Rolling with the punches

Research shows resilient employees are less likely to burn out

The fast pace of technology development and constant pressure to squeeze peak performance from the IT infrastructure undoubtedly contributes to stress in the workplace. Some employees cope with stress better than others, and researchers say the key to remaining productive and healthy in challenging situations is resiliency.

New research from WFD Consulting (http://www.wfd.com) shows that resilient employees report less stress and burnout. WFD, a firm specializing in work-life challenges, recently surveyed 1,211 U.S. workers in collaboration with Opinion Research Corp. According to the results, 41% of workers with low resilience said they are emotionally or physically drained most of the time, while only 18% of workers with high resilience categorized their level of stress and burnout the same way. Those with moderate resilience fell somewhere in between, with 26% reporting these symptoms.

In the traditional sense, resiliency refers to the ability to bounce back or recover from adversity. Amy Richman, senior consultant and researcher at WFD, says resilient employees share these two characteristics: "Resilient workers feel confident that they can manage the pressures of their work and that they can maintain job performance during times of change."

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The fast pace of technology development and constant pressure to squeeze peak performance from the IT infrastructure undoubtedly contributes to stress in the workplace. Some employees cope with stress better than others, and researchers say the key to remaining productive and healthy in challenging situations is resiliency.

New research from WFD Consulting (http://www.wfd.com) shows that resilient employees report less stress and burnout. WFD, a firm specializing in work-life challenges, recently surveyed 1,211 U.S. workers in collaboration with Opinion Research Corp. According to the results, 41% of workers with low resilience said they are emotionally or physically drained most of the time, while only 18% of workers with high resilience categorized their level of stress and burnout the same way. Those with moderate resilience fell somewhere in between, with 26% reporting these symptoms.

In the traditional sense, resiliency refers to the ability to bounce back or recover from adversity. Amy Richman, senior consultant and researcher at WFD, says resilient employees share these two characteristics: "Resilient workers feel confident that they can manage the pressures of their work and that they can maintain job performance during times of change."

Rather than just thinking of resiliency as an inborn personality trait, Richman says organizations can foster this quality in their employees. Your company can do this by giving people flexibility and some degree of control over their work, offering access to training and development, fostering work-life integration, and providing effective management.

In fact, WFD identifies 10 requirements for resiliency:

* Promoting health and energy.
* Fostering sense of control and personal effectiveness.
* Access to training and development.
* Managing workload.
* Manager effectiveness.
* Corporate culture of trust and inclusion.
* Managing change.
* Creative problem solving/openness to new ideas.
* Work-life effectiveness.
* Social support/connections.

How well does your company meet those requirements? Find out by completing WFD's Resilience Scorecard questionnaire at http://www.wfd.com/PRODUCTS/resilience.html. The results will show you areas for improvement.

Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.