Want to bring this to your team? Schedule a free Vantage Fit demo to see how mood tracking, guided meditations, and mindfulness minutes work alongside team challenges.
Human resilience at work refers to an individual's capacity to adapt, recover, and maintain well-being in the face of workplace challenges. It involves the ability to bounce back from setbacks, navigate stress, and sustain optimal performance. Resilience encompasses psychological, emotional, and physical aspects, emphasizing coping mechanisms, a positive mindset, and support systems.
Listen to Barbara speak more about this.
Key Takeaways
- Resilience is six dimensions, not three. Barbara's Accenture "Net Better Off" frame covers emotional/mental, physical, relational, financial, purposeful, and employable wellbeing — and she treats them as inseparable rather than swappable wellness pillars.
- Health span beats lifespan. She argues humans are trending toward 100-year lives, so corporations must help employees stay healthy for the duration — not just keep them alive. Retiring at two-thirds of a 100-year life doesn't work, and the workplace has to adapt.
- Forced RTO policies produce a productivity penalty. Research Barbara is involved in shows employees who have a choice about hybrid or in-office work outperform those who don't. Mandated return erodes the relational wellbeing that underpins mental and physical health.
- Accommodations cost an average of $500. In the US, the average reasonable-accommodation cost is a few hundred dollars — low enough that the policy barrier, not the budget, is what's blocking workplace mental-health support.
- Taking care of mental, physical, and relational wellbeing lifts performance ~5%. Accenture research she led surfaced a clean ROI number — holistic wellbeing isn't a morale program, it's a performance line.
- Leaders must have the courage to take work away. In downturns, companies lay people off without removing the workload — the surviving workforce breaks quietly. Responsible leadership means cutting scope, not just headcount.
- Offices should be gathering places. Barbara is blunt: if your office is where people sit on Zoom all day, they might as well be home. Design offices for connection, purpose, and physical movement — or remove the mandate.
In Barbara's Words
On responsible leadership and tone at the top
Culture starts at the board of directors. Boards are much more interested in the S in ESG now — the social part — whether that's the communities they operate in or their employee base. Even in bad times, you cannot forget your responsibility as a leader to take care of your humans.
Not every leader should be a leader. Identify the leaders who have a following, who are respected, and empower them to be champions for wellbeing and belonging.
On RTO and the choice premium
Employees who have a choice about hybrid, work-from-home, or full-time office are more productive than employees who don't have a choice. When companies force RTO, their employees are not going to be as productive.
We went from a culture of caring in the pandemic to a culture of "you're lucky to have a job." When the market turns, employees will remember. They don't forget.
On mental health at work
I live with anxiety and I talk about it openly, publicly, with my employees. If people with a platform share their lived experience, others will say, I have that experience — how do I get help?
In the US, the average cost of a reasonable accommodation is $500. We're not talking about huge amounts of money. It's a policy, technology, environment, culture, and leadership alignment problem.
On the business case
Our Accenture research showed that taking care of mental, physical, and relational wellbeing can create a 5% bump in performance. So there's a clear ROI here.
On redesigning the office
At Accenture in New York we had treadmill desks, ping pong tables, stairs connecting every floor with interesting facts posted so people took them. Offices should be gathering places — not somewhere you go to sit on Zoom calls all day. If that's what you're doing, stay home.
On cutting workload, not just people
Right now employers are letting people go but not changing the workload. People can only do so much. Leaders need the courage to really focus and take things away.
About the Author
Barbara Spitzer is the founder and CEO of Two Rivers Partners, LLC, a strategy firm that prepares organizations to navigate today's most disruptive forces by aligning business and workforce strategies and building organization effectiveness and strategy execution capabilities. Barbara works with senior executives to drive growth with digitization, sustainability, and leadership development, resulting in large-scale, purpose-driven transformation. Barbara is an experienced leader, working with executive teams and leaders to minimize workforce and cultural risk by galvanizing an organization around corporate goals, including leadership development, operating model and organization design, and change management.
Barbara led Accenture’s research on Human Resilience where she guided leaders on what they need to do to build the physical, mental relational well-being of their employees. Barbara managed Accenture relationship with Thrive Global, Arianna Huffington’s workplace well-being platform. Barbara serves on the Board of the National Alliance of Mental Illness – NYC and is a passionate advocate for mental wellness at work. Barbara is the US Board Chair of Restless Development, a global nonprofit that focuses on preparing youth around the world to lead transformation around today’s most pressing issues; climate, LGBTQ+, gender equality and others.
Show Notes
01:23 Would you introduce yourself to our listeners?
02:39 How does prioritizing physical well-being contribute to building resilience in the workplace?
05:50 Can you share examples of strategies that promote relational well-being and its impact on fostering resilience within teams?
10:10 How can organizations create a supportive environment that encourages open conversations about mental health to enhance overall resilience?
13:08 How can leaders and managers contribute to building a culture that values and prioritizes the holistic well-being of employees for increased resilience?
15:35 What are some practical steps organizations can take to integrate a comprehensive approach to well-being, encompassing physical, mental, and relational aspects, in their workplace resilience strategies?
