The document summarizes a discussion event on building organizational resilience. Experts from various industries discussed how to develop resilient employees and promote wellbeing. Key points included taking a holistic approach, understanding different employee groups, tailoring interventions, training managers, and fostering peer support. Building trust and engaging staff in the process were also emphasized. Attendees found the event informative and thought continuing these discussions would be valuable.

1. E M P L O Y E E R E S I L I E N C E A N D I T S I M P A C T
O N P E R F O R M A N C E
D I N N E R D I S C U S S I O N
In partnership with
R E P O R T

2. Windle (1999) captures the essence of resilience succinctly and describes it as:
‘the successful adaptation to life tasks in the face of social
disadvantage or highly adverse conditions’
According to the labour force survey, Office
for National Statistics**, 11.3 million working
days were lost due to stress, depression
or anxiety in 2013–14, an average of 23
days per case. Mind* found out that 1
in 6 workers is dealing with ill mental
health. While resilience is not something
an employee is born with, it is something
that they can learn and the workplace can
be crucial to this. The vital part is to have
a comprehensive workplace resilience
strategy and organisational culture.
MetLife and Maudsley Learning came together
to host an evening to draw reflections and
learnings from experts on building an
organisational strategy and culture which
will enable the development of a resilient
and productive workforce.
This report outlines the key themes that
emerged from the evening, drawing on
perspectives from the armed forces, NHS,
finance and insurance industries.
1 in 6workers affected by poor mental health*
11.3 millionworking days lost due to stress**
56%employers want to improve staff wellbeing

3. Professor
Department of
Psychological Medicine
Head of Workplace Mental
Health
Head of Mental Health
Promotion
South London & Maudsley
NHS Foundation Trust
Director
UK Employee Benefits
MetLife
Tom Gaynor
Our Expert
Panel
Neil Greenberg Jonathan Naess Tony Coggins
PANEL CHAIR PANELLISTS

4. ‘RESILIENCE AND WELLBEING SHOULD BE A
HOLISTIC STRATEGY’
TONY COGGINS:
Employee Groups
It is important to look at these employee groups:
Those who are struggling with mental health
(maybe have a diagnosable mental illness)
Those who are ok in turning up to work, but
not performing as well as they could be
Employees who are flourishing
Understanding Context
Find answers to these questions:
What is it like to work in the organisation?
Where are the pressure points?
What is impacting people’s wellbeing?
Where is it going well?
What are the assets in our organisation?

5. “Across healthcare we found that staff
are feeling under pressure, going through
huge changes and reductions in budgets.
Staff are saying that they can ‘only deal
with what is in front of me’ when we ask
them to change”
‘AT THE MOMENT THE FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH IN NHS IS MINDFULNESS. I AM A BIG FAN OF
MINDFULNESS BUT I DON’T THINK IT SUITS EVERYBODY’
Tailoring Interventions
What will you be doing in the context of the present?
Team Focus
What to focus on?
Think about - individuals, teams and the
organisation: these 3 levels are important
Line Manager Training:
line manager’s wellbeing is impacted because
of managing staff who have poor mental
health and lack of tools/training
Recognising and rewarding good practice
Peer Support:
one of the challenges for HR is how to encourage
peer support
Engagement and Trust
Always aim to:
Be transparent about the process
Engage with staff
Build trust
Feedback loop between staff and senior
management
Remember the physical environment as a really key issue to people’s wellbeing!
“When we are experiencing negative
emotions and stress our peripheral
vision closes down, and as we work in a
complex situation, we want our staff to be
creative and collaborative in coming up
with different solutions. That is part of the
challenge”

6. ‘RESILIENCE IS A SUM OF MANY THINGS
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT IS DYNAMIC’
NEIL GREENBERG:
For example, a young helicopter pilot joins the
Navy aged 24 and is excited at the opportunity
of flying a helicopter from the back of a ship. He
is highly resilient and performs his job in bad
weather and difficult physical circumstances.
HMS Warf hit a rock off the coast of Australia in
2002 and was grounded. The same helicopter pilot
was working on the ship and making flights on and
off it as it listed in very bad weather conditions.
If covered by the Civil Aviation regulations he
wouldn’t have been flying back and forth but he
carried on doing so and because of his brave
efforts the ship was saved.
Let’s forward wind to the present and this pilot
is now 33, has a family and has been working in
a shore based job for a while. All’s going well.
However in order to progress his career he would
have to go back to sea and fly helicopters as a
Flight Commander. As we all know, what was
exciting at 24 is not so exciting when you’re 33,
things are different. Does this mean this person
isn’t resilient anymore, or have circumstances
changed?

7. ‘THE PREVENTATIVE SIDE OF CREATING RESILIENCE
INVOLVES LINE MANAGEMENT TO A GREAT DEGREE’
“Resilience is often
seen as an individual
thing but resilience
lies between people
rather than in people.
And the military does
a good job by trying to
create people who can
rely on each other”
“From an organisational
point of view people
often have a view of an
individual and they kind
of see that person as
being static when they
of course have other
experiences of home
and family life”
Academic research on why people develop Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder after traumatic events shows that it is often not what
they were like beforehand, their upbringing, their mental health
or how bad the incident was. The 2 biggest factors that
determine this are what happens after the event:
- How much support does the person gets from their family
and colleagues?
- How much pressure is the person put through as he/she
recovers?
For organisations who have been through traumatic events, the key
to maximising the opportunity for employees to remain resilient
and healthy are in:
- Supporting and looking after them
- Making sure that while supporting them they minimise
additional and unnecessary stresses
“The intuitive of throwing mental health professionals at it (employee mental health issue)
to make it better, seems to make sense but evidence shows that it's the wrong thing to do.
Investing in your managers to understand what is going on is important.”

8. Data*
gathered in Afghanistan in 2010
showed that 3% of British troops there at
that time had PTSD.
The troops were asked about their mental
health and perceptions of leadership:
- Is your leader a caring leader?
- Do they treat you fairly?
- Do they embarrass you in front of other
unit members?
- Do they take on extra duties to make
themselves look good at the expense of
the team?
- Do they give you information in a timely
manner?
When we looked at people who rated
their leader as good or bad, there was a 10
fold difference in the rate of PTSD. Troops
who thought they had a good leader had a
rate of 0.5% in comparison to 5% for those
who thought theirs was bad.
*
(Norman Jones, Rachel Seddon, Nicola T. Fear, Pete McAllister, Simon Wessely, and Neil Greenberg, 2012, Leadership, Cohesion, Morale, and the Mental Health of UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan)
‘INVESTING IN PEER SUPPORT IS IMPORTANT’
The British military developed the TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) which is a peer support
process, started in the Royal Marines and rolled out across the armed forces at first and now
other organisations as well. This is a way of not having to fly in a psychiatrist when someone
has had a problem. It focuses on training the people who are there to look after each other.

9. JONATHAN NAESS:
“When we talk about training and changing the culture of the organisation
we identify the line manager as a key person to drive that change with
the support of top management. I have also found that working with
grassroots can help get to the top management straightaway.”
“The fact that helped me most
was talking to people who
were completely different,
my dad joined in too. The
feeling that I could be joined
up with family and workplace
helped me move forward”
‘THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO THE FIRST SESSIONS TOOK IT BACK TO
THEIR WORKPLACES AND IT JUST GREW. IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE
JUST HOW MUCH POWER GRASSROOTS CAN HAVE’
“We have got evidence from
FTSE 100 companies showing
that when you train people
across the organisation you can
achieve up to 15% reduction
in sickness absence.”

10. We asked the attendees of this dinner event
Which topic should we discuss next?
Organisational Culture and Leadership that
Enables Employee Wellbeing
4.57 Average
Employee Engagement in the Workplace
3.86 Average
Here is what they said:
Employee Wellbeing and Productivity
4.00 Average
Building a Workplace Wellbeing Agenda
4.43 Average
Continue with the discussion on Employee Resilience
3.57 Average

11. We asked the attendees of this dinner event
What did you think of the event?
Here is what they said:
“I thought that the format was just
right, a nice relaxed environment,
covering a very interesting topic
and very knowledgeable expert
presentation.”
“Very positive - relaxed but
extremely informative and a good
opportunity to share learning in
small groups.”
“Useful - well structured and
well paced. Nice balance between
information, Q&A and discussions”
“Really well thought out, and I
thought it worked well to have
speakers followed by dinner”
“Fantastic - great atmosphere
and good food.”

12. Health, Safety & Wellbeing Specialist
Health & Wellbeing Specialist
Workplace Health Consultant
Head of Health Management
Managing Director
Head of Workplace Mental Health
Senior HR Manager
Director
HR Manager
Protection, Health & Wellbeing Consultant
Associate Director: HR
Professor
Director
Senior Group Risk Consultant
Managing Director
Training Programme Manager
Commercial Development Manager
HR Director
Employee Benefits Director
HR Director
Founder
Group Risk Account Manager
Director & Founder
Director of Mind Matters Initiative
Head of Mental Health Promotion
JSL
American Express
Barnett Waddingham
Capita
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Connecting With People
De Beers
EOH Business Solutions
Fujitsu
Johnson Fleming
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College
KPMG
LEBC Corporate Healthcare Solutions
Maudsley Learning
Maudsley Learning
Mercer
MetLife
MetLife
News UK
ORRB Technology
PMI Health Group
PTHR
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
SLAM
ATTENDEES:

13. MetLife employee benefits is building on its strong base among small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs), leveraging its global expertise to provide solutions for
multi-nationals. The parent company MetLife, Inc. is the number one employee
benefits provider in America covering nearly 40 million employees and their
dependants. MetLife is committed to:
• Delivering on our insurance promise
• Providing excellent service
• Listening to our customers
• Making a positive difference in our communities
Partnering with advisers and employee benefits consultants, MetLife provides
solutions to companies that help them manage the risks of illness, injury and
death during the working lives of their employees.
Contact us to find out more about how we can help with
employee benefit solutions:
T: 0845 603 8899*
E: ebnewbusiness@metlife.uk.com
W: www.metlife.co.uk/atwork
* calls cost 5p per minute plus your provider’s access charge.

14. Why Mental Health Matters 2016
- a conference for HR and wellbeing practitioners
3rd annual conference
Thursday 28 January 2016
ORTUS learning and events centre
London, SE5 8SN
Tickets are available:
www.maudsleylearning.com/events
Leading Partner Technology Partner Exhibitor

15. Do you have knowledge and/or experience you would like to share?
For speaking opportunities please contact:
Pratima Fransua
Conference Producer
pratima@maudsleylearning.com
Interested in delivering a similar event?
For partnership opportunities please contact:
Vlada Penlington
Partnerships Manager
vlada@maudsleylearning.com
This conversation is only a start to another more in depth
deliberation on employee mental health and wellbeing.
To register interest in attending one of our future events please
contact Victor Voutov at victor@maudsleylearning.com

16. ORTUS learning and events centre
82 - 96 Grove Lane, London, SE5 8SN
Tel: 020 3701 1641
Twitter: @MaudsleyLearn
www.maudsleylearning.com
HEALTH . MIND . MATTERS