As practitioners, we've responded in positive ways. We've invested in wellbeing programmes, resilience workshops, mental health support, coaching and employee assistance programmes. Conversations about stress and burnout have become far more open than they once were, and that's something worth celebrating.

Resilience matters.

Helping people build the confidence and capability to navigate uncertainty is an important part of creating healthy, sustainable workplaces.

However, I wonder whether we sometimes stop the conversation there.

When people are struggling, our instinct is often to ask how we can help them become more resilient. It's a natural response, particularly for those of us working in employee experience, HR, internal communication or organisational development. We want to provide support, introduce helpful resources and equip people with practical tools.

Those things all have value.

But what if the more important question isn't how resilient our people are?

What if it's why work has become so difficult to navigate in the first place?

One of the principles we often discuss in The EX Space is the importance of understanding experiences before designing solutions. That principle applies just as much to wellbeing as it does to any other aspect of employee experience.

If people consistently feel overwhelmed, it's worth asking what's creating that experience.

Is work becoming increasingly fragmented?

Have priorities become less clear?

Are managers carrying responsibilities that continue to grow while their capacity stays the same?

Have layers of processes, meetings and approvals quietly accumulated over time?

Are people spending more energy navigating work than actually doing it?

These aren't wellbeing questions in the traditional sense.

They're questions about the design of work.

Over the years, employee experience professionals have become incredibly good at designing interventions. We know how to create learning programmes, listening strategies, communication campaigns and wellbeing initiatives. Those capabilities remain hugely important.

Perhaps the next opportunity is to become just as skilled at identifying the friction that exists within everyday work.

Sometimes the greatest improvement doesn't come from introducing something new.

It comes from simplifying something that's already there.

Removing an unnecessary approval.

Stopping a meeting that no longer serves a purpose.

Clarifying a decision that has become unnecessarily complicated.

Making it easier for managers to focus on supporting people rather than navigating administration.

Those changes rarely appear in wellbeing strategies, yet they often have a profound impact on how work feels.

None of this means resilience is unimportant.

There will always be periods of uncertainty, organisational change and personal challenge where resilience helps us adapt and recover. Building emotional intelligence, strengthening relationships, finding meaning in our work and developing healthy habits all contribute to long-term wellbeing.

The challenge is making sure resilience remains a capability that helps people navigate life's inevitable ups and downs, rather than expecting it to compensate for avoidable organisational complexity.

Perhaps that's the opportunity for all of us working in employee experience.

Alongside supporting people's wellbeing, we can also become more curious about the design of work itself. We can ask better questions, challenge unnecessary complexity and help organisations create environments where resilience supports good work rather than making difficult work feel normal.

If you're interested in exploring resilience from a personal perspective, we've created a free eight-week wellbeing toolkit that covers resilience, emotional intelligence, achievement, relationships, engagement, positive emotions and meaning. Each week introduces practical ideas and simple actions that you can reflect on and apply in your own working life.

You can sign up to receive the series here: http://eepurl.com/g_uW61.

Because creating better workplaces isn't just about helping people cope with work as it is today. It's also about continually asking how work itself could become healthier, simpler and more human.