Measuring Workforce Resilience: From Insight to Impact

Why Measuring Workforce Resilience Matters 

Employee wellbeing and workforce resilience are no longer “nice to have” — they are critical factors in any organisation’s people strategy. Deloitte estimates poor employee mental health costs UK employers £53–56 billion every year. Behind this figure sit three familiar challenges: 

1. Absenteeism – time lost through stress, anxiety or burnout. 

2. Presenteeism – employees at work but not performing at their best. 

3. Turnover – the cost of replacing people who leave because they feel overwhelmed or unsupported. 

Historically, most organisations have tackled wellbeing reactively. Support kicks in once absence rises or performance drops. By then, both people and the business are already paying the price. 

Workforce resilience offers a different path. It’s about understanding how well your people can adapt to pressure, sustain their energy, and bounce back from challenges. When you can measure these factors, you gain insight that enables a proactive approach — strengthening the conditions for wellbeing and performance before problems escalate.

The 5 Pillars of Resilience

Resilience can feel like an abstract quality, but it can be broken down into clear, measurable components. At The Wellbeing Project, we use the 5 Pillars of Resilience framework to help organisations see how resilience shows up in everyday working life — and how it drives results. 

Energy
The foundation of sustainable performance. When people protect and renew their energy, they reduce burnout risk and maintain focus over the long term. 

Future Focus
Resilient employees can adapt to disruption, staying purposeful even when priorities shift. 

Inner Drive
High levels of motivation and self-belief are linked to engagement, productivity and persistence through setbacks. 

Flexible Thinking
Teams that think flexibly find opportunities in challenges and navigate obstacles more effectively. 

Strong Relationships
Relationships provide both practical and emotional support, which are essential for performance and retention. 

By viewing resilience through these five lenses, HR leaders can identify the specific areas that protect wellbeing and those that may be undermining performance. It transforms resilience from a “soft skill” into something concrete that can be measured, developed and strengthened across the organisation. 

How Resilience Can Be Measured 

For many years, resilience was seen as a vague concept – a quality you either had or you didn’t. The challenge for HR and business leaders was how to move beyond anecdotes and observations to real data that could guide strategy. 

That’s where Wraw (Workplace Resilience and Wellbeing) comes in. Wraw is a valid and reliable psychometric tool built around the 5 Pillars of Resilience. It enables organisations to measure resilience and wellbeing in a structured, evidence-based way – providing insights at three levels: 

Individual level
Employees receive personalised reports that build self-awareness and highlight practical steps to strengthen their resilience. This helps people take ownership of their wellbeing and performance. 

Team level
Teams receive insights into their collective strengths and pressure points. The data highlights where collaboration is strong, where energy may be low, and where flexibility or support may be needed. This helps teams build awareness of how they function together and where they can make changes to sustain performance. 

Organisational level
Leaders access aggregated data that reveal trends across functions, demographics, and locations. This data informs workforce strategy, highlights systemic risks, and demonstrates the ROI of wellbeing initiatives. 

By turning resilience into measurable data, Wraw gives organisations a comprehensive overview of how their people are coping, adapting and thriving. It provides the evidence HR needs to move conversations about wellbeing and performance out of the abstract and into clear, actionable insight.  

From insight to impact: building workforce resilience 

Measuring resilience is not the end goal – it’s the starting point for meaningful action. The real value comes when organisations use resilience data to shape decisions, target interventions and build a culture where people and performance thrive together. 

A proactive approach enables HR teams and business leaders to: 

• Spot early warning signs of strain before absence or turnover rise. 

• Tailor support through coaching, workshops and manager development that address the specific needs highlighted in the data. 

• Track progress over time, demonstrating the ROI of wellbeing initiatives. 

• Open the conversation about wellbeing and resilience in a constructive, evidence-led way. 

This shift matters because pressure will always be part of working life. What sets resilient organisations apart is how well they equip their people to manage it, adapt and continue performing at their best. 

By measuring resilience, organisations move from firefighting wellbeing challenges to building the foundations of sustainable high performance. The result is a workforce that is not just coping, but thriving – with the energy, adaptability and drive to meet today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities. 

Author Bio: Sandra Ordel is a Senior Business Psychologist at The Wellbeing Project, specialising in workforce resilience and neuropsychology. She works with organisations worldwide to measure and strengthen resilience, helping leaders build high-performing teams and cultures of healthy performance.