Resilience – both organisational and individual – means having the skills and aptitude to deal with life as and when it happens. Often, life continues as normal and much of what happens is within a normal scope of expectations. Occasionally, however, things can happen to create disturbance, disruption and potential disaster.
2009 was a fraught, challenging year for UK business. The global economic turmoil had a major impact on the ability to conduct business, to raise finance, to achieve service delivery goals and to retain a well-resourced workforce. In this context, the greatest threat to companies was financial survival.
At the same time, the government focussed heavily on workplace wellbeing, based on the simple concept that ‘Work is good for people’. It is good for psychological wellbeing, for physical health and for economic strength. The message through government reports such as the Boorman Review and the MacLeod report was that organisations who embraced wellbeing were more likely to find themselves with a resilient, flexible workforce who could manage change effectively and could rise above temporary crises.
Yet, whilst the economic battle raged and continues to create anxiety in the markets, other factors were impacting on survivability. In 2009, our Employee Assistance Programme service received calls from 31, 500 individuals, supported nearly 8000 through face to face counselling, worked through 49 adverse or critical incidents – unplanned and unknown issues impacting organisations, and critically, responded to 219 ‘red flag’ cases – where individuals are at risk, or pose a threat to the safety of others. Throughout, we found that businesses were asking “What helps us maintain our stability?” and “What has the potential to overwhelm us?”
These two questions go to the heart of Right Corecare’s work at an individual and an organisational level. Individually we find ourselves working at times with people who are at a tipping-point of being overwhelmed by life experiences and emotional burden whilst organisationally we encounter events and situations that have the potential to destabilise and disrupt business to a significant level. By providing expert solutions in these circumstances we add real value across the board in a safe, confidential setting.
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