Stressed employee working
In April, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. is "out of the pandemic phase." But we have not exactly returned to normal. More distressingly, the lingering effects of the pandemic on employee stress, anxiety, and well-being appear to be far from over. In fact, according to Gallup's newly released State of the Global Workplace report, employee stress is at an all-time high.
The Great Resignation sent a strong message that today's employees are increasingly unwilling to settle for being unhappy at work. If employers fail to fully commit to making the workplace supportive of well-being, employees will keep searching for better options. Some organizations have received the message and are adopting a new approach to employee engagement. However, many are not keeping up with the rising expectations.
Employers respond strongly to the pandemic initially
In the early months of the pandemic, employers realized their employees were stressed and struggling and in need of support and reassurance. Many stepped up and showed they understood that an employee's issues at home could no longer be compartmentalized and seen as "private" matters with no connection to work. The best way to help employees thrive at work is to demonstrate concern for them as a whole person.
Accordingly, Gallup found that in May of 2020, the number of employees who felt strongly that their employer cared about their well-being shot up to 49%. Two years later, however, that number has sunk below pre-pandemic levels and now stands at 24%—the lowest in almost a decade.
What happened? Three possible explanations jump out. One, employers' initial commitment to employee well-being was short-lived and lacking in follow-through. Two, everyone underestimated just how long a grind the pandemic would be. Three, there has been a fundamental shift in employee expectations, and many employers are failing to keep up.
Employee well-being is the secret sauce
Regardless of how we explain this sudden drop in how employers' concern for employee well-being is perceived, it is clear that well-being has now assumed center stage in what business leaders and executives need to be concerned with. Although I consult with companies about how to create and implement employee wellness programs, I have been encouraging CEOs to think beyond wellness for years. The broader and more holistic goal of employee well-being includes elements of mental health, relationships, and overall thriving that the old model of employee wellness programs did not sufficiently address.
The new Gallup report contains one particular alarm bell that business leaders concerned with employee well-being should not ignore. The number of employees who say they experienced stress "a lot" the previous day—which hit an all-time high in 2020—last year hit a new all-time high of 44%.
As a Harvard Business Review summary of the report points out, that number represents a serious organizational risk. "If leaders aren't paying attention to their employees' well-being, they're likely to be blindsided by top performer burnout and high quit rates."
A meaningful commitment to employee well-being is the most powerful antidote to negatives like high stress, burnout, and quit rates. Those one-in-four employees who strongly feel their employer cares about their well-being are 71% less likely to experience a high degree of burnout.
The U.S. scores high in thriving, but also in stress
More than usual, national and regional indicators in the State of the Global Workplace report were highly variable. Global numbers for engagement (21%) and thriving (33%) held relatively steady on average. But while thriving was up 6% in Australia and New Zealand, it was down 5% in Europe.
The percentage of employees in the U.S. and Canada who reported they were thriving (60%) was second only to Australia and New Zealand. But the U.S. also scored high in the number of employees who said they were stressed the previous day: 50%, second only to East Asia.
Another notable statistic reveals a fairly pronounced gender gap in how employees are handling the ongoing stress and worry of the pandemic: 54% of women report feeling a lot of stress the previous day (as opposed to 47% of men), and 46% of women said they experienced a lot of worry (compared to 37% of men). The pandemic continues to take a disproportionate toll on women's well-being and professional thriving.
Concrete steps you can take to help employees thrive
The Gallup report singles out three main contributors to negative work experiences of the kind that increase stress and burnout and compromise employee well-being:
- Unfair treatment at work
- Unmanageable workload
- Unclear communication and lack of support from a manager
These findings are consistent with what I hear from clients and reflect the things I emphasize with the executives I coach. Find out what you can do to help your employees thrive at work. Ask them upfront if they feel they are in any way being mistreated. Solicit input from them on how to make their workload manageable. Communicate clearly and often with your direct reports. Ask them how they are doing at work and how the rest of their lives are going. If they are facing a challenge or difficulty, see what you can do to support them.
This is not complicated. It is not rocket science. What is difficult is maintaining a high level of concern and support. The fact that this perceived level of concern for employees spiked early in the pandemic and then fell again tells you everything about how difficult it is to sustain. You will not maintain support for your employees unless a commitment to well-being becomes embedded in the culture and is seen as an everyday strategic imperative. Employees notice when that concern is genuine and consistent. And they reward organizations that deliver on this promise with engagement, loyalty, and productivity.
