Face facts: Fragility exists—even in your workplace

As a professional recruiter, I live and breathe the labor market. This involves daily engagement with the workforce and organizations. Since the pandemic, our lives have undergone significant change, turmoil, and upheaval and it’s taken its toll.

First, the lockdowns and working from home, then the push to return to the office. The skills crisis, concurrently intertwined with AI advancing to “take our jobs,” exorable workloads, the pendulum swing of the Great Resignation (what was so great about it?), and the hiring surge in 2022, to the underground redundancies in 2024.

That’s just the working environment. What about life? The exorbitant cost of living, geo-political unrest, economic instability, and more. To gently place the final straw on your back, despite all the gadgets to connect, we are increasingly disconnected. Life is hard.

So, it seems to me, we shouldn’t be at all surprised to be dealing with fragility in the workforce. And if our employees are fragile, our organizations are, too. The question is to what degree, and can you catch it in time?

Here is what leaders can do.

Recognize fragility exists

Fragility isn’t a fleeting ailment or media spin. It is legitimate, and no organization is immune to it. It isn’t something your employees will address with you, either. They, too, while not feeling “strong,” might be unsuspecting of their own fragile state. Ignoring the signs will be at your organization’s peril.

Fragility might manifest with high staff turnover and increased absenteeism. Your most robust employees could be more emotional, with heightened sensitivity and stronger reactions to criticism or feedback. There may be reduced levels of creativity, deadlines missed, apathy, and even quiet quitting (putting in the bare minimum to keep their job).

Understand everyone is at risk

Even your best performers, the ones you rely on time and again, are at risk. They have already been labeled. Those exceptional workers are fragile and thriving. Fragile thrivers are often highly career-driven, and highly focused, and push past barriers . . . often at the expense of their own personal health.

Fragility is increasing in frequency, but not because it’s contagious. Thanks to the skills crises, if one of your employees resigns or is absent, it is no longer easy to backfill. Inevitably, a colleague picks up the slack. Research shows 72% of staff are dealing with an increased workload due to staff shortages. We all have our limits. Fragility isn’t going anywhere and won’t be fixed with token band-aid responses.

Provide profound benefits

Forget the bean bag and bring-your-cat to work tactics. The workforce needs profound benefits, ones that support physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Benefits of substance such as education, seminars, and access to tools to build life skills that support strong mental health and coping practices.

Policies with a direct link to well-being are more effective, such as career breaks, sabbaticals, and career transitions, as well as subsidized gym memberships, meditation, counseling, awareness programs, and health insurance. Just as companies invest in R&D for long-term growth, investing in purposeful benefits programs ensures a healthier, more resilient workforce.

Uphold structure

Our working environment, with its looser connections, fluidity, increased flow of information, and rapid pace of technology, has lost some of its structure. Even a 10% decrease in support mechanisms is enough to cause instability. Look at bridges and buildings: A 10% reduction in their foundations is a catastrophe just waiting to happen.

Consider stronger communication channels, including frequency and consistency, defined roles and responsibilities, clear reporting lines, easier decision-making protocols, and doing your “checks.” Just as we routinely inspect buildings and bridges for cracks, leaders must regularly check in with their employees.

Create a culture of antifragility

It always comes back to the culture. Antifragile organizations have a culture that enables people to learn fast from their environment and adapt to it. Make the unknown feel safe. Have frequent conversations and opportunities for open, transparent dialogue. As a leader, be seen and heard. Equally, watch and listen.

Create opportunities to connect and collaborate. Innovation, creativity, motivation, and engagement will increase, as will well-being. Research shows that a lack of human connection can be more harmful than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure.

The fragility we see in the workforce didn’t emerge overnight; it’s the result of cumulative pressures that have gone unnoticed for too long. But unlike fragile objects that shatter and become less valuable, human beings have the remarkable ability to grow stronger through adversity if given the right support and environment. We can emerge not just repaired but transformed, ready to face future challenges with strength.