Workplace resilience: it doesn’t take much to make a massive difference

April 01, 2025Posted by: Sarra

Let’s be honest, resilience gets thrown around a lot. But in 2025, it’s not a buzzword. It’s a business imperative.

At PeoplePlus, we see what’s happening across industries: teams stretched thin, managers overwhelmed, and too many good people running on empty. Stress Awareness Month gives us space to ask, what are we doing about it?

And the numbers speak volumes.

According to Mental Health UK’s 2025 Burnout Report, 21% of UK workers took stress-related leave this year. That’s one in five colleagues stepping away because pressure tipped into overload.

Among under 35s, that figure is rising fast.

And it’s not just an HR issue, it’s a business one. Stress-related problems now cost the UK economy more than £400 million every single week (Mental Health UK, 2025).

The question isn’t whether we need to act.

It’s whether we’re making it simple enough to start.

Small actions that move the needle

The myth that wellbeing demands big budgets and sweeping policies is just that, a myth.

We’ve seen firsthand how small, consistent actions can transform workplace resilience and wellbeing. From our teams across LearningPlus, The Social Recruitment Advocacy Group (SRAG) & The Social Recruitment Forum (SRF) partners, here’s what’s working right now:

🟢 Five minutes of open conversation
Builds trust. Reduces stigma. Opens the door.

So many workplaces underestimate the power of checking in. No agendas. No scripts. Just space to talk. And in a world where most of us are “fine” until we’re not, those five minutes matter more than ever.

🟠 Ten minutes reviewing workloads
Can prevent weeks of burnout recovery.

21% of workers said stress was impacting their performance, but they didn’t feel able to take time off or reduce their hours. We’ve seen what happens when leaders regularly check workloads, shift priorities, and listen. The impact? Fewer breakdowns. More breakthroughs.

🔵 Fifteen minutes of training
Can empower your team to spot burnout early and act.

Still only 32% of UK workplaces have a formal burnout strategy. That’s a problem. The fix? Bite-sized, high-impact mental health training. We build this into our programmes, and the difference it makes: confidence, connection, early intervention is clear.

What resilience really looks like in 2025

We’re not here to lecture.
We’re here to open the conversation.
Because let’s face it, most of us already know what poor wellbeing looks like in a team:

• The colleague who’s quiet in every meeting.

• The manager skipping lunch and answering emails at midnight.

• The team that hits targets but feels like they’re running on fumes.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

We’ve seen what’s possible when resilience is baked into workplace culture, not bolted on in crisis mode.

And we want to ask:

What’s working for your team?

This Stress Awareness Month, we’re inviting our networks, especially employers, team leaders, and wellbeing champions, to share:

✅ What’s one small action that’s made a big difference to your team’s resilience?
✅ How are you building emotional headroom into the everyday, not just in crisis?

Because the truth is, culture change starts in the margins.

In the quick check-ins.
The rebalanced deadlines.
The shared understanding that mental health isn’t someone else’s responsibility, it’s all of ours.

We’re walking this road too

At PeoplePlus, wellbeing isn’t an initiative, it’s embedded.

Across our own teams and partner organisations, we’re:

• Delivering on-demand training for managers and staff to spot early signs of stress

• Embedding neuroinclusive practices to ensure every brain gets the support it needs

• Supporting employers in social recruitment via the SRAG & SRF so people aren’t just hired, but truly supported to stay and grow

And we’re still learning.

Because resilience isn’t a finish line, it’s a habit.

Final word? It doesn’t take much.

• Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes.

That’s all it takes to change the story.

If your workplace is doing something powerful, however small, tell us. Let’s share the good stuff and raise the bar, together.

April 01, 2025Posted by: Sarra