. The risk analysis thus forms the backbone of an efficient prevention policy.”
Getting started with your psychosocial risk analysis?
Our approach (Scan – Advise – Action) helps you to identify the mental well-being of your employees and prepare an effective action plan. At the level of the organisation, the department, and the individual.
Focus on the symptoms
The role of managers is crucial in the fight against work-based psychosocial risks, such as stress and burn-out. “Employers are in a privileged position to be the first to pick up signals. And they can respond to these signals in a timely manner by entering into a dialogue with employees and looking for solutions together”, Koen points out.
To raise awareness among managers, Mensura offers tailor-made resilience workshops for managers. Koen: “During this training, we teach managers to recognise the signs of stress or burn-out, and we provide practical tips to keep stress – for employees or for themselves – under control.”
Support managers to stimulate resilience in the workplace
Discover all the benefits of the resilience workshop for managers.
Increase the resilience of your employees.
What if you notice that certain employees are not able to handle stress well? “It is then advisable to zoom in more closely on the personal experience of stress and resilience. Mensura has specific tools available for this, such as My Stress Coach and MyMindScan. In addition, an ‘increase resilience for employees’ workshop might be a good idea. It deals with what stress is, what causes someone’s personal stress, and how employee can deal with it in a positive way. Useful baggage to be more stress-resistant in the workplace,” concludes Koen.
More resilience and less mental burden in your organisation?
Our “increase resilience” workshop teaches employees to increase their resistance to stress and adversity.
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