HR professionals are increasingly concerned about well-being.

Partnering with Johns Hopkins University Human Capital Development Lab, Great Place To Work® researchers identified that employee well-being has declined to pre-pandemic levels. And in polling, HR practitioners are increasingly sounding the alarm on mental health and work-life balance.

“I think that we as HR professionals have got to be leaning in and really talking about this,” says Amy Dufrane, CEO of , an organization that offers certifications and professional development to the HR industry.

“We've got to lean in on this area of mental health and anxiousness,” she says. That means embracing flexibility and challenging assumptions around what mental health warnings look like in the workplace.

What drives employees to have more psychological wellness?

Great Place To Work research found several key drivers of psychological and emotional well-being at work.

One of the most significant? A healthy work-life balance made employees three times more likely to say they had mental and emotional well-being at work. If they said they could be their authentic self in the workplace? That made them 2.4 times as likely.

The third and final driver, being able to count on colleagues to cooperate, made employees two times more likely to report high levels of well-being.

These drivers came from analysis of 1.3 million employee surveys collected by Great Place To Work in 2024. When looking at regression analysis based on its 60-question model, these three key ingredients for a psychologically and emotionally healthy work environment emerged.

This data reveals three key areas you should investigate when employees report higher levels of mental fatigue, burnout, or toxic workplace culture: boosting cross-team cooperation, improving flexibility and work-life balance, and making sure every employee feels a sense of belonging.

Why psychological and emotional health matters

Well-being has a direct impact on business performance, and HR teams can use data to show a financial value to levels of mental and emotional wellness across the business.

Concerned with turnover and employee retention? Employees are twice as likely to want to stay on the job when they have a psychologically health workplace. They are also three times more likely to recommend your workplace to others, becoming crucial ambassadors to help attract top talent and refer open roles to their network.

Well-being even has a proven impact on core business performance like customer service, with employees being 48% more likely to say the company offers excellent service when they also have high levels of well-being.

Where leaders should focus

What kinds of activities can move the needle on well-being? DuFrane says HR leaders in her network are finding success with key areas:

1. Creating spaces for people to talk openly about mental health

That might be an employee resource group or another protected space within the organization, Dufrane says. It could mean bringing in a mental health provider for a dedicated conversation.

“A company can hold a virtual event if you’re not physically together,” she says. “Have a virtual counselor come in and talk about some strategies that if you're feeling anxious, or how to bring down your heart rate.”

2. Make sure managers can provide information about your employee assistance program (EAP)

“Lots of employers have employee assistance programs, but they go underutilized,” Dufrane says. Employees don’t know what is offered or are concerned that using the program will be shared with their employer and might hold back their career.

Dufrane stresses the importance of having one-on-one sessions where they can ask questions about these resources, and people leaders are often a first point of contact for employees. “I think we're undercommunicating about this right now,” she says.

3. Turn communication into smaller, digestible chunks

One long email or SharePoint page with every resource your company offers is going to be less effective than more consistent communication delivered in bite-sized chunks.

“That's how we need to be communicating to people now — smaller chunk sized, just little bites and having a drumbeat around those communications,” Dufrane says.

4. Overcommunicate your values

As employees face a tumultuous news cycle and messages that trigger anxiety, it’s crucial to continuously communicate your values as an organization, Dufrane says.

“This is the time for companies to really demonstrate to their employees: ‘We really do mean our values and we really do care about you, and this is what we're going to do to help you,’” she says.

If you don’t, employees will not feel comfortable bringing their full selves to the workplace. “They're not going to deliver the best results for the organization,” Dufrane says. “It's not just a U.S. problem — it's a global challenge that we have.”

The antidote?  “Lead with compassion and kindness.”

5 creative ways great workplaces support employee well-being

Here are some of the creative and generous ways great workplaces are supporting the holistic wellness of their employees:

1. A dedicated well-being team

It’s no secret that working in health care poses real challenges for employee well-being. The American Medical Association found that meet the criteria for burnout, per a recent poll. Five years after the pandemic, health care workers continue to experience higher levels of fatigue and burnout.

Meeting the challenge has prompted the best organizations in health care to creatively leverage resources within the organization. A dedicated wellness team at Wellstar Health System has a clear mandate to improve employees’ experience. The team operates wellness rooms that offer a calming environment for employees to recharge, and leads Transforming Workplace Wellness, an action planning program that trains leaders on how to improve wellness across their teams.

Using Great Place To Work’s survey platform, Wellstar was able to measure that 65% pf leaders who participated in the Transforming Workplace Wellness program saw increased employee engagement in their department. 

Another hospital, Baptist Health South Florida has a Pastoral Care team that takes responsibility for well-being, including counseling, crisis intervention, grief support, and life cycle support for staff. The team also manages an Employee Sunshine Fund, which offers interest free loans and gifts to employees facing financial hardships.

Having a dedicated team that responds to the immediate needs of your workforce can make dramatic improvements to employee well-being — and ensures that well-being doesn’t fall off your organization’s radar.

2. Mental health resources

Beyond an EAP, what kinds of mental health resources are having an impact at great workplaces?

Visa offers a Psychological Safety Resource Hub with tools, resources and simple do’s and don’ts to help foster psychological safety across the organization. The resources got an extra boost with targeted programming during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

NVIDIA takes things one step further with 100 employees getting trained as Certified Mental Health First Aid team members with the National Council for Mental Health. These advocates in the workplace are educated on mental health signs and symptoms, available resources and how to preserve confidentiality, becoming an essential resource for employees looking to talk to someone about mental health or substance abuse problems.

3. Offering more balance to always-on teams

How can you offer a better work-life balance to roles with challenging schedules? Maintenance teams at Camden Property Trust must respond to after-hours calls, which were often cited in exit interviews as one of the biggest downsides of the job.

To respond, Camden enlisted the help of its 24-hour contact center, which receives the after-hours maintenance requests, to improve management of the calls and work to reduce the number of incidents that required a site visit. Meeting weekly with maintenance teams, the contact center developed a maintenance cheat sheet to troubleshoot some common problems via phone. With the success of this program, the maintenance team was able to introduce quiet hours for 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., reducing the number of after-hours calls and improving working conditions for all.   

4. Support financial well-being

Delta Air Lines heard from an employee survey of more than 40,000 employees in 2023 that financial wellness was a top concern. To respond, they launched an emergency savings program with financial education resources. After completing an education course, employees earned $1,000 which they can put towards decreasing debt or setting up a rainy-day fund. The program met its two-year participation goal in just two months and participants reported a 62% increase in their sense of financial control.

Comcast NBCUniversal launched a Financial Navigator program where employees can speak with a coach to learn how to improve their savings, pay down debt and navigate retirement or investments. Since launching in 2023, over 20,000 employees have engaged with the program.

5. Make physical wellness a social activity

Physical well-being is a vital aspect of holistic employee wellness. The most creative companies are now fusing efforts to encourage physical activity with opportunities for social connection.

At ServiceNow, 2024 marked the first ever WellFest, a two-week global event dedicated to all aspects of well-being. Activities included yoga and meditation sessions, gardening classes and cooking lessons.

With loneliness creating wellbeing challenges across then workforce, having events that boost both physical and social wellness can be an effective deployment of resources for companies of any size.

The data suggests leaders should take a closer look at the psychological and emotional health of their employees.

Research from the Johns Hopkins University Human Capital Development Lab in partnership with Great Place To Work® found that workplace well-being has dipped to pre-pandemic levels. What’s more, African American or Black employees, are having a consistently worse experience, a gap that grows even larger for Black women.

Great Place To Work research has shown that lower levels of well-being for these employees pose a huge risk to businesses. When employees have a consistently positive experience, companies are more likely to outperform during an economic crisis, eventually seeing stock market returns that are nearly four times the market average.

Making psychological well-being a priority for Black History Month

Initiatives that improve workplace well-being for one group of employees will benefit your entire workforce. At Certified workplaces, where employees report higher levels of trust, 47% more employees of all demographics and backgrounds report having a psychologically and emotionally healthy workplace, compared to a typical workplace. 

This improvement matters for companies looking to retain employees and recruit new talent. When employees reported having a psychologically healthy workplace, they were 30% more likely to want to stay at their company and 70% more likely to recommend their company to friends.

The business case for building a psychologically healthy workplace is clear. With employees’ fears about discrimination on the rise, leaders should be extra vigilant for workers who might suffer in silence.

Employees may resort to code-switching and masking to navigate their work environment, coping mechanisms that can lead to feelings of isolation or perceptions of inauthenticity among colleagues. This complicates leaders’ ability to accurately diagnose and address what is undermining engagement within the organization.

How to promote psychological and emotional health

For leaders who decide to focus on psychological health, the data shows three activities that are likely to have an impact.

1. Don’t forget to have fun while celebrating important cultural events

When employees of all backgrounds say they look forward to going to work, they are 140% more likely to say their workplace is psychologically and emotionally healthy. Fun is the No. 1 driver of well-being for every generation.

For leaders, that means focusing on bringing an element of fun to cultural celebrations. Some educational programming might be appropriate, but make sure that employees can connect with one another. A potluck where people share family recipes or a team field trip to a museum or historical landmark are more likely to foster team relationships.

Other ideas include using employee resource group (ERG) events to help employees connect and network with one another. Consider sponsoring a happy hour or ice cream social where employees of all ages can interact with and learn more about your ERGs. Mature ERGs are focused on business results and should be able to be started by any employee looking to volunteer and improve business results at the company.

By celebrating Black History Month and the achievements of Black professionals who have made significant contributions in their fields, your company sends an important message about its values. These stories are not just inspiring; they are crucial for understanding the importance of fostering a successful and inclusive workplace. By actively celebrating these contributions, leadership helps create a workplace environment where all employees feel valued, and eager to contribute while having fun.

2. Encourage all employees to have a healthy work-life balance

When employees of all backgrounds say they have a healthy work-life balance, they are 120% more likely to say their workplace is psychologically and emotionally healthy, according to surveys of 1.3 million employees.

The upshot: Make sure celebrations for Black History Month help employees find balance rather than add to already overcrowded schedules. Consider having a flexible holiday schedule so that employees can take time to celebrate cultural holidays that matter to them.

Flexibility can help employees manage a variety of needs in the workplace, and remote work has even allowed some employees to minimize their experience with microaggressions. As more employers ask their workers to return to the office, consider how those changing experiences impact employees’ mental health.

3. Use storytelling to help employees find their community within the company.

When employees of all backgrounds say they can be their true selves at work, they are 50% more likely to say their workplace is psychologically and emotionally healthy.

What helps employees feel like they can be their authentic selves?  Practical examples include storytelling initiatives or networking programs that encourage employees to share and listen to one another. When employees see others bringing their full life experience to the workplace, they are more likely to share more of their own unique story.

For leaders, the high-trust leadership behavior most likely to improve performance on this metric is “listening.” When leaders take time to really listen to employees and learn about their experiences, it fosters a culture where everyone feels safe to express their true selves.

This cultivates a workplace culture where diversity of thought and experience is the bedrock of innovation and growth.

Taking action in 2025

Driving psychological well-being will have a profound impact on organizations that take meaningful steps to improve the employee experience. The year ahead promises another 12 months of change, market shocks, and uncertainty. More than ever, companies that have a resilient and engaged workforce are going to outperform their competitors.

By focusing on psychological well-being, leaders can ensure that every employee has the resources and support they need to achieve great things in the year ahead.

I once was in charge of running the social media channels for the company I worked for. When I shared a post to the company’s Instagram channel, one of my colleagues would often make a sarcastic remark or roll their eyes. They would comment on little details, from the choice of words to the choice of images.

Their constant criticism made me feel anxious and self-conscious about my work. I started questioning whether I was doing a good job. I second-guessed every post, trying to anticipate every possible criticism and making sure everything was perfect. I felt paralyzed by the fear of making a typo or facing more snide comments.

As these small criticisms accumulated, I increasingly felt like I couldn't take any risks or be creative in my work. I was so afraid of being criticized or judged that I started playing it safe, putting up bland and uninspired posts that wouldn't draw attention or invite any criticism. The more my psychological safety eroded, the more my work suffered.

What do we mean by psychological safety?

Psychological safety refers to the feeling of being able to speak up, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of negative consequences.

The term psychological safety was first , a professor at Harvard Business School. She described it as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

In 1999, while studying the rate of mistakes made by medical teams, Edmondson found that the teams that made more mistakes performed better than teams that made fewer mistakes — or at least, that’s how it seemed at first. Rather, it was the teams that had a culture of openly admitting to making mistakes that had better outcomes. The other teams were making mistakes, too; they just hid them.

Simon Sinek later wrote about psychological safety in the workplace in his 2014 book Inspired by military organizations, where leaders literally put their lives on the line, he wrote that great leadership is about making employees feel safe so they can focus on work without fear for their own survival.

Why psychological safety matters in the workplace

Psychological safety isn’t merely a nice to have — it’s essential for a business to operate efficiently and effectively. Without it, employees won’t trust their employer, and the whole business can suffer.

“If you think about it from the business perspective, when people feel psychologically safe in the organization — are able to share ideas, questions, concerns — the company is more agile,” says , senior manager and strategic advisor with Great Place To Work®.

“We’ve seen through our research on psychological safety that when people question their every move, when people aren’t sure if they should raise questions, initiatives and programs roll out very slowly.”

A lack of psychological safety in the workplace can thwart new projects, processes, and procedures. Without it, employees fear anything from being criticized if they can’t keep pace, to being made redundant because of new, “better” initiatives.

Psychological safety in the workplace allows people to bring their full selves. It allows you to show up in a way that’s much more authentic.

But creating psychological safety goes beyond just encouraging people to speak up. It also includes how an employer views work/life balance.

“Great leadership is about making employees feel safe so they can focus on work without fear for their own survival.”

“Psychological safety allows people to bring their full selves,” says Julian. “It allows you to show up in a way that’s much more authentic. The company is looking out for you. You’re not just a cog in the machine, and they care about your long-term success. And then the benefit that the company gets is that employees actually care about the success of the organization.”

Psychological safety vs. psychological health

Feeling psychologically safe is not the same thing as feeling psychologically healthy, although the two are closely related, says Marcus Erb, vice president of data science & innovation at Great Place To Work.

Psychological health refers to an individual's overall well-being and mental state, he explains. It encompasses a range of factors, such as emotional regulation, self-esteem, resilience, and the ability to cope with stress and adversity.

“Psychological safety is one component of a psychologically healthy workplace, where employees feel supported and empowered to express their opinions and ideas without fear of retribution,” he says.

“A psychologically safe workplace can contribute to better psychological health, as employees who feel safe and supported are more likely to experience less stress and anxiety and have better overall employee well-being.”

While psychological safety and psychological health are related, they are not interchangeable. Psychological safety refers to the context in which an individual interacts with others, while psychological health refers to the individual's internal state of well-being. Both are important factors in creating a positive and supportive work environment that promotes overall well-being and success.

6 signs your workplace is psychologically unsafe

If you’re unsure whether your company is creating a psychologically safe work environment (and there’s no obvious factor like my belittling manager), there are a few red flags to watch out for, says Julian:

1. Projects take too long to roll out

Agility suffers when a workplace is psychologically unsafe. Employees are suspicious of new processes and procedures and may even work around them rather than give feedback. When psychological safety is low, instead of asking for help or clarification, employees would rather keep quiet and soldier on in uncertainty.

2. People don’t ask questions or share ideas

In meetings, few people (or no people) speak up or contribute. Ideas are presented in a top-down manner, with little room to question decisions or raise concerns. If an employee felt like their ideas were valued, they’re less likely to internally label something a “dumb idea” or hesitate to bring new ideas up in a meeting.

3. The rumor mill is rampant

Rather than address issues openly, employees air their grievances within cliques or other teams. There is mystery and speculation about why or how a new initiative will happen.

4. High absenteeism

Employees may take unplanned leave or call in sick to avoid a micromanaging boss, microaggressions in the workplace or intense pressure on the job, even if they are not physically ill. The lack of psychological safety can create a culture of disengagement, where employees are not motivated to come to work, leading to increased absenteeism.

5. High presenteeism

Presenteeism refers to the phenomenon of employees coming to work even when they are sick, injured, or otherwise unwell, and not fully engaged in their work.

Digital presenteeism is a phenomenon where employees feel pressured to constantly remain connected to their work through digital devices, like checking and responding to emails, in an effort to appear to be working hard and often.

Presenteeism can be a sign of low psychological safety in the workplace because it indicates that employees do not feel comfortable taking time off when they need it and are struggling to perform at their best.

6. High turnover

Employees are simply leaving. Without a voice, they leave for roles elsewhere that encourage more open discourse.

How to foster psychological safety in the workplace

Writer Dr. Timothy Clark identified four stages of psychological safety:

• Inclusion safety — You are welcome into the organization as your authentic self.
• Learner safety — You are free to ask questions and make mistakes while you learn.
• Contributor safety — You are encouraged to share your ideas without fear of retribution.
• Challenger safety — You are safe to question the status quo, raise concerns, and provide dissenting opinions without fear of negative consequences.

All these stages apply to the workplace, and employees may move back and forth in the stages as new projects are rolled out or they change teams or roles. Here are five ways that managers can ensure psychological safety at every stage:

1. Be vulnerable

Leaders are human, too. A manager who admits to making mistakes or to not having all the right answers will create a far more psychologically safe workplace than a manager who hides their flaws or pretends to know it all.

At Ryan LLC, a tax services and software provider, mandated training sessions address well-being, psychological safety, failure tolerance and setting boundaries. To demonstrate vulnerability, the training includes leaders sharing their own stories of failure, and participants are encouraged to share their experiences of being on teams that got things done versus teams that didn’t. 

Julian, too, says he has witnessed first-hand how powerful this can be while he was working with an organization that demonstrated high psychological safety.

“The company was rolling out this strategy for go-to-market with customers,” explains Julian. “And there were some big questions. When we got to our meeting to talk about it, our leader said, ‘I’m acknowledging there are some holes in the plan. We don’t have all the answers right now.’”

He says that simple display of vulnerability opened the door for employees to raise other concerns, resulting in a far more effective problem-solving session.

2. Be transparent

“Sharing what you know is good, but what’s better is sharing what you don’t know. And best is sharing information transparently: what you know, what you don’t know, and how you’re going to help people get through it,” says Julian.

Communication that is open, honest, and credible feeds into psychological safety. Communicate consistently and directly, and make sure your actions match your words.

3. Be fair

Review every aspect of the employee experience and assess its fairness. What are the pathways to promotion? Are there pay gaps among any equivalent roles? Are people compensated and rewarded fairly?

Fairness can be an especially thorny issue with hybrid teams, where employees who are primarily remote may feel that they’re often overlooked due to a lack of “face time.” Ensure that they feel heard and supported as equal members of the team.

“Sharing what you know is good, but what’s better is sharing what you don’t know. And best is sharing information transparently."

4. Be curious

Strong leaders model curiosity — they ask questions and don’t necessarily assume the status quo is the right way. Acknowledge any uncertainties and foster a company culture of learning and problem-solving rather than blind following.

For example, the team at SAP America, an IT company based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, acknowledges that psychological safety must begin at the top. Their new leadership credo, “Do what’s right. Make SAP better for generations to come” asks company leaders to think about the long-term impact of their actions and decisions.

“It is a clear signal that SAP’s leadership culture is moving away from one where leaders feel they need to make short-sighted decisions to make quarterly numbers, and toward a trust-based and ethical environment where teams have the space to be themselves, learn, grow, and thrive,” an SAP team member told us.

SAP’s leadership diverges from a company culture where leaders feel they need to make short-sighted decisions to make quarterly numbers. Instead, they move toward a trust-based and ethical environment where teams have the space to be themselves, learn, grow, and thrive.

5. Be reasonable

Unrealistic expectations — whether that’s how much someone can accomplish in a day or how available they need to be last-minute — can kill psychological safety.

Julian notes this is especially an issue for hourly workers who have less flexible schedules or schedules that are only set two weeks or so in advance, such as retail and hospitality workers. He warns that when people have a week-to-week schedule, they can’t manage work/life balance and, as a result, can’t feel like they fit in with the organization.

This can also be an issue for remote or hybrid teams, especially when they cross time zones and employees may be working while management is sleeping, or vice versa. Show that you respect employees’ personal lives and that you trust them to get their work done, even when out of sight.

How to measure psychological safety in the workplace

Conducting employee surveys on a regular basis will ensure you keep your finger on the pulse of how psychologically safe employees are feeling. Great Place To Work’s precise and rigorously tested Trust Index™ Survey statements are specifically designed to elicit meaningful employee feedback and insights.

To learn more about the psychology of high-trust workplaces, subscribe to our newsletter or inquire about Great Place To Work 카지노커뮤니티™, which can help you to measure and understand how psychologically safe your employees feel.

Perhaps more than any other aspect of workplace culture, employee well-being requires a holistic approach that focuses on supporting the “whole person” in each employee.

All of us need support at some point. Maybe it’s for practical needs such as childcare assistance or tuition reimbursement. Others may have deeper underlying needs like counseling for grief, or learning how to establish a healthy worklife balance.

Much like any other relationship, the needs a foundation of trust, and to thrive there must be a sincere sense of care and support.

But how do companies achieve widespread well-being among their people?

It starts with an understanding of who your people are and what type of support they need. From there, you can tailor your own practices to those specific needs and nurture a culture of happy, healthy employees.

Once employees have a consistently positive experience across key areas that contribute to employee well-being, they can flourish inside and outside of work.

Benefits of employee well-being programs

Employee well-being programs aren’t just about the warm fuzzies. They are an important part of a successful workplace, driving healthier, happier, and more engaged teams. 

Here are some of the key benefits:

• Better health: Employees who are physically or mentally unwell can’t bring their best to the workplace. 
• Boosted productivity: Healthy employees are more focused, which enables them to be more efficient.
• Higher retention: When employees feel valued and treated as a person with unique needs, they’re more likely to stay.
• Enhanced engagement: High-trust workplaces have higher morale and stronger team connections.

Top talent attraction: More and more candidates are seeking employers that support them both in and outside of the workplace.

9 examples of well-being programs from top workplaces

1. Wellness access at Sheetz

You can’t have a healthy workplace if your employees themselves aren’t healthy. But maintaining physical fitness is challenging — gym memberships are expensive and seeking out trainers or physical therapists can feel overwhelming.

To encourage employees to tend to their health, Sheetz opened three “Shwellness Centers” featuring a medical team, fitness trainers, dietitians, group fitness instructors, and physical therapy staff. The centers are entirely free for employees and support staff to use.  

There are currently three locations, based where the largest number of employees can benefit. Employees who live elsewhere can attend virtual fitness classes and use the center’s virtual health service for minor illnesses, specialty care, mental health counseling, and dermatology screenings.

One employee said, “I always tell people how Sheetz is great and really takes care of us! The number one perk, in my opinion, is definitely the Shwellness Center and everything they offer to the employees/spouses!”

2. Coaching at Synchrony

Nothing speaks to a profound sense of care and attention more than one-on-one assistance. At Synchrony, the company relies on well-being coaches who partner with employees to create a personalized wellness strategy based on strengths and values.

Working with one of the coaches is a positive, rewarding, and motivating experience that can help an employee define and work towards their unique goals — offering a safe space to discuss their specific needs. One-on-one well-being coaches also provide support to people leaders navigating difficult conversations with their teams.

3. Relocation support at NVIDIA

Keeping employees safe and supported amid government upheaval isn’t something that’s often thought about in employee well-being programs, but it’s exactly what NVIDIA had to do in response to Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The company covered the costs for hundreds of employees and their families to leave Russia and relocate to Armenia. This included chartering flights and setting up a new office in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. NVIDIA also continues to support those who want to move from Armenia to other countries.

The company also had to consider financial support, given the banking restrictions that were coming into play with international sanctions against Russia. The company quickly advanced salaries to employees located there while the HR teams helped with relocations, legal aid, and other logistics.

4. Health screenings at The Breakers

Nothing speaks to a sense of taking care of the “whole person” quite like making it easier for employees to care for themselves.

Recognizing that employees may struggle to fit in medical check-ups between other obligations, The Breakers resort opted to bring check-ups to the workplace.

The company offers preventative exams and diagnostic services, such as mammography screenings, skin cancer screenings, and oral exams and dental services, which employees can get at work during their shift.

“Coming from a family with a history of cancer, I was pleased The Breakers brought this service on property,” said one employee. “The staff was warm, welcoming, and they made me feel very comfortable.”

5. Support assistance at EY

One component of supporting an employee’s well-being is providing clarity on how they can seek help. It’s one thing to have a program or practice to support your people, it’s another to ensure they know how to use it.  

At EY, their integrated employee assistance and life management services program has been serving their professionals and their families for over 40 years. Through a 24-hour hotline and website, employees can access:

• Referrals to short- and long-term counseling services
• Health and well-being solutions
• Child- and elder-care resources and referrals
• Daily life and home services
• Dependent care
• Personal travel, and more.

Thanks to the hotline, employees have impressive ease of access when it comes to taking advantage of company support, and with that, they have shown what a thriving company culture looks like.

6. Recognition at First American Financial

One crucial component of well-being that many forget is employee recognition. By validating employees’ incredible work, companies can cultivate high worker morale and keep a smile on their people’s faces.

First American established their “Fantastic” recognition platform, where employees can express their appreciation to fellow colleagues who have demonstrated the core values of integrity, commitment, service, leadership and teamwork.

Managers can also acknowledge outstanding employee performance and meaningful contributions by awarding points. Each point is worth one dollar, and employees can cash them in to purchase items such as gift cards, experiences, and tickets.

7. Transitioning back to work at Adobe

As the concerns of overwork and burnout continue to plague companies nationwide, supporting those who take time off from work can improve employee well-being.

Adobe created their “Welcome Back” program to offer additional resources to employees and help managers facilitate a seamless transition back to work. The program is available to employees returning from an extended leave of absence of more than three calendar months.

By offering such well-defined support in an employee’s return to work journey, Adobe creates a sense of psychological safety for those taking time off.

As part of the program, managers —– with the assistance of the eEmployee rResource cCenter —– develop a transition plan for each employee and discuss the possible need for an alternative work arrangement.

By offering such well-defined support in an employee’s return to work journey, Adobe creates a sense of psychological safety for those taking time off for any reason.

8. Mandatory time off at Carta

A crucial component in cultivating a healthy work–/life balance is how and when employees take time off. While many companies have jumped on the unlimited PTO trend, employees often still struggle to actually use their vacation time, feeling guilty for stepping away from the workplace.

Carta aims to eliminate that guilt by setting a minimum time off policy. Employees are required to take at least 15 days off a year. After that, paid time off and sick days are still unlimited.

By setting a minimum, mandatory vacation allotment, Carta is ensuring its employees get the time they need to rest and recharge, without the stress of worrying whether they should be away.

9. Financial wellness at Experian

Among the many factors that lead to a strong sense of well-being, financial security is one that keeps many people up at night. Uncertainty surrounding finances has the potential to disrupt one’s personal and professional life in profound ways.

At Experian, the company wants to ensure that team members have the knowledge and access to make healthy financial decisions that benefit them and their families.

The Experian Sharesave Plan offers employees a low-risk way to invest in the company. Employees can save a regular amount of money from their salary over a set period, typically between three and five years.

At the end of the period, they can use the money they’ve saved to purchase shares in Experian at a discounted price. Or, if the company’s share price has fallen, employees can simply take back their savings.

This not only makes investing more viable for entry-level employees, but it also encourages financial literacy since it incentivizes employees to think about long-term financial planning.

Experian also offers financial planning, mortgage advice, and debt management services, helping to reduce financial stress.

These programs perfectly encapsulate a holistic approach to care and employee well-being.

What great looks like

If you want to find out more about what other great companies are doing to support employee well-being, subscribe to our newsletter.

Why should business leaders care if night owls get enough sleep? 

When employees lose sleep, their health is affected and productivity dips. Research shows of the world’s population isn’t sleeping as well as they should — not because they are lazy or improvident, but because their bodies are hardwired against the typical 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. work schedule.

For leaders who want to help employees find their optimal sleep schedule — and boost worker health and business performance — flextime arrangements are key.

What is flextime?

Flextime is a scheduling arrangement that offers full- and part-time employees input on what hours they work. Employees still work the same number of scheduled hours but have the freedom to alter their start and end times.

While the standard eight to five schedule suits roughly 55% of the population, it harms employees who don’t fit the mold. Night owls, roughly 25% of the population, force themselves into standard working hours at the cost of their sleep. Rigid schedules can result in higher sick days, decreased productivity, and higher turnover. If employees are offered flextime, leaders can unlock the potential of employees who are fighting against their biology.

By taking time to learn about genetic time clocks — called chronotypes — leaders can improve employee productivity and protect employee well-being.

What are chronotypes?

Everyone has a unique 24-hour master biological clock, or circadian rhythm. Chronotypes are classifications based on when a person’s circadian rhythm dictates they should be awake or asleep.

Broadly, there are three chronotypes: morning-types, evening-types, and somewhere-in-between-types. Individuals can by asking, “If I had no plans tomorrow, what time would I like to wake up?” Those who naturally rise before 6 a.m. are categorized as the morning-type. Wake up after 9 a.m.? You likely fall in the evening-type category. And if you naturally start your day between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., you belong to the in-between category.

When you experience chrono-misalignment (your sleep/wake cycles clash with your body’s natural sleep schedule), you are more likely to suffer exhaustion or make poor decisions that can have serious consequences for your personal and professional life.

Why should employers care about chrono-misalignment?

A healthy workplace does more than make employees happy. It drives essential business outcomes.

In Great Place To Work® research conducted with Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, four out of five employees worldwide reported not flourishing at work, leading to higher turnover and talent costs. When companies prioritize well-being, employees are three times more likely to intend to stay with their employer.

Consider how chrono-misalignment can have a negative impact on your business beyond just the employee experience.

1. It’s expensive.

Absenteeism costs employers big money. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sick day absenteeism costs U.S. employers over .

Some of that absenteeism is , a direct effect of chrono-misalignment. SleepWatch data shows that morning-type individuals get 48 more minutes of sleep per night than evening-types. For evening-type workers, that’s 16 fewer hours of sleep per month.

The good news: Flextime offerings have positive impacts on . A recent study showed flextime policies increased , ultimately reducing employees’ intent to leave.

2. It’s dangerous.

In a 2014 study using a driving simulator, researchers found that and were less attentive at 8 a.m. compared with their morning-type counterparts. Not only are these employees more dangerous on the road, but their impaired, sleep-deprived thinking can continue to impact their job performance throughout the early morning.

Evening-type individuals also report more general than morning-types. In fighting chrono-misalignment, employees expend extra energy trying to maintain performance standards in suboptimal conditions, leading to chronic exhaustion — a key factor in burnout.

Additionally, experiencing chrono-misalignment is linked to decreased attention, poorer decision-making, and increased irritability — it can even lead to .

3. Employee work suffers.

Chrono-misalignment and subsequent sleep deficiencies have been linked to increased . When employees don’t get adequate sleep, they lack the energy to focus their attention and resist distractions, and productivity suffers.

Offering flexible work has an opposite effect. A study found that flextime arrangements were positively associated with .

Where should employers start implementing flextime in the workplace?

There are several ways HR professionals and leaders can begin to help different chronotypes thrive in the workplace:

1. Start by allowing full-time employees to adjust their working schedule by one hour.

Even just an extra hour can offer evening-type individuals more time to sleep, offsetting the 48-minute average deficit they face in a traditional schedule. A later start time shifts their work responsibilities to a time more aligned with their biology, allowing for better control over their attention and greater alertness on the job.

2. Reset expectations around when work gets done.

With employees opting for flextime arrangements, your workforce won’t all be clocking in on the same schedule. Leaders should encourage employees to stick to their personal work schedule and resist pressure to always be “on,” or immediately responsive, simply because others are working beyond traditional hours.

When leaders make a point to acknowledge different schedules in their communications, employees feel empowered to preserve their time away from work.

3. Reduce stigma for employees who ask for flextime.

When implementing flextime policies, consider how your culture supports or hinders employees from participating.

Traditional American work culture praises early risers and stigmatizes night owls as less ambitious and less productive. Employees requesting or using flexible schedules often face .

To reduce bias, make flextime standard across your whole organization. When employees ask for a different schedule, make sure their careers don’t suffer.

4. Host annual training about healthy sleep habits.

Discuss healthy sleep habits with your workers. Reminding employees to take care of their well-being can foster feelings of , and most importantly, improve employee health.

When companies prioritize well-being, employees are three times more likely to intend to stay with their employer.

The global workforce has seen numerous changes in how and when we work. As companies work to create inclusive workplaces, sleep should be included in the conversation about flexibility.

Embracing flextime is more than simply allowing employees the “flexibility” to take breaks to pick up their kids or run to a doctor’s appointment.

Flextime allows employees to adjust their schedule to fit their biological needs. To create an environment of openness and respect, organizations should educate their employees on the importance of understanding their chronotype and allow them to make informed decisions about their work schedules.

Stephen Howe, EVP of human resources and chief financial officer, discusses how the company is making a positive impact on employees' lives and their communities through innovative programs and a commitment to sustainability. This includes providing free healthcare, healthy meals, and making significant investments in community infrastructure.

On supporting employee wellness:

Through all of our extensive wellness efforts since 2015, we have decreased pre-diabetes amongst our employee population by more than 50%. We've got more work to do, but it’s had a major transformative impact:

• 카지노 커뮤니티 랭킹 chief medical officer, Dr. Larry Wolk, oversees five wellness clinics in each of the areas in the Central Valley where we have major operations, and a mobile health clinic to cover areas where we don't have a high concentration of people.
• We staff bilingual doctors and nurses who provide primary healthcare, mental health support, and other wellness services to our employees and their families, and we don’t charge them for those services.
• We have healthy onsite cafeterias in each of our major locations and provide healthy subsidized meals for our staff when they're at work. We also offer healthy meal kits that they can take home. We have fruit and vegetable stands for our employees as well because some parts of the Central Valley are food deserts, and that allows them to buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are subsidized so they can take them home and share with their family,
• Each of our major locations has onsite gyms so people can work out before work, during a break, or after work.

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On the turnaround story of Lost Hills, California:

This effort was really the brainchild of our co-owner, Lynda Resnick, and she wanted to find a way to meaningfully give back, given all the success that she has had, and she decided to start with Lost Hills because over 50% of households have a Wonderful employee, and she recognized that this was a town that really was lost.

Nobody cared about Lost Hills. It was a working class, largely Spanish-speaking, dusty, small, rural town. It was rundown, but it was filled with amazing people who just needed to be given a chance and an opportunity, and Lynda wanted to help. She started by listening. She didn't go in and say, "Hey, I've got all the answers."

And that's where our research team came in, led by one of our key executives, Amy Snow. They got involved and together with Lynda, they interviewed the residents to understand what they needed, what they wanted, and what the problems were. And over the past decade, through many people's hard work, and Lynda's leadership, we have transformed that town. If you went and saw it today versus 10 years ago, it looks very different. We've invested over $90 million into Lost Hills.

On making work meaningful for hourly workers:

We have a program called WOW, our Wonderful Way of Work, and the idea is to give all employees, especially frontline employees, training and tools to solve the problems that they see and encounter at work. Senior executives like me, we only see some of the problems a company faces. They tend to be big ones. They may be cross-cutting ones across multiple groups, but we don't really see any problems within a team where candidly, most of the value is being added. 

What this does is it allows everyone to solve the problems that they find at work, and it allows us a standard way to do that and to communicate that across the company.

So we have a WOW Global Competition where all the WOW teams throughout the globe get together, and we pick the best couple of projects. Last time, we gave them a trip to Hawaii. A team from the Central Valley won, and a team from Mexico won, and they then went to Hawaii and had a great time.

A second area that gives a sense of meaning for employees is our Wonderful Giving program. As part of our place-based giving approach, Lynda and Stuart Resnick grant every full-time Wonderful employee up to $1,000 to give to a nonprofit of their choice, and they'll match an additional $1,000 if someone wants to give their own money.

On the importance of listening:

One of the things I think I've been working on in my career is focusing on listening. I'll listen to WOW presentations once a month and I'll spend an hour or so with my teams listening to their finished WOW presentations.

But if it's even better if you can just have the other person do it, and you can watch and cheer them on. If you do that successfully, you'll find that people over time will take more initiative and they'll do more on their own, and that's the way you want it as a leader.

Burnout is on the rise again in 2024, and managers are missing the signs.

A and The Grossman Group found that while 89% of managers say their employees are thriving, only 24% of workers said the same.

“We have lost awareness of this issue at the manager level,” says David Grossman, CEO of The Grossman Group, a leadership and communications consultancy. “Senior leadership is so focused on other priorities that this has fallen off the radar.”

Having a leader who is tuned into employee well-being makes a huge difference.

A study from UKG found that managers impact employees’ mental health more than doctors or therapists, and 81% of employees worldwide prioritize good mental health over a high-paying job.

During and immediately after the pandemic, managers learned the importance of one-on-one check-ins with employees, what Grossman calls an “emotional check-in.” A short conversation about what is going on with employees both at work and in their lives can build trust and engagement.

“We’ve forgotten how successful these conversations were,” Grossman says.

Neurodivergent masking

One explanation for burnout in the workplace is a lack of inclusion for neurodivergent employees.

Researchers believe that there might be as many as 1.2 billion neurodivergent people worldwide, which suggests that every company has at least one neurodivergent employee.

However, most companies don’t know much about these employees. Only one in 10 employees within a disability category , and nearly half (45%) of neurodivergent or adjustments at work.

When neurodivergent professionals don’t disclose their status — called “masking” — these employees are spending extra energy to fit in and avoid detection. This extra effort can take a toll over time, says Ed Thompson, CEO of , a platform for awareness and education around neurodiversity in the workplace. At Accenture, No. 7 on the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 to Work For® List in 2024, over 16,000 employees have used the platform.

“In the neurodivergent community, people talk about burnout all the time,” Thompson says. When employees don’t feel like they can disclose their status, they don’t have a psychologically safe environment. In short, they don’t trust their organization.

Great Place To Work® research has shown that when employees decline to share parts of their identity with their employer, workplace trust suffers. For every 10% of employees who chose not to respond to survey questions about their identity, there was a six-point decrease in overall levels of trust at a given company.

A threat for retention

Burnout isn’t just a threat to engagement. Employees are more likely to leave a job rather than try to get help for a mental health issue, according to Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief at , a nonprofit focused on helping employees thrive in the modern workplace.

“Employees are leaving their jobs because of not feeling comfortable talking about their mental health issues,” Schindelheim says. “Instead of having to seek an accommodation or try to talk out an issue with a boss, they just leave their job instead.”

As , particularly for highly skilled workers, any barrier to acquiring talent is a problem. “When you see that there is a need for talent, doing anything to take that talent off the table has an impact on the bottom line,” Schindelheim says.

A better workplace for everyone

Why should leaders focus on neurodiversity when tackling burnout and mental well-being?

Solving workplace issues for neurodivergent employees has the potential to improve well-being outcomes all employees. At the For All Summit™ in New Orleans, Dr. Daniel Wendler, a researcher and expert on neurodiversity in the workplace, spoke about the power of universal design.

“When you design with everyone in mind, it makes it better for everybody,” Wendler says.

One simple step: Make sure to publicize your commitment to diversity and inclusion for all disabilities.

“If you can say that you are open to all disabilities, and include in that public statement that you recognize this includes mental health, neurodiversity, and physical disabilities, you can make sure that a current or a prospective employee understands this is a welcoming environment that recognizes talent exists in everyone,” says Schindelheim. 

카지노 커뮤니티 추천 can do a lot of good just by raising awareness, Thompson says. “I know it’s not sexy, but what we hear from people is that they would trade a free yoga class for people having basic appreciation of people thinking differently,” he says.

Tips for inclusion

Here are some ways companies can break down barriers and help neurodivergent employees find a sense of belonging:

1. Update the “golden rule”

“Treat others the way you want to be treated” is good advice, but can be problematic if leaders assume that everyone’s experience matches their own. Instead, great leaders should create room for a variety of experiences.

“Everyone will want to contribute, but not in the same way,” Thompson says. Make sure you extend the flexibility and space to others that you would want for yourself.

2. Share your inclusive message with current and prospective employees.

New hires are looking for signals that your workplace is welcoming and inclusive, but it’s an important message for your current workforce as well.

It’s not always an employee’s boss who can make them uncomfortable when disclosing a disability or specific status, says Schindelheim. “Sometimes it’s their co-workers.”

An inclusive environment is the responsibility of every employee, not just management. 

3. Track the positive/negative cycle

When one employee has a positive experience sharing their story or status with their employer, that can create a positive cycle, says Thompson. When an employee has a negative experience, that also reverberates throughout the organization.

4. Survey your workforce

If you don’t know how neurodivergent employees are experiencing the workplace, go get that data. “Give your people an opportunity to tell you,” Thompson says.

When looking to gather data, it’s crucial to empower employees to share their stories in a way that makes them comfortable. These employees are not looking for amateur diagnosticians to label them, Thompson warns.

“It’s not about identifying who is who,” he says. Instead, companies should ask: “What can we do to allow everybody to contribute their best?”

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For companies worried about falling levels of well-being in the workplace, one important place to focus is on employee volunteering programs.

Research on the and programs found that the only kind of program with a tangible positive impact on well-being was volunteering.

“It instills a bit more social meaning … into people’s jobs, especially if you’re working for a big corporate global organization [where] it can feel like you’re just making money for ‘the man’ and spinning paper sheets around,” explains William Fleming, sociologist and research fellow at the University of Oxford and author of the study.

A lack of social connection is one of the main factors driving lower levels of well-being in the workplace. New research suggests that loneliness in the workplace is more widespread in the workplace than previously imagined, and less visible than you might think. For example, remote workers might be at a higher risk for loneliness than on-site workers, but there are still plenty of on-site workers with chronic levels of loneliness.

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In addition to the social connection found during volunteer activities, research also shows a link between volunteering and happiness on an individual level. When you volunteer, . 

Great Place To Work® research also shows that volunteering is good for your workplace culture. When employees say they feel good about the ways their company contributes to the community, they are 60% more likely to report high levels of well-being.

How to increase participation in volunteering

Great workplaces like those that make the PEOPLE® 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 that Care list offer great lessons on how to increase volunteer participation across your organization.

Cisco, for example, boasts an impressive 80% participation rate in its volunteer programs, a feat which has earned it top honors on the 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 that Care list in 2023 and 2024. But they’re not the only company with innovative ways to get employees engaged with volunteer programs. Check out these ideas:

1. Make a volunteer day part of your annual calendar

While you might have missed the window to do something for International Volunteer Day on Dec. 5, you can create your own day to engage employees around giving back to their community. If you’re ambitious, make the day into a week of events.

DHL Group celebrates a Global Volunteer Day for a two-week period across its global workforce in September and October. Celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2023, the program has had 3 million employees participate with 3.1 million hours of volunteer work over that time.

The company hosts approximately 2,000 activities each year, and employees can search for opportunities near them via DHL’s “myVolunteering” microsite.

2. Empower employees with opportunities that match their passions

For large companies, it’s often more effective to support projects that employees already pursue on their own than it is to build a volunteer program from scratch.

At Bank of America, team members can volunteer for causes that are local and match their personal interests as part of Global Service Month celebrated each April. Activities in the past include supporting veterans, caring for shelter animals, fighting hunger, or running races on behalf of a nonprofit.

Salesforce offers additional paid time off for volunteering, which allows employees to donate their time to causes that they choose.

3. Help employees use their expertise to give back

Salesforce also runs a pro bono program that allows employees to contribute their professional expertise to non-profit organizations. For example, employees can offer their skills in areas like marketing, project management, and software development to nonprofits that need support.

Visa created a mentorship program called “Bridge for Billions,” where its employees can meet one-on-one with small businesses from underrepresented communities around the world over a five-month period. Visa employees help their partners define a business strategy, develop financial projections, and create growth plans.

4. Use your technology to connect employees with opportunities

HR platforms that communicate and connect employees across the enterprise can also be leveraged for increasing volunteer participation.

At Mastercard, its internal talent marketplace “Unlocked” not only connects employees with job opportunities and gigs within the company but also hosts the application process for external volunteer opportunities like its “Racial Justice Pro Bono” program.

Salesforce built its own internal platform for volunteer opportunities called “Volunteerforce.” The platform matches employees with opportunities that fit their interests and schedule, helping workers find ways to give back. 

5. Partner with your employee resource groups

Your employee resource groups (ERGs) can be essential communities to direct volunteer efforts. At Dow, its ERG for veterans works with to deploy volunteers to areas affected by natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.

ERGs can also become a community of committed individuals that boost overall participation. For First American Financial, its ERGs engaged in a friendly competition during National Volunteer Month in 2023 to donate items to food banks.

6. Use recognition programs to promote volunteering

Create an awards program to celebrate employees who go above and beyond to donate their time and resources to important causes in the community.

At First American Financial, employees can receive Caring Eagle Awards for their philanthropic efforts. First launched in 2018, a total of 36 individuals and 22 teams have been recognized to date.

You can also make philanthropy a part of your wider recognition efforts with rewards for employees to give to a local charity of their choice. Hyatt Hotels donated $1 for every digital message sent by employees during its global “Gift of Gratitude” campaign, incentivizing employes to share messages of gratitude with each other.

The funds benefited select nonprofits targeting issues from water conservation and the environment to fighting human trafficking.

Volunteering can have a profound impact on your culture, boosting pride in the workplace. You don’t have to wait until next year’s International Volunteer Day to get started. The best companies are finding ways to get employees involved all year round.

One in five employees worldwide is lonely at work, . And you might not know who those employees are in your organization.

“One of the things that people are getting wrong is they think it’s rare to be lonely at work,” says Constance Noonan Hadley, associate professor at Boston University Questrom School of Business and the founder of the Institute for Life at Work. “People don’t talk openly about their loneliness due to stigma, and they also don’t show up in a way that signals to others, ‘I'm lonely.’”

Because there are clearly established norms around workplace behavior, it’s more likely for employees to hide their true feelings to conform to their company’s expectations. 

, co-authored with Sarah Wright at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, suggests that not only is loneliness a common issue in the workplace — it’s something that companies can address through changes to jobs and work environments.  

It’s clear that companies should be invested in tackling this problem. “There’s lots of about just how damaging it can be for the bottom line of the company,” Hadley says.

"It shouldn’t be assumed that if you’re in the office you’re not lonely, and if you’re working remotely, you are lonely. It's much more complicated than that."

Leaders can expect higher healthcare costs due to loneliness. “ shows high rates of illness and early mortality associated with loneliness, everything from cancer to dementia,” she says. “If you’re an employer paying healthcare costs, then you’re going to be spending more to cover all the medical bills.”

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Loneliness also poses risks to productivity, performance, and employee turnover. Great Place To Work® research shows the importance of meaningful connections with colleagues for employee well-being, and highlights the impact of these experiences with employee retention, agility, and more.  

What is loneliness in the workplace?

The scholarly study of loneliness in the workplace is only a few decades old.

Most of the previous research has been into general loneliness, such as among older people, and not people’s experience in the workplace. In their latest study, Hadley and Wright examined 1,000 knowledge workers who were either low, moderate, or high in loneliness to understand the personal and job features that set apart the highly lonely employees.

Which employees are most likely to be lonely?

“Some have said this is a young person’s problem, they grew up on social media or they’re just new in their career and they’re working remotely, so of course they don’t feel connected. That’s not what we’re seeing in our data.”

While personality traits like introversion increased the likelihood that employees were lonely, there are high numbers of lonely employees for every personality type. 

Hadley and Wright’s research found that role level and work style both had an impact on loneliness. More junior employees were more likely to say they were lonely and fully remote workers were also more likely to be lonely.

Age was not a factor, Hadley says. “Some have said this is a young person’s problem, they grew up on social media or they’re just new in their career and they’re working remotely, so of course they don’t feel connected. That’s not what we’re seeing in our data.”

Gender also didn’t make a difference, but there was evidence than non-white employees were a bit lonelier than white employees.

Even though full-time remote workers were at higher risk for loneliness, a return to the office won’t solve the problem. “It shouldn’t be assumed that if you’re in the office you’re not lonely, and if you’re working remotely, you are lonely,” Hadley says. “It’s much more complex than that.”

There are large numbers of employees from all work styles and demographics who report being lonely.

For companies, this requires a similarly universal approach to the issue with remedial programs that connect with every employee.

What companies can do to fight loneliness

"If there’s no slack in the system, you are really asking a lot for people to figure out how to bond when every second of their day is supposed to be productive."

As part of their research, Hadley and Wright have six suggestions for companies to reduce loneliness in their workforce:

1. Start with a baseline of measurement. Before taking action, make an effort to measure how your workforce is doing. Employee surveys with a validated tool or model are crucial.

“You have to take care to make sure you use good practices, such as making sure confidentiality is assured, clarifying what you’re going to do with the data, etc.,” Hadley says. Hadley and Wright created the to help companies measure loneliness effectively.

2. Identify the drivers of loneliness in your workforce data. The exact population of workers that struggle the most with loneliness will be different for every company, Hadley says. However, leaders should expect to find core elements of their workplace culture to play a prominent role.

One common example is when workers don’t have downtime or space for activities like a virtual coffee with a colleague. “We say if there’s no slack in the system, you are really asking a lot for people to figure out how to bond when every second of their day is supposed to be productive,” Hadley says.

3. Make building bridges part of performance reviews. Time spent connecting with co-workers is often considered “non-promotable” and therefore is not prioritized. This comes down to what leaders say is valuable to the company and how those behaviors are tracked and rewarded in annual reviews.

Hadley recommends adding a simple question to performance reviews: “Did you build bridges and foster relationships this year?”

4. Invest in your social calendar. While there is no one kind of social event that dramatically tips the scales, a regular calendar of events does reduce loneliness. Hadley says, “You need to build organization-sponsored social activities into the rhythm of work. People that were lonely worked in jobs where there were occasional social opportunities, but not at the same scale or frequency as those who were not lonely.”

5. Offer more than one kind of employee group or program. While Hadley and Wright didn’t ask specifically about employee resource groups (ERGs), Hadley warns that companies should not rely on only one group to provide belonging for employees.

ERGs can have immense value for underrepresented groups and provide quick integration for employees joining an organization, but the goal over time is to achieve a broad base of relationships in the organization. “I don't think you can drive up belonging-based productivity and job satisfaction if your social group is very delimited by one particular factor,” she says.

6. Define leadership participation. How leaders participate in programs to build community in your organization makes a big difference, Hadley says.

“Leaders have responsibility not only to show up at these events and help host them, but also to actually be humble enough to say, ‘Maybe I need more networks, too,’” she says. The best leaders won’t expect to show up and dispense wisdom but will see value in building new relationships, even for themselves.  

Parents at typical workplaces are not alright.

As the U.S. Surgeon General noted in , parents in today’s workplace face a perfect storm of loneliness, economic stress, and cultural pressure. Four in 10 (41%) parents are so stressed most days, they cannot function, according to data from the American Psychological Association.

The company you work for plays a big role in your mental health. Managers have a than their doctor or therapist.

At the Fortune Best Workplaces for Parents™, a consistently positive experience at work contradicts the trend seen at typical workplaces, according to research from Great Place To Work®.

At these companies, 90% of working parents look forward to coming to work, and 91% say they want to work for their company long term. But for parents at typical workplaces, only 52% of parents look forward to their work each day, and just 65% plan to stay in their role.

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What makes the difference for parents

One of the key differences between the Best Workplaces for Parents and a typical workplace is how much control parents feel they have over their experience. In practice, that often comes down to their experience with their direct manager.

“What makes the biggest difference for working parents is if they feel their people manager wants them to succeed at work and at home,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place To Work. “Do you have a people leader who cares and listens, or are you powerless to change your experience, unable to set healthy boundaries or pursue personal goals?” 

Researchers have shown that a lack of control over one’s environment directly correlates with for employees. For parents, exercising autonomy can be even more challenging. that parents are spending more time at work as well as more time with their children, sacrificing personal time, leisure, and sleep.

At the Best Workplaces, 50% more parents report that management involves them in decisions compared with a typical U.S. workplace. That experience is correlated with higher levels of well-being: Parents who say management involves them in decisions are 30% more likely to say their work has meaning and 20% more likely to say their workplace is psychologically and emotionally healthy.

“When parents feel their people leader and company cares, they give more effort and your business reaps the benefits,” says Bush. “Giving parents a sense of control over their work environment unlocks their creativity and passion.”

When parents say they are involved in making decisions that affect them, they are 30% more likely to report adapting quickly to change. When parents say their work is meaningful, they are 26% more likely to give extra effort on the job.

This increase in agility and discretionary effort is crucial for innovation, forces companies to reinvent themselves .

How to give working parents more control

The Best Workplaces for Parents offer a clear alternative for creating workplace norms where parents can thrive.

Here’s how companies that made this year’s list listen and respond to the needs of parents to offer more flexibility and make work more meaningful:

1. Ensure working parents at every level of the organization can share feedback about their experience.

The Best Workplaces use multiple listening channels to make sure they collect feedback about the experience of parents across the organization.

Wegmans Food Markets, the No. 26 large company on the list, schedules leaders to work shoulder-to-shoulder alongside frontline employees and hold regular one-on-one meetings to get feedback. Hilton, the No. 3 large company on the list, brings team members together for a daily huddle before each shift to share key information and collect feedback.

At tax consulting firm Ryan, No. 13 on the large company list, senior leaders hold regular listening sessions with a cross section of 12 to 15 employees to get feedback and then take action on common themes uncovered.

2. Maximize flexibility to directly address the needs of parents in the organization.

After listening to parents, winning workplaces take action to offer more flexibility and choice to employees.

At Wegmans, employee feedback uncovered how frontline employees struggled to manage at-home responsibilities without a consistent weekly schedule. The grocery chain created a company-wide program to give hourly employees a consistent day off each week, making it easier for employees to schedule personal events. (Hear more about how Wegmans embraces flexibility.)

At Hilton, team members can choose how they work and what type of work they do through gig work opportunities. Hilton allows team members who qualify to select shifts and explore new roles, potentially learning new skills and growing into a new career.

3. Empower parents to make a difference in their role.

Having meaningful work improves employee retention across your entire workforce. For parents, meaningful work can justify the sacrifices and tradeoffs needed to juggle work and family responsibilities.

Like any other employee group, working parents want to develop their skills and grow their careers. Cisco, the No. 1 large company on the list, gives every employee access to personalized one-on-one career coaching sessions.

To ensure that every employee has the opportunity to make an impact, Cisco invests in programs like its Women Inventor Network, which aims to increase the number of employees who submit patents and participate in innovation.

Programs don’t have to directly target working parents to have an impact. Since parents are represented in most demographic groups in the workplace, efforts to support those groups also benefit parents.

When every employee has a better experience, working parents benefit as well.

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