The Indian workforce is among the most resilient and engaged in the world, a study commissioned by global HR and payroll company ADP has said.

As per the ‘Global Workplace Study 2020’, the Indian workforce is the most resilient in the world, with 32 percent of employees highly resilient as against the global average of 17 percent. Similarly, India is second in terms of fully engaged employees. About 20 percent of workers in India are fully engaged as against a global average of 14 percent.

The study defined engagement as a positive state of mind characterized by “vigor, dedication, and absorption”, while workplace resilience was defined as the capacity of an individual to withstand, bounce back from, and work through challenging circumstances or events at work.

Over 26,500 workers participated in the study, focused on how COVID-19 has affected engagement and workplace resilience, conducted in over 25 countries.

While the researchers expected COVID-19 and its secondary effects to affect personal levels of workplace resilience, they found that a country’s level of COVID-19 impact had no effect on resilience. However, it said individuals with greater levels of personal experience of COVID-19 demonstrated much higher levels of workplace resilience.

“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,” said ADP India Managing Director Rahul Goyal.

However, he added that the findings show that there is still work to be done by employers to get employees more engaged and build workplace resilience.

“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 a mutual sense of appreciation,” Goyal said.