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From energy guzzlers to resilience: mental vitality strengthens your business

From energy guzzlers to resilience: mental vitality strengthens your business

In a rapidly changing work environment, with high workloads, more hybrid forms of work and constant new challenges, mental vitality and resilience are increasingly central. For SME employers, it is not only important to prevent Sickness Absence , but also to ensure that employees remain energized and motivated.

A core strategy in this is to understand and manage what gives employees energy - the so-called energy givers - and what costs energy: the energy consumers. Because mental resilience does not grow in a vacuum; it depends in part on the environment you provide as an employer.

 

In this blog, we explore:

  1. What are energy givers and energy drainers, with concrete examples;
  2. Recent figures that underscore the importance;
  3. How to chart and manage this as an employer;
  4. The link between balance in energy & resilience;
  5. Practical tools to get started today.

1. Energy Givers & Energy Eaters: what are they?

Energizers (also called resources) are aspects of work and organization that motivate, support, inspire, and help employees work with satisfaction and focus. Examples:

  • Autonomy: being able to decide how and when to do work.
  • Competency/proficiency: sufficient challenge, learning, growth, and recognition.
  • Connectedness: support from colleagues & supervisors, a sense of belonging.
  • Feedback: clear communication about what is going well and where improvement is possible.
  • Meaningful work/impact: feeling that your work matters, that your contribution is valued.
  • Balance and recovery moments: breaks, rest after stress, work-life boundaries.

Energy-eaters are the opposite: factors that continually demand more than they give, causing (mental) energy to leak away. Examples:

  • High workload: too many tasks, fast delivery without sufficient resources.
  • Ambiguity: unclear roles, expectations or priorities.
  • Low autonomy: little control over own work and planning.
  • Poor communication or lack of social support.
  • Excessive meetings, multitasking, constant interruptions.
  • Insufficient recovery: too few breaks, work outside work hours, no release from work.

When the balance tips, stress reactions, exhaustion or Sickness Absence arise; when energy sources are dominant, motivation, engagement and resilience arise.

2. Recent figures: what does research say?

To understand how urgent this is for SMEs, here are some recent, relevant figures from the Netherlands:

  • The Health and Safety Balance 2025 reports that the cost to employers of continued salary payment for work-related absenteeism has increased from €5.1 billion in 2015 to €8.3 billion in 2023, of which €4.9 billion is due to psychosocial workload (work pressure, sexual harassment, etc.).
  • The proportion of workers reporting burnout symptoms increased from about 13% in 2015 to 19% in 2023.
  • At the same time, we see that the proportion of workers who experience high task demands as well as little autonomy ("stressful work") has declined slightly, from 18% in 2015 to 15% in 2023.

In short, the issues are obvious, and many Sickness Absence, health complaints and productivity losses are linked to an imbalance between energy consumers and energy givers.

3. How do you map your organization?

For you, as an SME employer, it is essential to systematically and practically identify where the balance is not right:

(a) Use a method or instrument

Using smart tools and methods such as the confetti method, ZekerArbo offers insight into the actual work experience of employees. This can be done through weekly, short and light-hearted questionnaires that provide a continuous picture of work happiness.

The approach rests on scientific models that encompass 15 drivers of job happiness, including meaning, growth, connection and fun.

Regular, short measurements provide immediate insight into what is going on in the workplace, allowing the organization to respond to employees' current needs.

(b) Survey & dialogue

Allow employees to contribute ideas:

  • Ask, "What gives you energy at work?" and "What causes you to lose energy?"
  • Organize talks or workshops in which teams discuss what they experience as energy drains and energy givers.
  • Use short polls or feedback moments to make continuous adjustments.

(c) Monitoring & Evaluation.

  • Set measurable indicators: absenteeism rates, frequency of workload complaints, employee satisfaction, turnover.
  • For example, periodically measure how employees perceive it in terms of autonomy, role clarity, workload.
  • Use numbers to determine what makes improvement (less Sickness Absence, higher productivity, more engagement).

4. The link between Energy Balance & Mental Resilience.

Now that we know what energy givers and energy depleters are, and how to identify them: what is the connection to mental resilience?

Resilience is the ability to recover from setbacks, stress and change. But recovery happens better when:

  • one's energy resources are sufficient,
  • the environment provides support,
  • there are repair moments (breaks, rests),
  • the employee is not under constant pressure.

In other words, energizers are the foundation of resilience. Without sufficient energy, autonomy or support, it is difficult to rebound against pressure and adversity.

energy givers are the foundation of resilience

Examples of how this works in practice:

  • An employee with lots of autonomy and clear feedback recovers faster after peak periods (e.g., busyness, deadlines).
  • In organizations where support from supervisors and colleagues is experienced, the risk of burnout or long-term Sickness Absence is significantly lower.
  • Employees who have regular moments of reflection or recovery (e.g., breaks, varied work) report that they are better able to cope with unexpected changes.

Research shows that mental resilience is associated with higher scores on energy, dedication and fewer health complaints. For example, a study of entry-level employees showed that those who already reported higher resilience in their training had more energy and dedication at the start of their first job, and fewer health complaints.

5. Practical Tools for SME Employers.

What can you do today, within your organization, to strengthen energizers, reduce energy depleters, and thus increase your team's mental resilience?

Autonomy & role clarity

Give employees room to make their own interpretation of tasks; let them contribute to planning; clear job descriptions and expectations.

Social support & connectedness

Have executives available for conversations; encourage peer support; organize team moments or informal meetings.

Development & feedback

Offer training; provide regular feedback; allow employees to grow in their roles.

Workload management

Make sure tasks are realistic; distribute work evenly; avoid prolonged peak pressure; limit overtime; plan recovery times.

Recovery & break

Introduce active breaks; encourage loosening up after work hours; create quiet workspaces; structured moments to take a breather.

Meet & steer

Use surveys, tools such as Arbometer; track Sickness Absence, health, engagement; involve employees in solutions.

Summary & Conclusion

  • Energizers are the building blocks of mental vitality: autonomy, competence, connection, feedback, meaningful work.
  • Energy eaters undermine both energy and resilience: workload, ambiguity, lack of control or recovery.
  • Recent figures from TNO show that psychosocial workload (PSA) is a large and growing problem in the Netherlands - with high costs for employers and negative effects on health and productivity.
  • Mental resilience grows when employees not only work on coping individually, but especially when the environment provides space for energizers, structure, support and recovery moments.

For SME employers, this means: actively work on increasing energy givers, reducing energy guzzlers, and integrate that into policies, conversations and daily work practices.

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