NEW ORLEANS — From the Society for Human Resource Management, which meets June 12-15 in New Orleans:
Resilience is key for organizations to overcome and succeed in the face of adversity, and essential for long-term effectiveness and growth. But what factors contribute to organizational and employee resilience? According to a new report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Gap International, Organizational and Employee Resilience Research Report, released today, when faced with the adversity of the pandemic, organizations fell into three resilience categories: a) Thriver (doing better now than pre-pandemic), b) Persister (no change pre-pandemic to now), c) Survivor (“bounced-back” to pre-pandemic levels), and into a non-resilience category, Decliner (doing worse now than pre-pandemic). Employees were categorized into low, average and high resilience based on their behaviors. Several factors were analyzed related to what organizations did and what organizations have that contributed to organizational and employee resilience.
“A resilient organization can keep the workforce going through crisis and protect staff and stakeholders,” said Johnny C. Taylor, SHRM president and chief executive officer. “The best leaders responded to obstacles with next-level ingenuity—their organizations are not only surviving, but thriving. Leaders can protect their employees and businesses by engaging in swift and continuous communication, removing obstacles to employee empowerment, and ensuring their cultures reinforce collaborative and adaptive behaviors.”
The report found that resilient organizations had senior leaders that:
- Prior to the pandemic, were more likely to actively listen for problems in their organization and practice their plans for unexpected situations (not just have plans in place).
- In response to the pandemic threat, were more likely to quickly understand and acknowledge the pandemic as a threat. They also were more likely to discuss and make plans both internally (with key staff) and externally (with other organizations in their sector).
- During the pandemic, were more likely to continuously engage in information seeking and sharing, empower and reward employees for developing new/innovative solutions, and clear a path for implementing solutions by breaking down bureaucratic barriers, coordinating effectively and bringing employees on board to enact changes.
Resilient organizations also had:
- Alignment: Resilient organizations were more likely to have senior leaders endorse a strong sense of purpose and ownership. These leaders know where their organization is headed and take personal responsibility in helping their workforce overcome adversity.
- Resources: Resilient organizations were more likely to have personnel resources available to devote to ebbs and flows of work even prior to the pandemic. Thriving organizations were more likely than non-resilient organizations to have social resources (social connections and camaraderie that employees relied on for information and support).
- Organizational Culture Norms: Organizational culture norms related to adaptability and inclusion were greater for resilient organizations.
“It’s only through resilience that breakthrough solutions can happen,” said Pontish Yeramyan, founder and CEO of Gap International. “While the pandemic was a test unlike any other organizations had experienced prior, the key takeaways of resilience can be translated to any organization facing any form of adversity in years to come.”
The report also examined the experience of employees, finding that the most resilient workers had:
- Supervisors who displayed empathy and inclusive leadership behaviors.
- An inclusive immediate workgroup.
- Personnel and social resources.
- Organizational culture norms related to adaptability and inclusion.
