India tops the spot in workplace resilience: ADP

India has one of the most engaged and resilient workforces in the world, according to new data from a study commissioned by global HR and payroll leader ADP.

India holds the international top spot for workplace resilience, with 32 percent of workers feeling highly resilient to their work environment, compared to the global average of just 15 percent. Similarly, Indian employees recorded the world’s second highest levels of employee engagement, with one in five (20 percent) saying they felt fully engaged at work against a global average of 14 percent. 

The results feature in the Global Workplace Study 2020 by the ADP Research Institute, which surveyed over 26,000 workers in 25 countries, including China, to research the impact of COVID-19 on employee engagement and workplace resilience.

Contrary to what researchers expected, a strong correlation was not recorded against the extent to which a country was significantly impacted by the pandemic versus the average workplace resilience of employees.

However, researchers found that individuals who had a close personal experience with the virus, such as falling ill themselves or having a close family member or acquaintance receiving a positive diagnosis, were 3.8 times likely to rank “highly resilient”.

Rahul Goyal, Managing Director for ADP India, said, “The findings from this study are fascinating, particularly that a personal experience with COVID-19 results in higher levels of workplace resilience. The data reinforces the well-known notion that people can often emerge stronger after a setback or crisis.

While levels of employee engagement recorded in India amongst the highest in the world, with 20 percent said they felt fully engaged at work last year, the vast majority of workers are reporting wide levels of disengagement. This trend is observed worldwide. Only 14 percent of all those surveyed said they felt fully engaged at work in 2020.

On workplace resilience, India far outperformed the global average with 32 percent of Indian workers meeting the criteria for high levels of resilience, against a global average of 15 percent.

“However, the figures, for India but also internationally, show there is still work to be done by employers to get employees more engaged and build workplace resilience,” added Mr Rahul.

“To achieve this, employers need to work on improving their communication with employees and to strengthen the employer/employee relationship to build a bond of trust and mutual sense of appreciation.