Video tutorial: Jo Elphick at MetLife on building employee resilience within the workplace

In a world of unprecedented change, uncertainty and rapid innovation the need to employee resilience is more important than ever, particularly given the £42 billion cost of mental health in the UK, according to Jo Elphick, UK marketing director of MetLife.

Speaking at the REBA Employee Wellbeing Congress 2019, Elphick said the reality is that the situation is probably even worse than figures suggest. “We all have stoic people in our organisations that won’t want to admit to themselves let alone in a survey or conversation with their manager that they are struggling with mental health.

Understaffing, colleagues not performing and juggling work demands with managing finances were key problems faced by employees, according to Elphick. This is coupled with an always on culture, additional work hours and trying to fit work around family commitments.

“64% of employees say they offer help but are employees actually doing anything about it? No – the evidence is telling us not,” says Elphick.

She said staff were worried about looking weak, not committed to their job or that admitting that they were having problems would harm their career. “Enabling people to come to work and talk about those challenges – we can do such a lot to help people with those pressures they are under,” she said.

Employers are taking action but training for managers should be the most important otherwise strategies that have been put in place won’t be taken up, she said.

“it’s about building trust, recognising the role of line managers and communication. All of those things have to happen together for this to have an impact on organisation resilience.”

This video was recorded at the REBA Employee Wellbeing Congress 2019, held in London on 20 June.