Resilience helps employees adapt, cope, gain resources, and respond positively to stressors in the workplace. This evidence review, based on a rapid evidence assessment (REA), finds several key factors that protect or reinforce resilience

Strong predictors that protect or reinforce resilience include:

  • Individuals’ psychological states and traits, including self-efficacy or confidence, positive affect or emotions, and our sense of coherence.
  • Our relationships, including supportive co-workers and managers and a high-quality leader-member exchange.
  • In addition, learning and development interventions can also enhance employee resilience, if they are designed and delivered in the right way.

It is important to understand resilience as partly a semi-permanent psychological trait and partly a variable psychological state. Some people will naturally be more resilient than others but the onus must not simply be put on employees to ‘buck up’ and ‘be’ resilient. People managers and colleagues play critical roles in influencing how resilient employees are.

  • See the practice summary for the main insights and practical recommendations for action. 
  • See the scientific summary for our methodology and technical information on the research and study references.

Employee resilience: An evidence review | Evidence summary

Download the evidence summary
PDF document 278.7 KB

Employee resilience: An evidence review | Scientific summary

Download the scientific summary
PDF document 510.6 KB

More on this topic

Guides
Carer-friendly workplaces: Guide for people professionals

Practical guidance to help employers create a carer-friendly workplace

CIPD Viewpoint
Employee health and wellbeing

Explore the CIPD’s point of view on health and wellbeing at work, including recommendations for employers

Bitesize research
Avoiding burnout when making tough decisions

How can employees build mental resilience to avoid burnout, and what support can employers give?

For Members

Latest evidence reviews

Evidence review
Trust and psychological safety: An evidence review

Find out what the evidence says about building trust and psychological safety

Evidence review
Effective people managers: Evidence review

Research exploring how to develop people managers who drive organisational success

Evidence review
High-performing teams: An evidence review

Explore the latest research on how to create a positive environment to build and nurture effective teams

Evidence review
Productive meetings: An evidence review

This evidence review summarises the latest research on the effective management of meetings and offers recommendations to get the most out of them

All evidence reviews