By Raj Sisodia, PhD and Nilima Bhat

Europe’s leadership challenge today is not a lack of intelligence, ethics, or ambition—it is a lack of inner coherence. As complexity accelerates, unhealed identity quietly drives reactivity, burnout, and fragmentation in organizations. This article explores healing as a leadership discipline: healing one’s story, integrating identity, and becoming a “self-cleaning oven” who transforms experience into wisdom rather than passing unresolved residue into systems.

Across Europe, leadership is being tested in new and uncomfortable ways. Economic volatility, cultural polarization, climate anxiety, and rapid technological change have exposed a deeper crisis beneath performance metrics: a crisis of inner coherence. Many leaders are competent, ethical, and valuesdriven—yet increasingly exhausted, reactive, or stuck. What is being asked of leaders today is not only strategic intelligence, but psychological and inner maturity.

At the heart of this challenge lies the relationship between healing and identity. Who we believe ourselves to be—our story of self—quietly shapes how we lead, decide, relate, and respond under pressure. When identity remains unexamined, leadership becomes a projection of unresolved wounds. When identity is healed and integrated, leadership becomes a force for coherence and renewal.

Identity, the Small Self, and the Larger Self

In Healing Leaders, we distinguish between the small self and the larger Self. The small self is the personality shaped by biography, culture, family systems, and unprocessed experience. It carries our roles, achievements, failures, and survival strategies. The larger Self is already whole—our deeper essence that is connected, spacious, and grounded beyond roles and labels.

European business culture has traditionally privileged rationality, control, and performance. These strengths have delivered remarkable progress. Yet when the small self dominates—seeking validation, control, or safety—leaders become brittle. Feedback feels threatening. Uncertainty becomes intolerable. Complexity invites defensiveness rather than curiosity.

Healing is the process through which the small self is gradually integrated into the larger Self. This integration does not weaken leadership; it stabilizes it. Leaders rooted in the larger Self are less reactive, more resilient, and better able to hold paradox—an increasingly essential capacity in European organizations operating across cultures, regulations, and values systems.

Healing Your Story: From Victimhood to Choice

Every leader carries a story about themselves and the world. These stories are rarely conscious. They are shaped early, often in response to moments of pain, exclusion, or failure, and later reinforced by professional success or organizational culture.

Some stories empower: I can learn. I adapt. I contribute. Others quietly constrain: I must prove myself. I cannot fail. I am only as good as my performance. When these narratives remain unexamined, leaders unconsciously organize their companies around them—creating cultures of overwork, fear of failure, or emotional withdrawal.

Healing your story does not mean denying hardship or rewriting history. It means shifting from being a victim of your past to becoming a conscious chooser of your present. In our work, we call this step Choose Your Self: the ability to say, “I would not wish my suffering on anyone, yet I can honor how it shaped me and no longer allow it to define me.”

For European leaders facing intergenerational trauma, postpandemic fatigue, or rapid social change, this inner choice is foundational. Without it, even the most wellintentioned sustainability or wellbeing initiatives remain superficial.

The SelfCleaning Oven: A Metaphor for Mature Leadership

A powerful metaphor for healed leadership is that of the selfcleaning oven. A selfcleaning oven does not allow residue to accumulate; it processes it through heat and awareness. Human beings are not born this way. We become so through conscious inner work.

A selfcleaning leader does not suppress emotion, bypass pain, or offload unresolved material onto colleagues, teams, or systems. Instead, they work on healing. They notice when they are triggered, defensive, or depleted, and take responsibility for what arises within them.

Unhealed leaders leak. Their unresolved stress shows up as micromanagement, emotional volatility, burnout cultures, or disengagement. Healed leaders, by contrast, metabolize experience. Their presence becomes regulating rather than destabilizing—a critical leadership capacity in hybrid, multicultural, and highpressure European workplaces.

Research increasingly supports this inner dimension of leadership. Studies on emotional regulation, psychological safety, and mindful leadership demonstrate that leaders who are selfaware and emotionally integrated foster greater trust, resilience, and longterm performance. The growing body of work emerging from organizational psychology and neuroscience—including research highlighted by institutions such as the European Commission on workplace wellbeing—points to the same conclusion: inner health and systemic health are inseparable.

(See, for example, the European Commission’s work on mental health in the workplace: https://health.ec.europa.eu/mental-health/workplace_en; and the World Health Organization’s guidance on mental health at work: https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/promotion-prevention/mental-health-at-work)

Healing Before Leading

Traditional leadership development focuses on skills, competencies, and frameworks. These are necessary, but insufficient. Many leaders reach an invisible ceiling not because they lack intelligence or experience, but because unresolved inner material governs their reactions.

In Healing Leaders, we call this need therapeutic maturity—not as pathology, but as maturity. Without therapeutic healing, spiritual or purposedriven leadership risks becoming a form of bypassing: aspiring to higher values without tending to the wounded child, the defended ego, or the inherited trauma beneath.

Across Europe, where leaders are navigating legacy systems alongside futurefacing demands—digitalization, ESG accountability, demographic shifts—this inner work is no longer optional. Healed leaders are better equipped to lead through ambiguity without collapsing into control or withdrawal.

Becoming Whole: Completion and Integration

Healing is ultimately about completion: integrating the masculine and feminine, the elder and the child, the rational and the intuitive. Many leaders operate as partial selves—overidentified with performance, intellect, or authority—while disowning vulnerability, rest, or emotional truth.

Completion allows leaders to act from wholeness rather than compensation. Authority becomes grounded, not performative. Compassion becomes discerning, not indulgent. This integration supports what European organizations increasingly require: leaders who can balance economic responsibility with human and ecological care.

An Ongoing Practice

Becoming a self-cleaning oven is not a one-time achievement; it is a lifelong discipline. Life will continue to generate heat—loss, uncertainty, conflict, and change. The real question is not whether leaders will face these pressures, but whether they have the inner capacity to process them consciously.

When leaders do not heal, organizations inherit their unfinished business. When leaders do heal, something different becomes possible: cultures that are resilient without being brittle, humane without being naïve, and purposeful without being performative.

Healing identity and healing one’s story is therefore not personal work done alongside leadership. It is the invisible infrastructure of leadership itself. In a Europe searching for renewal—economically, socially, and morally—the leaders who matter most may be those willing to do the quiet, demanding work of becoming whole, and leading from that wholeness.

About the Authors

Raj Sisodia, PhD, is a global thought leader on conscious leadership and business as a force for good. He is co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement and a Faculty of Excellence at Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Nilima Bhat is an integral leadership coach, healer, and author whose work bridges Eastern wisdom and Western psychology to support conscious, whole human leadership. She is founder of the Shakti Leadership Mission.

The post Healing, Identity, and the SelfCleaning Leader appeared first on The European Business Review.

Mental health remains a topic that is too often left unspoken. Time to Talk Day offers a great opportunity to reflect on how leaders are showing up for their people, encouraging organisations to move beyond awareness and create environments where employees feel safe to speak and are supported when they do. Here are six ways to foster workplaces that truly care.

Building a foundation of psychological safety

Despite an estimated 15 % of working‑age adults globally living with a mental health condition, many organisations continue to operate within a culture of silence and stigma. According to Lesley Cooper, founder of consultancy WorkingWell, the very first step in addressing this is to create psychologically safe workplaces.

“Even though they may not label it as such, people need to know they’re working in a climate of psychological safety,” she says. “When people do feel safe, they are much more likely to share their challenges and ask for help.”

Psychological safety exists when employees can bring their whole selves to work without hiding behind a mask. In such an environment, people are empowered to discuss issues openly and offer feedback, even when the conversation is difficult. Cooper adds, “For employees to take the interpersonal risk of expressing what they really go through, they need assurance that there will be no negative consequences and confidence that their leaders and colleagues will listen, respond, and act on what they share.”

Unmasking fear to build resilience 

Companies truly thrive when their employees do, yet meaningful wellbeing dialogue is often stifled by a mutual reality: fear. Employees are navigating a landscape of unease – driven by economic anxiety, technological disruption, and social concerns – that directly impacts their effectiveness, while employers often hesitate to intervene, paralysed by the fear of backlash, a lack of resources, or the risk of “opening a Pandora’s box.”

However, as Christopher O. H. Williams, author of C.O.U.R.A.G.E., notes, fear remains the primary barrier even in safe spaces; unmasking it is the only way forward. “By summoning the courage to break from corporate norms – asking ‘How are you doing?’ – we transform fear from a ‘stop sign’ into a signal for growth.”

“When companies acknowledge uncertainty and validate these realities, they diffuse rather than amplify anxiety, turning fear into a driver of engagement, trust, and the resilience necessary to weather the unknowns together,” concludes Williams.

Showing vulnerability

Vulnerability is one of the most powerful enablers of impactful conversations, yet it is often mistaken for weakness. “In high-pressure environments, silence and emotional endurance have long been rewarded, while burnout, unhealthy behaviours, and toxic dynamics went unchallenged. Being vulnerable carries the risk of exposure,” notes Cassie Davison, hospitality industry veteran, author of Stand Out Hospitality, and business coach.

But to engage employees in genuine wellbeing dialogue, vulnerability must be visible, normalised, and modelled by leaders. This works as a powerful tool for dismantling stigma and creating the space for crucial mental health conversations. “Vulnerability is not about oversharing; it’s about inviting acceptance and understanding,” says Davison. “When leaders openly acknowledge and discuss pressure, vulnerability shifts from risk to strength,” she continues.

This reframes wellbeing as a shared responsibility rather than an individual burden. “Trust deepens, conversations happen earlier, and support becomes part of the culture, not a last resort,” Davison sums up.

Leading with humanity

Leadership sets the emotional tone for organisations. For employees to speak honestly about their struggles, they need to feel seen and acknowledged by their leaders. This is why Dr Lilian Ajayi Ore, Chief Learning Officer and author of The Power of the Learning Mindset, believes leaders must always begin by recognising the human behind the role. As she explains: “Yes, we are different. Our identities, experiences, and stories are unique. If we don’t relate from a human foundation, we lose the chance to deepen connection, build trust, and earn confidence.”

When leaders operate from a place of distance or unrelatable authority, people feel it. But when they lead with humanity and treat others with empathy and compassion, connection follows. Dr Ore emphasises, “This is when employees remember how your leadership made them feel – calm, seen, safe, supported, or inspired – and only then will they be able to engage in truly meaningful wellbeing dialogue.”

Promoting wholeness  

HR Executive, coach, and author of Anchored, Rochelle Trow, believes leaders should promote wholeness within the organisation, not by asking people to disclose how they feel, but by creating space for the body and the mind through everyday leadership choices about pace, workload, and expectations.

“Wholeness isn’t something a system can hand you; it’s something you can choose to protect and restore: a daily practice of noticing pressure early, making conscious trade-offs, and returning to what matters most before strain becomes normalised. Every conscious choice leaders make begins to reshape the system around them, including important conversations like employee wellbeing,” Trow explains.

Looking inwards to see how employees are feeling. Rather than relying on well-being check-ins alone, leaders can create safer dialogue by inviting practical conversations about capacity, priorities, risk, pauses, and boundaries and by responding constructively when strain is raised early, not only when performance drops. This helps reduce stigma and makes it safer for people to speak up without fear of negative career consequences.

“That’s why everyday leadership signals matter. Voices matter. They shape what people believe is permitted. The system will always reward what keeps it running, but wholeness begins when leaders notice what it costs people to keep going – and choose not to ignore it,” Trow concludes.

Spotting patterns and unhealthy behaviours with AI  

Dr Lisa Turner, an expert in AI-powered personal and leadership development and founder of CETfreedom, believes that, when used as a supportive tool, AI can help leaders and their teams detect unhealthy patterns and behaviours before they escalate. “AI can offer a neutral, third-party lens for reflection,” she explains.

Used intentionally, AI can deliver early signals, smart nudges, and personalised insights that help leaders maintain clarity and capacity. By analysing meeting transcripts, emails, and team interactions, these tools reveal patterns that otherwise go unnoticed – patterns that can quietly undermine wellbeing. AI quantifies the percentage of someone’s cognitive capacity being spent on invisible labour.

AI presents a new and underused opportunity: not as a replacement for human wellbeing practices, but as a smart, scalable companion to leaders. “AI doesn’t erase our need for human connection,” Turner says. “It provides another dimension of support, helping organisations create more meaningful wellbeing conversations. The data and feedback from these tools can give people what they need to open up a dialogue about how they’re feeling, or how their organisation and others are making them feel.”

The post How to Engage Employees in a Meaningful Wellbeing Dialogue appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Dr. Deborah Bayntun-Lees

Leaders often struggle to balance compassion with accountability, fearing that one undermines the other. The Compassion-Accountability Matrix offers a practical framework to navigate this tension, helping leaders recognise when care drifts into enabling, when accountability becomes punitive, and how to restore dynamic balance in real time.

In leadership discourse, compassion and accountability are often presented as complementary virtues. In practice, however, they can feel like opposing forces. Lean too far towards compassion and you risk enabling underperformance or avoiding hard decisions. Lean too far towards accountability and you risk eroding trust, psychological safety, and morale. This is the Compassion-Accountability Paradox, and it is one of the most persistent challenges facing leaders today.

The Origins of the Matrix

The Compassion-Accountability Matrix emerged from my research with leaders working in complex, emotionally charged environments, including trauma-informed organisations, healthcare settings, and purpose-driven businesses. In these contexts, leaders navigate high-stakes decisions daily: supporting struggling team members while maintaining standards; holding space for personal difficulties while ensuring collective performance; demonstrating care without inadvertently rescuing people from the consequences of their choices.

What became clear through this research is that the most effective leaders do not choose between compassion and accountability. Instead, they achieve dynamic balance, holding care and rigour together, making context-sensitive judgements that protect relationships while safeguarding the mission.

This is not simply about being a ‘kind but firm’ leader. It requires deliberate, moment-by-moment calibration. To support this, I developed the Compassion-Accountability Matrix: a practical tool that helps leaders diagnose where they, and their organisations, currently sit, and make intentional adjustments.

The Four Quadrants

The matrix plots compassion on one axis and accountability on the other, creating four distinct leadership zones:

1. Neglect (Low Compassion, Low Accountability)

When both compassion and accountability are absent, neglect takes hold. Leaders in this quadrant may be disengaged, overwhelmed, or simply unaware of their impact. Team members feel unseen and unsupported, while standards drift without consequence. This is leadership by absence, and it erodes both trust and performance over time.

2. Fear-Driven Leadership (Low Compassion, High Accountability)

Here, accountability dominates without the humanising influence of compassion. Expectations are clear and consequences are enforced, but people feel like cogs in a machine. Mistakes are punished rather than learned from. Psychological safety erodes, innovation stalls, and talented people leave. This quadrant often emerges under pressure, when leaders default to control as a coping mechanism.

3. Indulgence or Rescue Leadership (High Compassion, Low Accountability)

This is the quadrant where well-meaning leaders often find themselves stuck. Compassion is abundant, flexibility is offered, allowances are made, and empathy flows freely. But without accountability, care can drift into enabling. Underperformance is tolerated. Difficult conversations are avoided. The leader may unconsciously ‘rescue’ team members from challenges they need to face. Over time, this damages both the individual (who doesn’t grow) and the team (who carries the burden).

4. Regenerative Leadership (High Compassion, High Accountability)

The upper-right quadrant represents the integration of both forces. Here, leaders demonstrate genuine care for their people while maintaining clear expectations and honest feedback. Boundaries are understood not as the opposite of compassion but as one of its deepest expressions. Support is offered alongside challenge. This is regenerative leadership, it renews energy and capacity rather than depleting it, creating cultures that are both humane and high-performing.

Using the Matrix in Practice

The matrix is most powerful when used as a reflective and diagnostic tool. Leaders can apply it in three ways:

1. Self-Assessment

Where do I typically sit on this matrix? Am I naturally inclined towards compassion, sometimes at the expense of accountability? Or do I default to rigour and risk becoming fear-driven under pressure? Honest self-reflection, ideally supported by feedback from trusted colleagues, helps leaders identify their habitual patterns.

2. Situation Analysis

Different situations may require different positions on the matrix. A team member facing a personal crisis may need more compassion in the short term. A persistent performance issue may require a deliberate shift towards accountability. The key is intentionality: knowing where you are and choosing where you need to be.

3. Real-Time Calibration

In the moment, leaders can use simple reflective questions to calibrate their response:

• Am I being genuinely supportive, or am I rescuing this person from a necessary challenge?
• Am I holding them accountable, or am I being punitive?
• What does this person need right now to grow, and what does the team need to thrive?
• Where is my own discomfort influencing my response?

These questions help leaders avoid unconscious drift and make deliberate choices that restore dynamic balance.

Boundaries as Acts of Care

One of the most important insights from the research is that boundaries are not the opposite of compassion, they are its partner. In my work with trauma-informed organisations, I observed leaders who cared deeply for their teams, often sharing lived experiences that created profound connection. But without boundaries, that closeness sometimes blurred the line between support and over-responsibility.

The most effective leaders learned to set boundaries as acts of care: protecting their own capacity to serve, safeguarding team wellbeing, and ensuring that compassion did not become an excuse for avoiding difficult decisions. When accountability was finally applied, sometimes after months of support, it was experienced not as punishment but as clarity.

A Discipline to Be Mastered

Ultimately, the Compassion-Accountability Paradox is not a leadership flaw to be resolved. It is a discipline to be mastered. Leaders who can achieve dynamic balance, who can hold care and rigour in creative tension, cultivate workplaces that are both humane and high-performing.

In an era when employee wellbeing, psychological safety, and performance are all under scrutiny, this integration matters more than ever. The Compassion-Accountability Matrix offers a compass for navigating the complexity, helping leaders make wiser choices under pressure and build cultures where people, and organisations, can genuinely thrive.

About the Author

Dr. Deborah Bayntun-Lees is a leadership scholar, practitioner, and educator at Hult International Business School. Her research focuses on feminist, trauma-informed, and regenerative approaches to leadership. She works with organisations to develop leaders who can hold complexity with courage, care, and accountability.

The post Mastering the Compassion-Accountability Paradox: A Practical Framework for Leaders appeared first on The European Business Review.

As burnout increases, engagement declines, and healthcare costs continue to rise, organizations are realizing a critical truth: wellbeing programs that do not change daily behavior do not deliver meaningful results. This shift has accelerated the adoption of modern employee wellbeing apps that focus on sustained engagement, inclusivity, and measurable outcomes.

The future of employee wellbeing is no longer about what companies offer. It is about how people perform—physically, mentally, and socially—every day at work.

Why Traditional Wellbeing Programs Are No Longer Effective

For years, workplace wellbeing relied on isolated initiatives such as gym memberships, annual wellness days, or a basic corporate step challenge app. While these approaches helped raise awareness, they often failed to create long-term impact because they:

• Delivered short-lived engagement
  
• Excluded employees with different abilities or activity preferences
  
• Offered limited insight into real outcomes
  
• Operated independently from broader business goals
  

Today, organizations are moving beyond fragmented perks toward integrated corporate wellbeing apps for employees that support year-round participation and measurable improvement.

The Shift From Perks to Performance

High-performing organizations now treat wellbeing as a strategic investment rather than a cost. The most effective employee wellbeing apps are designed to influence the daily habits that directly affect performance, including:

• Physical activity and movement
  
• Stress management and mental resilience
  
• Social connection and motivation
  
• Consistent engagement across teams
  

Instead of asking, “What benefits do we provide?” companies are asking,
“How do we enable our people to perform better every day?”

This shift is redefining how wellbeing aligns with productivity, retention, and organizational success.

Movement-First Wellbeing: Beyond Step Challenges

Physical activity has become a central pillar of modern wellbeing strategies. While traditional step challenges were once the standard, forward-thinking organizations now recognize that movement must be inclusive and flexible.

Modern employee wellbeing app platforms support:

• Multiple activity types such as walking, cycling, strength training, yoga, and mobility
  
• Weighted scoring to ensure fairness across fitness levels
  
• Progress-based motivation instead of winner-takes-all competition
  

This evolution moves wellbeing beyond a simple corporate step challenge app toward a holistic movement-first approach that engages a broader workforce.

Social Connection and Communication Drive Engagement

One of the most significant developments in employee wellbeing is the emphasis on social connection. Wellbeing no longer exists in isolation; it thrives when combined with communication and collaboration.

The most successful corporate wellbeing apps for employees often integrate features commonly found in the best employee communication apps, such as:

• Team-based challenges
  
• Shared goals and milestones
  
• Peer encouragement and recognition
  
• Community-driven participation
  

By blending wellbeing with communication, organizations foster stronger connections, especially in hybrid and remote work environments.

Data-Driven Wellbeing and Health Analytics

A major limitation of traditional wellbeing initiatives is the lack of actionable data. Without insight, organizations struggle to assess effectiveness or justify investment.

Advanced employee wellbeing apps now function as part of a broader healthcare analytics platform, offering insights into:

• Engagement and participation trends
  
• Behavioral change over time
  
• Correlations between wellbeing, absence, and productivity
  
• Program performance across departments or regions
  

Privacy-first, anonymized analytics allow leaders to make informed decisions while maintaining employee trust. This data-driven approach transforms wellbeing from a feel-good initiative into a performance-focused business strategy.

Preventative Health and Cost Reduction

As healthcare costs continue to rise, employers are shifting from reactive care to prevention-focused strategies.

By leveraging an employee wellbeing app supported by healthcare analytics, organizations can:

• Encourage consistent movement and healthy habits
  
• Identify early risk trends
  
• Reduce long-term health claims
  
• Lower absenteeism and presenteeism
  

Preventative wellbeing, powered by data, plays a crucial role in building a resilient and sustainable workforce.

Inclusivity Is Essential for Modern Wellbeing

A future-ready wellbeing strategy must work for everyone. Today’s workforce includes different ages, abilities, job roles, and working patterns.

The most effective corporate wellbeing apps for employees are:

• Inclusive of all fitness and ability levels
  
• Accessible across devices and locations
• Suitable for global and remote teams
  
• Designed for long-term engagement rather than short-term campaigns
  

Inclusivity directly impacts participation, trust, and overall program success.

Why Wellbeing Is Now a Leadership Priority

Employee wellbeing has moved beyond HR initiatives and into executive strategy. Leaders now recognize that wellbeing influences:

• Retention and talent attraction
  
• Engagement and morale
  
• Employer brand reputation
  
• Overall business performance
  

Organizations investing in scalable employee wellbeing apps and integrated analytics platforms are better positioned to build resilient teams and maintain a competitive advantage.

The Future of Employee Wellbeing

The future of employee wellbeing is not defined by isolated perks or disconnected tools. Instead, it is:

• Integrated into daily work life
  
• Supported by inclusive digital platforms
  
• Enhanced through communication and social connection
  
• Powered by healthcare analytics
  
• Designed to improve both human and business performance
  

Final Thoughts

Employee wellbeing has evolved from a collection of benefits into a performance strategy. By adopting modern employee wellbeing apps, moving beyond basic corporate step challenge app models, and leveraging insights from a healthcare analytics platform, organizations can create meaningful, long-term impact.

In the future of work, wellbeing will not be a perk.
It will be a foundation.

The post The Future of Employee Wellbeing: From Perks to Performance appeared first on The European Business Review.

The Cost of Stress in the Workplace

Stress is often considered an unavoidable part of professional life, but its effects are far-reaching. Employees under chronic stress experience burnout, lower engagement, and diminished problem-solving capabilities. In competitive industries, where innovation and adaptability are essential, such declines can significantly impact a company’s bottom line.

Beyond financial costs, stress shapes corporate culture in more subtle ways. A workplace where stress is pervasive often breeds fear, disengagement, and internal competition, undermining collaboration and trust. Conversely, organizations that actively address stress foster resilience, psychological safety, and shared accountability. This cultural shift begins with implementing practical strategies that help employees manage stress and maintain consistent energy throughout the workday.

Stress-Relief Techniques That Transform Workplace Culture

Incorporating stress-relief practices into corporate life is more than an employee perk—it signals a company’s commitment to holistic well-being. Here are several approaches that have shown measurable results:

1. Mindfulness and Meditation Programs

Mindfulness practices, including guided meditation and breathing exercises, cultivate presence and reduce the cognitive overload that contributes to stress. Companies like Google and Aetna have reported significant benefits from corporate mindfulness programs, including lower employee stress levels, higher focus, and increased empathy among teams. Integrating short mindfulness sessions into meetings or offering dedicated meditation spaces can normalize self-care and reinforce a culture that values mental health.

2. Physical Movement and Micro-Breaks

Sedentary work contributes to both physical and mental fatigue. Encouraging movement, whether through ergonomic setups, walking meetings, or short exercise breaks, can reinvigorate employees and reduce tension. Physical activity stimulates endorphins, boosts energy, and helps maintain cognitive performance. Firms that embed movement into the workday signal that employee well-being is intertwined with productivity, strengthening a culture of health-consciousness.

3. Stress-Relief Workshops and Training

Workshops that teach stress management techniques, such as time management, emotional regulation, and adaptive coping strategies, empower employees with actionable tools. Companies that incorporate the best communication skills training into these programs see additional benefits in team collaboration and conflict resolution. These programs also demonstrate that the organization takes mental health seriously, fostering loyalty and engagement. When employees understand that their organization supports stress resilience, it encourages open communication and collaboration rather than hidden frustration or burnout.

Energy Techniques for Sustained Performance

Stress management alone is not sufficient; sustaining high performance requires deliberate energy management. Corporate energy techniques focus on optimizing mental, emotional, and physical resources to maintain focus and engagement throughout the workday.

1. Strategic Breaks and the Science of Rest

Research from the University of Illinois suggests that short breaks significantly improve concentration and task performance. Implementing structured pauses, such as the “Pomodoro Technique” or brief mindfulness breaks, allows employees to recharge. Over time, these practices create a culture where deliberate rest is valued, reducing presenteeism and encouraging smarter work rather than longer hours.

2. Nutrition and Hydration Awareness

Energy levels are directly linked to what employees consume during the day. Providing healthy snack options, hydration stations, or educational programs on nutrition can enhance cognitive function and mood. Energy-conscious workplaces often see reduced afternoon slumps, improved focus, and greater alertness, contributing to a more vibrant and engaged corporate culture.

3. Environmental Design for Energy Optimization

Workplace environments influence energy levels more than many managers realize. Natural light, proper ventilation, and spaces for relaxation or focused work can dramatically affect alertness and stress levels. Forward-thinking organizations design their offices to support energy, using layouts and materials that minimize fatigue and optimize well-being. These investments signal a culture that prioritizes both employee comfort and efficiency.

Building a Culture Around Well-Being

Implementing stress-relief and energy techniques is only the first step; lasting cultural change requires intentional integration into the company’s ethos. Here are strategies for embedding well-being into corporate culture:

1. Leadership Modeling

Cultural change begins at the top. Leaders who practice and openly support stress management and energy-enhancing habits set the tone for the organization. When executives prioritize mindfulness, take breaks, or participate in wellness programs, it legitimizes these behaviors across all levels of the company.

2. Inclusive Wellness Programs

Well-being initiatives must be adaptable to diverse employee needs and lifestyles. Offering a variety of stress-relief and energy programs—ranging from yoga classes to digital mindfulness apps—ensures accessibility and inclusivity. When employees feel their unique needs are considered, engagement rises and cultural cohesion strengthens.

3. Measurement and Feedback

Quantifying the impact of stress-relief and energy programs helps demonstrate their value. Surveys, productivity metrics, and wellness KPIs can track improvements in employee engagement, absenteeism, and satisfaction. Feedback loops allow organizations to refine initiatives, reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement and employee-centered care.

4. Recognition and Rewards

Acknowledging employees who embrace wellness practices encourages others to follow suit. Recognition programs that celebrate resilience, collaboration, and well-being habits foster an environment where sustainable energy and stress management are integral to success.

The Business Case for Cultural Investment

Investing in stress-relief and energy techniques is not merely a humanitarian effort—it’s a strategic business decision. Companies with strong well-being cultures experience higher productivity, lower turnover, and enhanced innovation. According to a Gallup study, organizations that prioritize employee well-being report 21% higher profitability. Moreover, a culture that values mental health attracts top talent, particularly as younger generations increasingly prioritize work-life balance and psychological safety.

When employees feel supported in managing stress and maintaining energy, they become more creative, collaborative, and committed. This ripple effect strengthens team dynamics, improves client relationships, and enhances the organization’s reputation both internally and externally. Ultimately, stress management and energy optimization are not just wellness tools—they are instruments of corporate excellence.

Elevating corporate culture requires a holistic approach that recognizes employees as whole individuals with physical, emotional, and mental needs. By integrating stress-relief techniques such as mindfulness, movement, and workshops, alongside energy-boosting strategies like strategic breaks, nutrition awareness, and thoughtful environmental design, organizations can foster a workplace that is both high-performing and deeply human-centered.

When leadership models these behaviors, wellness programs are inclusive, and continuous feedback drives refinement, a culture emerges where employees thrive rather than merely survive. The benefits are clear: increased engagement, improved productivity, reduced turnover, and a workforce capable of meeting the demands of a complex, fast-moving business world. Stress-relief and energy techniques are no longer optional—they are essential tools for shaping a corporate culture that inspires excellence, innovation, and sustainable success.

The post Elevating Corporate Culture With Stress-Relief and Energy Techniques appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Pedro César Martínez Morán and Simon L. Dolan

The graph of happiness against age is traditionally shown as U-shaped, with the index of happiness dipping in the middle-age years. But could the curve have surreptitiously changed shape in the age of the pernicious “S”s: smartphones, screens, and social media? And, if so, what can be done about it?

Happiness has always been the subject of analysis. What potion is hidden behind it? What are its main ingredients? There is a noble interest among human beings in understanding what it consists of and, more specifically, what factors explain this emotional state and, therefore, how it is achieved. A derived analysis from this is whether it is a final goal or if, once achieved, it can be maintained over time. It poses a challenge if it appears and disappears, or even more difficult to manage if it could be achieved, receding, returning, and so on.

There is a factor that has been used as an independent variable in the matter: age. The relationship between age and subjective well-being has sparked enormous interest in psychology and social sciences in recent decades. It seems that human beings do not experience happiness or distress uniformly throughout life. There are patterns that tend to repeat according to age and life stages; achieving it, retreating, returning, and so on.

The best-known of these patterns is the “U-shaped curve of happiness”, according to which well-being is high in youth, decreases in middle age, and rises again in old age. Its statistical counterpart is the so-called “curve of unhappiness”, which is hill-shaped, indicating that life dissatisfaction peaks around the ages of 47-49.

This classical approach has served to interpret what is popularly referred to as the “midlife crisis”, a moment when youthful expectations clash with existential reality, generating disenchantment and reconfigurations of purpose. In fact, this has led to the popularization and vulgarization of the so-called crises of the ages of 40, 50, etc.

However, recent studies have called into question the stability of this pattern. The data today points to a much more concerning phenomenon. Unhappiness no longer waits until middle age to make itself felt; rather, it appears forcefully from youth and tends to soften as one ages.

The aim of this reflection is to integrate classical findings with recent transformations, to add to the debate the role of the “happiness industry”, a framework of discourses, practices, and products that market the promise of well-being, and ultimately to highlight the important value of resilience as a valid and necessary capacity for adapting to mitigate the factors that penalize happiness.

The classic evidence: the “U” of happiness and the peak of unhappiness

For decades, various studies have shown that happiness, statistically explained, follows a U-shaped curve. This means that people tend to feel quite satisfied in their youth, approximately between the ages of 18 to 30, go through a notable decline in well-being during middle age, roughly from 35 to 55 years old, and then experience a significant recovery after the age of 55.

On the other hand, indicators of distress (stress, loneliness, depression, anxiety, sleep problems) have shown a peak-shaped pattern around 47-49 years of age. This critical point is linked to the time in life when family, work, and social pressures become more intense, such as having teenage children, caring for older family members, established but not always satisfying professional careers, and confronting unfulfilled dreams.

Nevertheless, scientific literature emphasizes that this peak of unhappiness is transitory. Most people, after going through middle age, recover their levels of satisfaction. In old age, external pressures usually decrease, the ability to appreciate what has already been achieved increases, and a sense of vital serenity solidifies.

Recent transformations: the collapse of the hump of unhappiness

However, the outlook has begun to change dramatically. A recent study labelled “The declining mental health of the young and the global disappearance of the unhappiness hump shape in age” shows that the famous midlife unhappiness hump has practically disappeared. The new pattern is based on the fact that levels of unhappiness are already very high among the youth and, instead of worsening in middle age, well-being tends to even improve with the years, and older generations today report greater well-being than the young.

The main hypothesis that would explain this shift points to an accelerated deterioration of youth mental health in the last two decades. Among the most cited causes are persistent economic crises, such as the Great Recession of 2008, which left deep scars on young people entering the labor market with few opportunities and prospects; a deficit in access to mental health services (overloaded public systems, delays in diagnoses, and lack of preventive resources); the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which intensified anxiety, feelings of uncertainty, and hopelessness; and the intensive use of smartphones and social media, whose causal relationship with youth psychological distress is increasingly documented. Continuous exposure to social com–parisons, approval dynamics, and unrealistic content fuels distorted expectations and feelings of inadequacy that affect self-esteem.

The result is that today it is the young people who are the unhappiest, contradicting Rubén Darío and his famous “youth, divine treasure, you are already leaving and will not return”.²

Nuances and debates surrounding the curve

Although the evidence of the U-shaped curve of happiness has been solid in statistical terms, it is not universal. Its form varies according to income and economic contexts, gender and experiences of discrimination, physical health, and cultural expectations.

Some cohorts even show sustained increases in happiness from youth to middle age. Neurobiology supports these differences: while young people seek pleasure and intensity, adults tend to value stress reduction, and in old age, serenity is prioritized.

In other words, the happiness curve, which in simple terms can be described as a visual representation of how happiness varies throughout our lives, suggests that it tends to be high in youth, may drop in middle age, and eventually increases again as we get older. Mind you, it is a concept that has sparked a lot of debates and nuances, and that’s great because it gives us the opportunity to better understand what we feel and how we live.

As individuals mature, they develop a greater appreciation for what truly matters: meaningful relationships, rewarding experiences, and a sense of purpose.

First, it is important to recognize that this curve is not a universal rule. Some people may find that their happiness increases as they move past adolescence and enter adulthood. Others, however, may experience challenges that affect their well-being at different times in their lives. This is where nuances come in; our experiences, personalities, and environments greatly influence how we feel happiness.

Additionally, another interesting debate revolves around the nature of happiness itself. Is it simply an emotional state or is there a deeper component related to life satisfaction? Some research suggests that, as individuals mature, they develop a greater appreciation for what truly matters: meaningful relationships, rewarding experiences, and a sense of purpose. This approach can make people feel happier, even if life circumstances are not ideal.³

In fact, empowering ourselves with this perspective encourages us to seek happiness in places that we might have overlooked before. And that’s really exciting! Each of us has the power to find or create those moments of joy, even in phases of life that are traditionally considered difficult.

And let’s not forget the importance of community. Social interactions and support from friends and family are crucial. In this sense, the happiness curve gives us an opportunity to reaffirm the need to be connected. While our paths may differ, the act of sharing our experiences and emotions can be incredibly valuable and transformative.

In conclusion, the nuances and debates surrounding the happiness curve show us that happiness is not a straight line. It is a journey full of twists and nuances, in which each of us contributes their own experience. So, celebrate your moments of happiness, and remember that, no matter where you are on that curve, there is always room to grow and find joy. We are in this together, so let’s keep exploring what makes us happy!

Positive psychology and the PERMA model: from deficit to the construction of well-being

Positive psychology proposes a fundamental shift. It is about not analyzing well-being only from the absence of distress, but from the conscious construction of conditions that promote it. Martin Seligman, one of the key figures, synthesizes well-being in the PERMA model.⁴ In very brief terms, it means this:

• P (Positive Emotions): cultivating positive emotions such as gratitude, hope, and joy.
• E (Engagement): to experience states of “flow” or full immersion in meaningful activities.
• R (Relationships): maintaining strong relationships of trust, support, and affection.
• M (Meaning): finding vital meaning and feeling part of something greater than oneself.
• A (Accomplishment): pursuing goals and developing achievements that generate pride, meaningfulness, and satisfaction.

This approach seeks to counteract the growing unhappiness in youth with practical tools of gratitude, mindfulness, purposeful activities, and quality social connections, circumstances that would lead to a fulfilling life.

Waldinger and the science of relationships

Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, provides a finding that spans generations: the best predictor of long-term well-being and health is not economic achievements or extraordinary travels, but the quality of everyday relationships.

After more than eight decades of following hundreds of people, Waldinger and Schultz conclude that those who had solid relationships, capable of sustaining empathy, gratitude, and conflict resolution, aged with better physical and emotional health, and reported higher levels of life satisfaction.⁵

The happiness industry: promises, contradictions, and risks

The so-called “happiness industry” encompasses everything from mindfulness applications, motivational coaching courses, self-help literature, and alternative therapies to large corporations that promote “corporate wellness” programs. It is a multibillion-dollar market that turns the quest for meaning and happiness into a consumer product.⁶

This industry is based on three pieces of logic: the individualization of discomfort, through which the idea is conveyed that unhappiness is always a personal responsibility, making invisible structural social determinants such as inequality, job precariousness, urban loneliness, or vital insecurity; the standardization of happiness, which is disseminated as a normative model of well-being, associated with always being productive and positive, ultimately generating additional pressure and feelings of failure for those who do not conform to these frameworks; and finally, consumption as a solution, because it reinforces the notion that happiness can be acquired by purchasing a course, an app, a spiritual retreat, or even a material object that promises to transform one’s life.

Resilience: the silent strength of well-being

Resilience is understood as the ability to adapt positively to adversity, learn from difficult experiences, and emerge strengthened. Within the framework of Simon Dolan’s contributions, this concept takes on a central role in the construction of sustained emotional well-being.⁷

Dolan argues that the balance between the three major axes of values—Economic-pragmatic, Ethical-social, and Emotional-developmental—is key to generating well-being both individually and organizationally. In this sense, resilience acts as a moderating factor that helps maintain that balance in the face of pressure, uncertainty, or crises.⁸

When a resilient person goes through a difficulty:

• They reinterpret the experience from a framework of meaningful values (connection with meaning and purpose).
• They mobilize emotional resources (optimism, self-confidence, emotional regulation) that cushion the impact of stress.
• They strengthen social relationships, a key aspect that Dolan identifies as essential for emotional health and team cohesion.
• They learn and transform adversity into opportunity, aligning achievements (pragmatic values) with personal growth (emotional values) and ethical commitment to others.

In this way, resilience not only protects well-being but also expands the possibilities for emotional flourishing. Following Dolan’s line of thought, it becomes a practical value that enhances the capacity for positive leadership, change management, and the building of more humane organizational cultures.

Conclusion

The change in the unhappiness curve has profound consequences. In public policies, it is urgent to invest in accessible, preventive, and inclusive mental health, especially aimed at the youth. In education, resilience programs, emotional literacy, and a sense of purpose are needed from school stages. In everyday life, it is important to take a critical distance from the happiness industry, prioritize meaningful relationships, encourage spaces for digital rest, and cultivate practices of gratitude and authentic purpose.

The traditional U-shaped curve of happiness and the peak of unhappiness represented an optimistic narrative for years. Although one would go through a valley of disenchantment in middle age, recovery would come sooner or later. But contemporary reality breaks that logic; distress hits younger people harder, while well-being seems to increase with the passage of years.

This change poses a challenge for society, such as ensuring that new generations have the emotional, social, and economic resources they need to navigate life meaningfully. In the face of the temptation to rely solely on quick fixes from the happiness industry, it is crucial to reclaim a holistic vision of well-being through a daily practice of connection, gratitude, purpose, and collective care.

Happiness, more than a destination promised by emotional marketing, is a cultivable process that is built in the fabric of relationships, in the acceptance of ordinary life, and in the pursuit of shared meaning.

About the Authors

Pedro César Martínez Morán is a prominent professor and director in the field of human resource management and talent. With a career spanning over 30 years in the human resources consulting sector, he has served as the director of the Master’s in Human Resources at the Pontifical University of Comillas and the Master’s in Talent Management at Advantere School of Management. His research focuses on talent management and leadership, and he has published numerous articles in high-impact scientific journals. Martínez Morán has also collaborated with research teams in Talent Management and Leadership, significantly contributing to the development of the discipline in his area of expertise.

Simon L. Dolan is a prominent academic and university professor, known for his work in human resources and work psychology. He has been a full professor at ESADE Business School and at Montreal and McGill Universities in Canada. Additionally, he is the founder and president of the Global Future of Work Foundation and has been nominated for several research awards; he has recently received an honorary doctorate from the University of Huelva. He has written more than 88 books and hundreds of scientific articles. His focus on values, stress, and resilience in the workplace has influenced thousands of HR managers and other leaders over the years. Recently he is also focusing on the theme of building trust at work. www.learningaboutvalues.com

References

1. Members of the Board of the “Global Future of Work Foundation” (www.globalfutureofwork.com)

2. Famous poem in Spanish by Rubén Darío https://elbuenlibrero.com/juventud-divino-tesoro/

3. Dolan S.L., “Values and enduring happiness” https://simondolan.com/values-and-enduring-happiness

4. Seligman, Martin E. P. Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. New York: Free Press, 2011.

5. For more information on the studies of Waldinger and Schulz,
see: Waldinger, Robert J., & Schulz, Marc. (2023). The Good

6. Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

7. To read more see: Simon L. Dolan (2024) “The concept of enduring happiness as a panacea to work/life goals”, The European Business Review, May 17.

8. Dolan, S. L. (2023). DE-Stress at Work, Routledge.

9. To read more, see: Garti, Anat, Dolan, Simon L. (2021). “Using the Triaxial Model of Values to Build Resilience in a COVID-19 VUCA World.” The European Business Review. August.

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“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl G. Jung

In recent years, psychologists and behavioral scientists have turned their attention to a quietly powerful field of study: generational well-being — the idea that emotional patterns, stress responses, and even coping mechanisms are transmitted across generations through family systems and culture.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global cases of depression and anxiety rose by 25 percent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind the statistics lies a more complex story, one not only of stress, but of the breakdown of inherited resilience.

Can emotional strength be passed down just as trauma can? And if so, can it be consciously cultivated?

One Japanese researcher-practitioner, Maki Serizawa, offers a unique lens into that question. Her work integrates modern psychology and traditional Japanese perspectives to explore how families, the smallest social units , serve as the foundation for collective emotional stability.

The Concept: What Science Says About Generational Well-Being

The American Psychological Association (APA) notes that stress behaviors and emotional conditioning can indeed be intergenerational, influenced by both biology and environment.
Similarly, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the world’s longest-running research on human happiness, found that the single best predictor of lifelong well-being is not wealth or status, but the quality of one’s relationships.

In essence, the health of our family systems shapes the stability of our societies.

The late family-therapy pioneer Virginia Satir famously observed,

“The family is a microcosm of the world.”

When we understand and transform the emotional systems within families, we are, in effect, redesigning the emotional infrastructure of the wider world.

The Japanese Perspective: Harmony as Psychological Infrastructure

Japan has long placed cultural value on wa (和) , balance and harmony. When combined with Western psychology, this philosophy offers a distinctive framework for building resilience: one that treats emotional equilibrium as social infrastructure, not private sentiment.

Maki Serizawa’s work exemplifies this intersection. Her research-driven practice blends hypnotherapy, intuitive guidance, family-communication design, and Reiki, a Japanese healing tradition with over a century of history.

Her guiding principle, “healing the world, starting with the family,” positions the household not as a private sphere but as the smallest, most powerful engine of social coherence.

In doing so, her approach parallels global movements such as trauma-informed care and psychological safety in leadership,fields that increasingly recognize the family as the original model for cooperation, trust, and adaptation.

Case Study: Translating Theory into Practice

Beyond private practice, Serizawa has contributed to Japan’s growing academic interest in subconscious and behavioral studies.

She has lectured at Meiji University, Nihon University, and Rikkyo University, exploring how “invisible processes” ,the subconscious, intuition, and emotional energy,can be studied and applied within organizational and educational contexts.

One striking example of her intuitive-strategic mindset came in 2019, months before the global pandemic. Acting purely on instinct, Serizawa moved her entire operation online. When COVID-19 shut down in-person work, she was already fully adapted, a real-world instance of what the Harvard Business Review later described as “anticipatory resilience.”

“Act before certainty arrives. Trust the intuition that precedes logic,”
Serizawa says, a statement that mirrors emerging theories of adaptive leadership and cognitive flexibility.

The Data: Emotional Literacy as Competitive Advantage

Mental health is no longer just a personal issue; it is, according to the WHO, “a foundation of social and economic stability.”

Studies by the OECD show that organizations led by emotionally intelligent leaders outperform their peers by 35 percent in financial results.
Conversely, 86 percent of employees cite poor internal communication as a key cause of organizational failure.

These figures reinforce the central thesis of generational well-being: when families — and by extension, teams — learn to communicate with awareness, empathy, and clarity, the result is measurable resilience.

Serizawa’s model connects micro-level emotional awareness with macro-level performance.
When individuals restore trust within themselves, they communicate differently; when families shift their emotional tone, communities, schools, and workplaces follow.

Outlook: Designing Society from the Inside Out

The framework emerging from Japan’s generational-resilience movement is not spiritualism or self-help, it is applied social psychology in cultural form.

By placing human understanding at the center of organizational and familial design, it proposes a new blueprint for well-being, one that moves from the inside outward.

Serizawa’s next phase focuses on refining her model for international application, translating the Japanese balance of harmony and depth into a global methodology for cross-cultural resilience.

The vision recalls Lao Tzu’s timeless observation: “When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation.”

Inherited patterns need not be cycles of trauma. They can also be lines of wisdom,emotional DNA that, when understood, becomes a source of strength across generations.

Conclusion

Maki Serizawa’s work illustrates a broader truth: resilience is not merely the ability to recover from difficulty, it is an inherited intelligence that can be cultivated, studied, and shared.

The next era of leadership, mental health, and social design will depend not only on technology or economics, but on this deeper comprehension of human systems,the invisible architecture connecting one generation to the next.

By studying it, we are not only understanding the mind; we are designing the future of human connection itself.

The post The Psychology of Inherited Resilience: Studying Maki Serizawa’s Generational Well-Being appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Alison Lucas and Lizzie Bentley Bowers

Here, Alison Lucas and Lizzie Bentley Bowers explore the emotional complexities of corporate restructures-emotionally complex endings that shape trust, performance and culture long after changes occur. It offers practical guidance for supporting those affected, emphasising the need for clarity, compassion and meaningful closure, making the case that, by attending to reality, emotions, accomplishments and ritual, leaders can create healthier endings and stronger beginnings.

Corporate restructures are no longer an occasional disruption to organisational life; they are a recurring feature of it. For leaders navigating mergers, restructures, redundancies and operating model changes, these moments are often framed in terms of strategy, savings and future growth. They are also something else: endings. Endings that bring loss, uncertainty and shifts in identity for the people living through them.

Leaders are constantly leading endings, whether they recognise it or not. The quality of those endings has a direct and lasting impact on trust, engagement and performance long after organisational charts change. This article offers practical guidance for leaders who want to lead restructures in a way that supports colleagues without leaving invisible damage behind, and that creates the conditions for stronger, more sustainable beginnings.

Why restructures are so challenging for colleagues

Restructures often involve losses that are not immediately visible. Alongside changes to role or employment status, people may experience loss of identity, certainty, status, team membership or a sense of future direction. Unspoken loyalties to legacy organisations, teams or leaders are also common and powerful. Together, these experiences can activate people’s threat response, reducing trust, narrowing attention and limiting their capacity to engage and perform at their best.

Those affected are not only the people whose roles end. Colleagues who remain must make sense of what the changes mean for them, while leaders are often required to implement decisions they may not fully agree with. The multiple endings created by a restructure ripple out in visible and unseen ways, shaping team dynamics, decision-making and performance.

Restructures are rarely a single moment. They tend to unfold as a sequence of endings over time. For some colleagues the ending is sudden and clear; for others it is gradual, ambiguous or repeatedly deferred. Timing differences matter. Some leaders are involved in restructuring conversations long before others know change is even being considered. In some cases, leaders who have helped design a restructure later find their own roles at risk, carrying complex emotions while still being expected to lead others through the process.

Why support often falls short

During restructures, leaders understandably focus on legal process, timelines and future plans. Communication can become centred on information delivery rather than helping people make sense of what is happening and what it means for them.

There is also pressure to remain positive and future focused. Optimism and vision matter, particularly when organisations are under strain. However, when positivity is used to move too quickly past uncertainty or loss, it can unintentionally shut down honesty. Endings that are rushed, minimised or left unnamed do not disappear. They are carried forward, often surfacing later as disengagement, mistrust or reduced productivity.

Supporting people well through restructure requires emotional intelligence and leadership skill in a vulnerable space of uncertainty and mixed emotions. These capabilities are not always explicitly valued or developed in organisational systems, yet this is precisely where leadership presence and emotional literacy matter most.

Paying attention to stayers, leavers and yourself

Restructures affect three distinct groups: those who stay, those who go, and those leading the process. Supporting colleagues well means paying attention to all three.

Supporting those who stay

Those who remain after a restructure are often the quickest to be overlooked. Because they still have a role, they are frequently expected to move on rapidly and refocus on delivery. Yet many experience survivor guilt, anxiety, reduced trust or a loss of confidence in the organisation, even when they also feel relief, hope or renewed motivation.

People may comply and perform, but with less clarity, energy and commitment than might otherwise be possible.

Leadership opportunities

• Name what has been lost as well as what remains.
• Make room for mixed emotional responses without rushing people into certainty.
• Acknowledge the contribution of those who are asked to carry on.

Supporting those who go

Most leaders care deeply about their people yet support for those leaving often falls short. This is rarely due to lack of goodwill. More often it reflects a misalignment between organisational processes and human needs at the end of a role, team or career chapter.

Well-led endings for those who leave require time, attention and acknowledgement. When this is absent, the emotional impact of the ending does not stop with the individual. It shapes how the organisation is experienced by those who remain and how trust is carried forward.

Leadership opportunities

• Be explicit about what is ending and how decisions have been reached.
• Allow emotion to be expressed without correction or premature reassurance.
• Find a way to mark the ending that reflects the significance of what is being left behind.

Supporting yourself

Restructuring is a marathon, not a sprint. Leaders are required to hold multiple perspectives, absorb strong emotions and make difficult decisions over extended periods of uncertainty. This work takes capacity.

Leading endings can feel uncomfortable and exposing. Leaders cannot outsource their own endings, and unacknowledged personal impact can quietly drain the energy needed to lead others well.

Leader tips

• Be honest about where you sit in the change and what it is asking of you.
• Pay attention to your own emotional responses and how they are shaping your judgement, decisions and behaviour.
• Create a deliberate pause before fully committing to what comes next.

A practical framework for leading endings well

In Good Bye, we offer leaders a practical structure for attending to endings: Reality, Emotions, Accomplishments and Ritual. Together, these steps provide a guiderail for leading restructures in a way that supports those who stay, those who go and those leading the work.

• Reality begins with clearly naming what is actually ending. This may include roles, teams, reporting lines, locations, identities or ways of working. Leaders need to be explicit about who is affected, what is known, what is not yet known and what remains undecided. Clarity, even when incomplete, helps people orient themselves.
• Emotions are not a side effect of restructures; they are central to the work. Shock, fear, anger, relief, guilt and grief often coexist. Effective leadership does not mean fixing emotions. It means naming them, creating safe space for them to be expressed and recognising that people may need different kinds of support at different times.
• Accomplishments are often overlooked during restructures. A role can be no longer required and yet the contribution of the individual is central to their sense of self and confidence to move forward. Acknowledging skills developed, contributions made and relationships built helps people separate identity from outcome and frees energy for what comes next.
• Ritual marks completion beyond words or process. It signals that a chapter has genuinely closed. Ritual does not need to be elaborate, but it does need to be intentional.

Better endings create better beginnings

Restructures will continue. When endings are attended to with honesty and care, trust is restored, energy is released and space is created for what comes next. Endings happen no matter what. Whether there is a good bye is optional.

About the Authors

Alison Lucas is an Executive Coach with more than two decades of experience guiding senior leaders through the complexities of modern organisational life. Her first career included leading commercial functions at Grand Metropolitan and Associated British Foods, followed by stewarding major client service and transformation programmes in a global consulting context. She partners with C-suite leaders, future leaders and high-performing teams on leadership transitions, personal impact, influence, legacy and team performance—helping them lead with greater clarity, confidence and at less personal cost.

Lizzie Bentley Bowers is a leading executive and leadership coach and facilitator, who works with senior leader and board members across all sectors. She has an MSc in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology and has particular expertise in ADHD coaching, Transactional Analysis, presence and storytelling. She’s also the founder of Towards Leadership, a leadership community to support leaders through challenges.

The post Expert Tips for Supporting Affected Colleagues Through a Corporate Restructure appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Dr Karolina Nieberle, Janey Zheng and Olga Epitropaki

Loneliness is rarely associated with leadership, yet it quietly shapes how leaders think, decide, and relate to others. Drawing on empirical research, Dr Karolina Nieberle, Dr Janey Zheng, and Prof Olga Epitropaki reveal how family connections can buffer leaders against isolation and protect both professional effectiveness and personal wellbeing. 

Loneliness is a topic we rarely discuss in the workplace, yet it affects many professionals in profound ways.  

Leadership roles in particular can be incredibly rewarding, but can also be isolating. The responsibilities leaders’ shoulder, the decisions they must make, and the constant pressure to perform can leave them feeling disconnected, not just from colleagues, but from their own support networks.  

In fact, one in three UK leaders reports feeling lonely often or always.

Despite its prevalence, loneliness in leadership is often overlooked. We celebrate qualities such as decisiveness, confidence, and resilience, but rarely talk about the vulnerability and emotional strain that leaders experience.

And yet, these experiences have real consequences, not only for leaders themselves but for their teams, organisations and, beyond work, their families too. This observation led us to ask two critical questions: how does workplace loneliness affect leaders and, crucially, are there factors that can buffer against its negative consequences?

How does loneliness affect leaders day-to-day?

To answer this, with our colleagues Dr Michelle Hammond from Oakland University and Dr Keming Yang from Durham University’s Department of Sociology, we designed two complementary studies to capture both the immediate and day-to-day effects of loneliness experiences of leaders.  

In our first study, we used an intensive, real-time methodology to track how leaders experienced loneliness during office hours. We surveyed over 170 UK managers multiple times per day, resulting in data from more than 1,000 workdays and over 4,000 individual data points. 

This allowed us to observe fluctuations in leaders’ loneliness and behaviours at a detailed level. For instance, we could see how a leader’s experiences of loneliness in the morning – feeling isolated in the early hours of the workday – might ripple through their engagement with their team and affect the rest of their day.

Our second study offered a different perspective. We interviewed 185 managers about past experiences of workplace loneliness and how they responded. This approach enabled us to explore not just behavioural patterns, but also typical situations that make leaders feel lonely and the strategies they used to cope with it. 

By combining these two studies, we provide a rich and holistic understanding of the phenomenon.

The impact of loneliness on leaders 

The results were striking. On days when leaders felt lonelier than usual, they were more likely to withdraw from their tasks and reduce their relational engagement with their teams.  

Task withdrawal might manifest as procrastination, avoidance of difficult decisions, or reduced problem-solving activity. Relational withdrawal, on the other hand, involved limiting interactions with team members, reducing mentoring or support, and creating emotional distance. Even brief, temporary feelings of loneliness – like starting the morning feeling disconnected – had measurable effects on leadership behaviour throughout the day. 

But the impact of loneliness did not stop at the office door. We discovered that leaders’ experiences of loneliness often spilled over into their home lives. On lonelier days, managers reported withdrawing from family interactions after workhours, reducing communication, and emotionally distancing themselves from loved ones. 

This created a self-reinforcing cycle: loneliness at work led to withdrawal at home, which in turn could intensify feelings of isolation both professionally and personally. It is easy to see how this cycle could erode relationships and wellbeing for leaders over time.

However, our research also highlighted a crucial protective factor: Identification and closeness with family. Leaders who reported having close, supportive family and friends networks outside of work were significantly less likely to let work-induced loneliness affect their home life.

Emotional support from family and friends acted like a safety net, providing a sense of belonging and helping leaders navigate stressful work situations without withdrawing from personal relationships. These leaders were able to maintain engagement with both their teams and their families, even on days when they felt lonely.

This finding is particularly relevant because it underscores the power of social connections outside of work. While organisations often focus on team-building and peer support, the role of family in sustaining leadership effectiveness has been largely overlooked. Our study demonstrates that family identity does not just provide comfort – it actively buffers against the hidden costs of workplace loneliness.

How can organisation’s help combat loneliness?

The implications of this research are profound for both individual leaders and the organisations they serve. For leaders, the message is clear: cultivating relationships outside work is not just personally fulfilling – it is strategically important.

Maintaining close family ties, nurturing friendships, and seeking emotional support can help buffer against the stress and isolation that leadership often entails. It may seem obvious, but in the day-to-day pressures of leadership, prioritising these relationships requires conscious effort and intentionality.

Whilst the key driver for preventing loneliness impacting leaders’ professional lives is the support they receive from their families, that does not mean that organisations do not have a role to play in tackling this issue. Recognising and addressing loneliness among leaders should be a priority. Even small interventions can make a significant difference. 

Peer-support networks are crucial for leaders, providing a space to share experiences and discuss coping strategies, which can help alleviate the pain that can come with role-related loneliness. Further, family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements enable leaders to maintain a sense of agency in caring for their support network outside of work. 

Creating a culture where discussions about wellbeing and loneliness are welcomed, rather than stigmatised, is equally vital. Organisations that take these steps are likely to see tangible benefits in terms of team performance, employee engagement, and retention.

It is also important to note that loneliness is not a sign of weakness, nor does it reflect poor leadership ability. It is, instead, a natural consequence of the structural and emotional challenges of leadership roles. By recognising it as a systemic issue, we can remove the stigma, and start to develop solutions that support leaders while strengthening organisational outcomes.

Looking Ahead

Our research offers a timely reminder that leadership does not happen in isolation. Even the most capable and resilient leaders are vulnerable to feelings of loneliness, and these feelings can quietly undermine effectiveness. Yet, as our findings show, fostering meaningful relationships outside work is not a luxury – it is a cornerstone of sustainable leadership.

Leaders who invest in family, friendships, and support networks are better equipped to navigate challenging workdays, make effective decisions, and maintain positive engagement with their teams.

Organisations that actively address loneliness in leadership can protect the wellbeing of their staff while also enhancing performance, engagement, and retention. 

In the end, leadership is about connection; with teams, with organisational goals, and with oneself and one’s support networks. When leaders feel connected, supported, and understood – both at work and at home – they are better able to inspire, guide, and sustain their organisations.  

Addressing loneliness is not just a matter of personal wellbeing; it is a strategic investment in effective, sustainable leadership.

About the Authors

Dr Karolina Nieberle is Associate Professor in Social and Organisational Psychology at Durham University Business School and her research focuses on leadership, identities and well-being at the interface of work and home. Previously, Karolina was at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Germany) and Durham University (UK).  

Janey Zheng is an Associate Professor in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour at Durham University Business School. Janey received her Ph.D. in 2018 from Durham University. Her research focuses on relational leadership (social exchange between leaders and followers, e.g., trust felt trust, LMX), identity (identity conflict, enhancement, and development), and emotion (e.g., envy and pride).

Olga Epitropaki is a Professor of Management and Deputy Executive Dean (Research) at Durham University Business School. She received her PhD from Cardiff University in 2000. Her research focuses mainly on social cognition, identity, and dyadic/group processes related to leadership. She is also interested in creative leadership and the application of arts-based interventions in management education. 

The post How Strong Family Ties Can Protect Leaders from Workplace Loneliness appeared first on The European Business Review.

Training Your “Neural Filter”

New year, new me. Vague resolutions rarely change much, but highly specific, well-defined goals can lead to meaningful change. Cognitive neuroscience shows that maintaining a clear goal representation engages prefrontal cortex networks responsible for planning, attentional control, and progress monitoring. The prefrontal cortex supports goal maintenance by actively biasing perception, memory, and decision-making toward information that is relevant to the current objective.

When a goal is specific and repeatedly revisited, top-down attentional control increases the likelihood that goal-relevant cues are noticed and integrated, while irrelevant information is deprioritized. This makes connections and opportunities easier to recognize – not because the brain automatically filters reality, but because attention is strategically guided by goal relevance and value. This is a valuable approach in the attention economy where attention is limited while content is infinite.

Sustained engagement with goal-directed thinking and tasking can also produce experience-dependent changes in executive control networks, reflecting well-established mechanisms of neuroplasticity that support improved planning and self-monitoring over time. In other words, if your New Year’s resolution is specific and revisited throughout 2026, there’s a higher chance that it will be impactful and create a meaningful change.

High performers also build structured reflection into their routines to ensure continuous learning and course correction.

Systematic Reflection and Micro-Reviews

Setting goals is a good start. High performers also build structured reflection into their routines to ensure continuous learning and course correction. Weekly or monthly micro-reviews allow you to step back and ask key questions such as:

• What tasks or strategies are producing the most impact?
• Where did I encounter friction, and why?
• What skills or resources could have improved results?
• Which opportunities am I missing by staying within my comfort zone?

These sessions are most effective when they are short, focused, and, most of all, consistent – even 15-30 minutes can make a difference. A progress journal helps make these reflections tangible: note wins, lessons learned, unexpected insights, and actionable next steps. This can be in a physical journal or even in a Google Docs or Notion document. Over time, this creates a personal knowledge base, allowing you to identify patterns, anticipate challenges, and make smarter decisions.

The Premortem as Strategic Foresight

The old “move fast and break things” mantra has gradually given way to disciplined foresight. In an environment shaped by volatility, uncertainty, and constant information overload, high-performing individuals increasingly rely on structured foresight not only to anticipate change, but to make progress toward specific goals with fewer avoidable missteps.

Before committing to a major personal or professional initiative, many now use a prospective hindsight exercise, commonly known as a ‘premortem‘. In this exercise, you imagine it is December 2026 and your initiative has failed spectacularly, then work backward to identify the most plausible reasons for that failure. Research shows that this framing helps counter overconfidence and the planning fallacy by making risks easier to identify and acknowledge.

For individuals, the value lies in how the premortem legitimises self-critique and future-oriented analysis. By deliberately surfacing hidden assumptions, unrealistic timelines, and foreseeable obstacles early, premortems act as a career immune system: strengthening judgment, improving prioritization, and thereby increasing resilience.

Adopting the “Future-Back” Skills Framework

The Future-Back method, also known as Backcasting, is an opposite approach to foresight that starts by envisioning your desired state at the end of the year with extreme granularity. From this future vantage point, you work backward to identify the high-stakes skills you currently lack. The skills that are critical to achieving your goals. Examples might include AI auditing, cross-cultural negotiation, or data analysis.

By defining the end-state first, this method helps individuals spot mission-critical skill gaps before they become urgent, turning abstract goals into a data-driven roadmap for skill acquisition. It focuses attention on what truly matters, prioritizes learning, and reduces the risk of investing effort in low-impact areas. Backcasting from a detailed future allows you to act with foresight, ensuring your personal development aligns with long-term objectives.

Strategic Experimentation and Small Bets

Beyond reflection and foresight, a valuable method is to do a series of small, testable experiments. Instead of committing to a single rigid path, take small bets and prototype, test, measure, and iterate. This approach is especially valuable for professionals seeking a career breakthrough, where the stakes are high but uncertainty is unavoidable.

Career breakthroughs rarely happen by following a clear, defined path. Experimentation allows you to try multiple approaches safely, identifying what works before fully committing. Over time, these small bets compound, revealing patterns, building skills, and creating visibility that can accelerate promotions or entrepreneurial opportunities.

Examples include:

• Experimenting with content or being more active on LinkedIn to attract a new following.
• Learning a new tool or skill with a small, applied project. Test interest by seeing how many people sign up for your newsletter or expresses interest in a product.
• Pitching an idea to a mentor, social media followers, or peer network as a trial before scaling.

For each micro-experiment, track outcomes carefully – successes, failures, unexpected insights, and lessons learned.

An AI audit begins with mapping your tasks and workflows. Ask: Which parts of my work are repetitive, data-heavy, or research-intensive.

AI Audits: Finding Where AI Can Boost Your Work in 2026

As AI tools continue to evolve, 2026 will be a year where individuals can continue to unlock productivity gains through strategic AI use. Rather than chasing the hype around multi-agent systems, for most professionals a good first step is conducting a personal AI audit: systematically identifying where AI can enhance your workflows today – and preparing for future breakthroughs.

An AI audit begins with mapping your tasks and workflows. Ask: Which parts of my work are repetitive, data-heavy, or research-intensive? Large language models can assist with summarization, drafting, and analysis. Specialized AI tools can support data visualization, coding, or content generation. Even if multi-agent systems aren’t yet mainstream, evaluating where agents can safely orchestrate multiple steps – research, drafting, reviewing, generating leads – helps you anticipate future skill needs and avoid scrambling when these tools mature.

This mindset also counters the major pitfall of agent overconfidence: assuming AI can replace judgment. Not every task benefits from automation, and poorly scoped agents can produce noise rather than value.

Mastering “Energy Management” Over “Time Management”

Failing to match when you work to how your brain functions can erode decision quality, focus, and creative capacity. As AI assumes more of the repetitive work, humans are left to provide strategic insight, judgement, and complex reasoning. Qualities that are best expressed when biological energy is optimised.

Recent research confirms that performance on high‑level cognitive tasks fluctuates systematically with time of day and an individual’s internal biological clock, known as chronotype. When tasks are aligned with a person’s optimal time of day, performance on attention, memory, and executive functioning can be significantly better than when misaligned, with some studies showing measurable differences in cognitive performance across the day.

Energy management starts with understanding your chronotype – whether you’re a morning peak, afternoon peak, or evening peak – and attempting to structure your workload to match your internal rhythms. To many people, that looks like scheduling deep work sessions and demanding meetings in the early hours of the day and doing more exploratory work later in the day. This, however, depends on the chronotype and varies from person to person.

The post Seven Methods for Making 2026 Your Breakthrough Year appeared first on The European Business Review.

Understanding Burnout Beyond Fatigue

Burnout is not simply feeling tired after a long day. It is a psychological and physical condition marked by emotional exhaustion, detachment, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. The World Health Organization officially classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon in 2019, acknowledging its impact on workers around the world.

Burnout often develops gradually as ongoing stress accumulates over time. Small, unresolved pressures can build until they overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope. Symptoms include chronic fatigue, irritability, loss of focus, and disinterest in work. Recognizing these early warning signs allows both employees and employers to take preventive steps before productivity and well-being begin to decline.

The Cost of Ignoring Burnout

Failing to address burnout can affect individuals and entire organizations. The American Institute of Stress estimates that workplace stress costs U.S. employers more than $300 billion each year in absenteeism, turnover, and lost productivity. Burnout also erodes workplace culture, lowers morale, and reduces innovation.

Organizations that view burnout as a systemic issue instead of a personal weakness are better equipped to create lasting change. Providing flexibility, mental health support, and open communication about stress can reduce stigma and build a healthier workplace. Encouraging empathy and mutual respect helps employees seek help early, which strengthens engagement and long-term performance.

What Are Recovery Principles?

Recovery principles come from mental health and addiction treatment programs and focus on empowerment, connection, and holistic wellness. They encourage individuals to balance effort with rest, productivity with reflection, and self-care with responsibility.

Applied to the workplace, these principles help create conditions that prevent chronic stress and promote personal growth. Key recovery-based elements include:

• Self-awareness: Identifying and addressing stress before it escalates.
  
• Support networks: Building relationships that foster trust and belonging.
  
• Empowerment: Giving employees control over how they manage their well-being.
  
• Flexibility: Allowing adaptable schedules that meet individual needs.
  
• Purpose and meaning: Aligning daily work with personal values to boost motivation and fulfillment.
  

How Recovery Principles Are Changing Workplace Wellness

Traditional wellness programs often focus only on physical health or occasional stress management workshops. Recovery-oriented strategies take a more comprehensive and proactive approach to employee well-being.

From Reactive to Preventive Wellness

Modern organizations are shifting from responding to burnout to preventing it altogether. Many now include short, structured recovery breaks during the workday for mindfulness, stretching, or deep breathing. Some companies are redesigning workflows to minimize constant multitasking and digital fatigue. By setting clear boundaries and encouraging focused work, employees are better able to maintain mental clarity and consistent energy levels.

Leadership’s Role in Promoting Recovery

Managers play a central role in shaping company culture. When leaders model healthy habits such as taking time off, maintaining reasonable work hours, and discussing well-being openly, it normalizes these behaviors across the organization. Training managers to recognize signs of burnout and respond with compassion helps foster a supportive environment where employees feel valued and understood.

Technology as a Recovery Tool

Technology can both contribute to and help manage burnout. Constant connectivity often increases stress, but when used intentionally, technology can support wellness. Mindfulness apps, digital peer support platforms, and analytic tools that track workloads can help identify stress patterns and prompt early intervention. When implemented thoughtfully, technology enhances awareness and access to mental health resources rather than adding pressure.

Examples of Recovery-Focused Workplaces

Salesforce and Holistic Wellness

Salesforce has embraced recovery principles through its “Wellbeing Reimbursement Program,” which covers mental and physical wellness activities such as counseling, fitness, and meditation. The company promotes flexible scheduling and encourages managers to model balance. These efforts have improved employee engagement and reduced burnout across teams.

Buffer’s Mental Health and Transparency Culture

Buffer, a fully remote company, prioritizes mental health by offering unlimited paid time off and encouraging employees to take mental health days when needed. Regular check-ins and virtual community events help maintain connection among remote workers and reduce isolation. This transparency builds trust and reinforces the importance of self-care.

Implementing Recovery Principles at Work

Transitioning to a recovery-centered culture requires consistent effort and collaboration. The process begins by evaluating current wellness practices and identifying areas that need improvement.

Steps to begin include:

1. Educate leaders and employees about burnout and recovery concepts.
   
2. Create safe channels for employees to share concerns confidentially.
   
3. Offer flexible policies that accommodate different well-being needs.
   
4. Integrate short recovery or mindfulness activities into the workday.
   
5. Use employee feedback and performance data to refine wellness programs.
   

Recovery is not a quick fix. It is an ongoing commitment that evolves with workplace dynamics and employee needs.

The Future of Workplace Wellness

As burnout continues to affect employees worldwide, recovery principles offer a sustainable path forward. By promoting balance, empowerment, and connection, companies can transform workplaces from sources of stress into environments that nurture growth and creativity.

Investing in recovery-focused strategies benefits both employees and organizations. It builds resilience, strengthens culture, and enhances long-term success. The future of work will depend not on working harder but on learning how to recover smarter.

The post From Burnout to Balance: How Recovery Principles Are Shaping the Future of Workplace Wellness appeared first on The European Business Review.

As mental ill health becomes the leading cause of workplace absence, leadership must redefine its priorities. For World Mental Health Day, experts share practical strategies – from fostering psychological safety and coaching cultures to modelling healthy habits and tackling vaping – showing that wellbeing-centric leadership drives performance, resilience, and sustainable organisational success.

According to the CIPD’s latest Health & Wellbeing at Work Report, mental ill health has now overtaken all other causes of long-term absence. Nearly half of organisations (47%) report a rise in mental-health-related absences, yet fewer than one in three (29%) equip line managers with the training to address the issue.

This gap exposes a critical weakness in leadership capability. Employee wellbeing is no longer optional – it is a core business priority with direct consequences for performance, retention, and resilience.

As World Mental Health Day (10 October) approaches, we asked six leading voices in leadership and organisational wellbeing to share their practical advice. Their message is clear: leaders who put wellbeing at the centre of their agenda will build healthier, more productive, and more sustainable businesses.

Leadership’s Duty of Care

Lord Mark Price, former UK Trade Minister, founder of WorkL, and author of Work Happier, believes wellbeing must be viewed as both a moral duty and a commercial necessity. His Workplace Happiness Survey places global wellbeing at just 73%, with more than one in four employees at risk of low wellbeing. Anxiety and low mood score as low as 66%.

“Employees are clear about what they need,” Price says. “Practical mental health support such as therapy or mental health days, flexible and shorter working hours, and fairer pay structures that match today’s realities.”

When leadership prioritises fair pay, work-life balance, and psychological safety, the benefits are tangible: reduced stress, higher engagement, and what Price calls a “20% productivity lift” associated with high wellbeing. “Creating a respectful, positive workplace isn’t a perk,” he insists. “It’s prevention – and it secures long-term performance gains.”

Practical Actions to Build Safety and Learning

Barbara Salopek, author of Future Fit Innovation and CEO of Vinco Innovation, emphasises that psychological safety is not an abstract ideal but a practical leadership responsibility.

“Too often I have seen workplaces where it’s all about blame, not learning,” she says. “Switching this perspective requires effort from leadership first.”

Her advice is straightforward:

• Replace “Who’s at fault?” with “What did we learn?”
• Celebrate learning, not just results.
• Create regular spaces where employees can speak openly without fear.

“These small, consistent actions reduce stigma, improve wellbeing, and foster innovation,” Salopek explains. “When employees feel safe to speak up, organisations gain twice: healthier teams and stronger performance.”

Glimmers, Grit, and Getting Real

For Gavin Oattes, global speaker and author of Confidently Lost: Finding Joy in the Chaos and Rediscovering What Matters Most in Life, the conversation about wellbeing must go deeper than perks. “The 2025 CIPD report confirms what many of us feel in our bones—work isn’t working for everyone,” he says. “If you’re still viewing wellbeing as a nice-to-have, it’s time to recalibrate.”

Oattes argues that mental health is about creating space for people “to breathe, to belong, and to bring their whole selves, wobbles and all.” In his own experience, what mattered most were not grand gestures but “glimmers—micro-moments of connection, joy, and being seen.”

He urges leaders to model rest, to notice small signs, and to embrace play. “Adults learn best through play. It unlocks new thinking, disarms fear, and builds connection faster than any strategy slide. Mental health is the heart of sustainable leadership. Treat it that way—with compassion, curiosity, and a little creative mischief.”

From Command-and-Control to Coaching

Dominic and Laura Ashley-Timms, CEO and COO of performance consultancy Notion and authors of The Answer is a Question, highlight the cost of outdated management styles.

“Too often, management training focuses on the ‘what’ of management, not the ‘how’ of engaging people,” they note. As a result, managers default to command-and-control, which pressures them to always have the answers while marginalising employees.

Research shows the stakes are high: Gallup estimates that disengagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion. Yet the Ashley-Timms argue that the solution lies not in more mental health training, but in tackling the root cause of disengagement.

Their solution is Operational Coaching®, an enquiry-led approach proven in London School of Economics research to dramatically improve engagement, productivity, and inclusion. “Asking powerful questions rather than providing all the answers gives employees autonomy, confidence, and psychological safety,” they explain. “It’s a management revolution—one that leaders urgently need to embrace.”

Role Modelling Healthy Habits

Leaders are often guilty of neglecting their own wellbeing, warns Nik Kinley, leadership consultant and author of The Power Trap.

“Most leaders, on their way up, work longer than they should, sacrifice personal life, and look after themselves less well than they ought to,” he explains. “Then one day they’re at the top—and what they do becomes more visible. If they cut corners with their health, it sends a message that such behaviour is normal, even expected, if you want to succeed.”

The challenge, Kinley admits, is that changing entrenched habits can be hard. But World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to reflect. “Senior leaders should take a moment to identify one area where they can send a different message—by role modelling healthier choices. Even small changes in behaviour can ripple across an organisation.” 

Building Psychological Safety Through Trust

Fay Niewiadomski, award-winning change strategist, leadership coach, and author of Decisions That Matter points out that data alone can mislead. She recalls seeing a dysfunctional team reporting fewer incidents than a high-performing one. “The numbers told a statistical lie,” she explains, “because incidents were left unreported out of fear of punishment and lack of trust.”

For Niewiadomski, psychological safety is not a myth but a function of corporate culture: “Culture equals leadership’s beliefs, thoughts, values, feelings, and resulting behaviours—and how these are communicated to the workforce.”

She recommends three steps to build trust:

1. Make it safe to speak up and find collaborative solutions.
2. Be consistent in how behaviours are rewarded.
3. Use accountability as a tool for problem solving and growth.

“Psychological safety isn’t soft,” she argues. “It’s the foundation of high-performing, resilient teams.”

Tackling Vaping to Protect Wellbeing

Finally, Dr Marc Picot, GP, vaping expert, and author of The Last Puff, highlights how nicotine dependence undermines both health and workplace performance.

“Employees who vape often struggle with focus, productivity, and stress,” he explains. “Sustained vaping is linked with anxiety and mental health challenges, which contribute to absenteeism.” For employers, the costs include higher insurance premiums, reduced efficiency, and lower retention.

Picot recommends simple steps:

• Share information about the risks of vaping.
• Encourage wellbeing initiatives, such as coaching or group support.
• Create an open culture where employees can discuss challenges without judgement.

“Supporting employees to quit vaping is a tangible way for leaders to prove their commitment to wellbeing—while also improving performance,” he adds.

From Intention to Impact

Taken together, these expert insights highlight one truth: wellbeing must move from the margins to the core of leadership and strategy. Whether it’s building trust, modelling healthy behaviours, shifting from blame to learning, creating micro-moments of joy, empowering through coaching, or tackling health risks like vaping, leaders have practical levers they can pull today.

World Mental Health Day is not about token gestures. It is a reminder that leaders have a duty of care – and an opportunity. Prioritising wellbeing not only protects mental health but strengthens productivity, creativity, and resilience.

The post Putting Wellbeing at the Heart of Leadership – Expert Insights for World Mental Health Day appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Lord Mark Price

An engaged workforce drives performance, but dissatisfaction often surfaces quietly. Drawing on 40 years’ experience, Lord Mark Price identifies six warning signs that signal team unhappiness. He outlines his Six Steps to Workplace Happiness: recognition, information, empowerment, wellbeing, pride, and job satisfaction, to restore morale and strengthen organisations. 

An engaged workforce is a productive workforce but too often, unhappiness creeps into teams unnoticed until it’s too late. In my work with organisations worldwide for over 40 years, I’ve seen how six tell-tale signs can reveal underlying dissatisfaction. Here’s how to spot them and how my Six Steps to Workplace Happiness, from WorkL, the employee engagement platform I founded, can help turn things around.

Employee unhappiness rarely arrives with a grand announcement. It shows itself in subtle ways, such as the once-vocal team member who now stays silent in meetings, the sudden uptick in employees off sick, or the dip in collaboration. Recognising these signs early allows leaders to act decisively. Below, I share six common warning signs, along with practical steps you can take, guided by my Six Steps to Workplace Happiness; reward and recognition, information, empowerment, wellbeing, sense of pride, and job satisfaction.

1. Drop in Productivity

A noticeable decline in performance or output is often one of the first visible signs that something isn’t right. Targets are missed, deadlines slip, or quality falters. While external factors may play a part, consistent underperformance usually reflects disengagement.

What to do

Focus on reward and recognition. People want to feel their efforts are seen and valued. Recognise contributions both publicly and privately. Sometimes a simple “thank you” or acknowledgment of good work goes further than financial reward. By making appreciation part of your daily leadership style, you restore motivation and pride.

2. Increased Absenteeism and Turnover

When employees are unhappy, they disengage physically as well as emotionally. Absenteeism rises, sick days become more frequent, and eventually, people leave. High turnover is costly, not just financially but culturally.

What to do

Focus on wellbeing. Unhappiness often stems from stress, poor work–life balance, or burnout. Leaders must create environments where taking care of mental and physical health is encouraged, not stigmatised. Encourage flexible working, ensure workloads are manageable, and create a supportive culture where people can ask for help.

3. Silence in Meetings

Silence is not golden in the workplace. When employees stop offering ideas, questioning processes, or contributing to discussion, it’s usually a sign of disconnection. It may also mean they don’t feel safe speaking up.

What to do

Prioritise empowerment. Employees thrive when they feel trusted to contribute and make decisions. Invite input, create forums for safe discussion, and make it clear that diverse perspectives are valued. Empowered employees are more engaged, more creative, and more invested in outcomes.

4. A Breakdown in Communication

When gossip replaces open dialogue, or when team members seem left out of the loop, morale suffers. Poor communication is both a symptom and a cause of unhappiness, it signals a lack of transparency and erodes trust.

What to do

Improve information sharing. Leaders often underestimate how much employees want to understand the bigger picture. Be open about company performance, strategy, and challenges. Consistent, honest communication helps employees feel involved and respected. Even when the news isn’t positive, transparency builds trust.

5. Loss of Pride in Work

When employees no longer talk positively about their organisation, or stop recommending it to friends and family, it’s a clear sign of declining engagement. Pride is an emotional anchor, without it, people feel disconnected and uninspired.

What to do

Reinforce a sense of pride. Celebrate successes, share customer stories, and connect individual roles to the bigger mission. Remind people why what they do matters. Pride grows when employees can see the positive impact of their work, both for the business and for wider society.

6. Going Through the Motions

Perhaps the most insidious sign of unhappiness is when employees do only the bare minimum. They show up, complete tasks, and leave, without passion or initiative. This “quiet quitting” reflects a lack of job satisfaction and can spread quickly across a team.

What to do

Revisit roles and responsibilities to ensure they align with employees’ skills and aspirations. Provide opportunities for development, training, and progression. When people feel they are learning and moving forward, satisfaction rises. Encourage managers to have regular career conversations, not just annual reviews.

My Six Steps to Workplace Happiness

When you align leadership practice with the Six Steps to Workplace Happiness, reward and recognition, information, empowerment, wellbeing, sense of pride, and job satisfaction, you create the foundations of an engaged workforce. These aren’t one-off fixes, they’re ongoing commitments.

1. Reward & recognition

Pay must be fair and transparent, or nothing else lands. But don’t wait for annual reviews to say “thank you.” Build weekly recognition rituals tied to outcomes, not presenteeism.

2. Information sharing

Lack of sharing breeds rumour and disengagement. Adopt a “show the work” cadence where a monthly all-hands meeting includes reviewing real metrics, a working roadmap, and team-level dashboard for all to see.

3. Empowerment

Empowering employees means involving them in decision-making, valuing their ideas, and integrating their feedback into the company’s strategies. Everyone brings unique experiences and perspectives to the table, and only by considering all views can a team achieve the best possible outcome.

4. Wellbeing

Employee wellbeing encompasses physical, emotional, and financial health. Addressing all three areas leads to improved engagement and productivity. A positive workplace culture can reduce absenteeism, as engaged employees tend to be healthier and more committed.

5. Instilling pride

Employees who take pride in their work and workplace naturally become advocates, sharing their positive experiences with colleagues, potential hires, customers, and the community. Their pride will be evident when they talk about where they work.

6. Job satisfaction

A range of factors influence job satisfaction, but two stand out; opportunities for personal growth and the quality of the employee-manager relationship. Employees are an organisation’s greatest asset, and high engagement is essential for success.

No team will ever be free from challenges. But as leaders, our responsibility is to ensure those challenges don’t translate into unhappiness and disengagement. By staying alert to the subtle signals and applying the Six Steps to Workplace Happiness, you can transform dissatisfaction into resilience, negativity into purpose, and silence into a stronger, more collaborative voice.

After all, when teams are happier, organisations are stronger and everyone wins.

About the Author

Lord Mark Price is former UK Trade Minister, founder of happiness at work platform WorkL and author of Work Happier: How to be Happy & Successful at Work, published by Kogan Page.

The post Six Red Flags Your Team is Unhappy and How to Fix Them Fast appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Dr. Anat Garti and Dr. Simon L. Dolan

In a world wired for stress, success takes more than strategy. This article shows how to build real resilience and combat burnout in high-demand workplaces so teams don’t just survive; they lead and thrive.

Introduction

In a world that is ever-changing and fraught with unpredictability, the strength of an organization lies not just in its resources but in its spirit. “Cultivating Endurance: Empowering Your Organization for a Resilient Future” speaks to the heart of what resilience truly means—an unwavering commitment to rise stronger, to adapt, and to flourish despite the challenges that lie ahead.

This title encapsulates the essence of transformation, emphasizing the nurturing process of building resilience as a continuous journey rather than a one-time initiative. It resonates on an emotional level, inspiring leaders and teams alike to embrace the challenges of today as stepping stones toward a more promising tomorrow. In this article, we embark on a path that not only fortifies the foundations of an organization but also ignites a profound sense of purpose and connection within it.

Resilience stands as a vital pillar in ensuring the stability and effectiveness of organizations, acting as a beacon of hope in turbulent times. Across various industries, professionals grapple with the weight of high-pressure situations, the emotional turmoil that often accompanies demanding roles, and the relentless flux of ever-changing work environments. These stressors, if left unaddressed, can spiral into the dark abyss of burnout, robbing individuals of their passion and diminishing their sense of purpose. The result? A profound sense of discontent that permeates job satisfaction and stifles overall performance, leaving once vibrant and engaged employees feeling drained and disconnected. In recognizing and fostering resilience, we not only protect the health and well-being of our workforce but also empower organizations to thrive amidst uncertainty, allowing their spirits to soar even higher.

In recognizing and fostering resilience, we not only protect the health and well-being of our workforce but also empower organizations to thrive amidst uncertainty, allowing their spirits to soar even higher.

In 2019, the World Health Organization announced its decision to include burnout for the first time in history in the official International Classification of Diseases. According to the World Health Organization’s Disease Index (ICD-11), Occupational Burnout is a syndrome resulting from persistent, unsuccessfully managed work stress. Consequently, developing resilience within organizations is essential to ensure the well-being of employees and the sustainability of operations. This article unveils a transformative process for cultivating resilience that can benefit any organization, illustrating its powerful application within a healthcare company. Through this journey, we reveal not just a framework but a beacon of hope for organizations by sharing the experiences of a healthcare team embracing resilience, and we aim to inspire others to embark on their own paths of growth and fortitude, ensuring that together, we can weather any storm.

Resilience is the human capacity to cope with, overcome, grow stronger, and even change in response to experiences in times of adversity.¹ This concept can be applied to individuals, families, organizations, and communities. Resilience encompasses the ability to avoid dangers and the ability to cope with them when they occur. The article explains stress mechanisms, burnout symptoms, and its impact. Then, we introduce the Stress Regulation Model. We will also introduce the consulting process for developing organizational resilience using the Stress Map and the Value of Values tools.

Understanding Stress and Burnout

Stress is a natural response to external demands and pressures, activating physiological and psychological mechanisms designed to help individuals cope with challenges. According to the Transactional Model of Stress,² it arises when individuals perceive a situation as threatening and believe they lack the resources to manage it. This model highlights the role of perception in determining whether stress is experienced as a manageable challenge or an overwhelming burden. While short-term stress can enhance focus and performance, chronic stress that is not effectively managed can lead to burnout—a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion.³

In the classical sense, and based on the research of Maslach and colleagues, burnout includes the following three dimensions.⁴

• Emotional Exhaustion – A state of deep fatigue and depletion of emotional resources.
• Depersonalization – Developing negative, detached, or cynical attitudes toward work and colleagues.
• Reduced Personal Accomplishment – A diminished sense of competence and achievement in one’s professional role.

Across numerous industries, high-demand organizations are grappling with a pervasive crisis: the relentless grip of stress and burnout. In a world where the pressure mounts from demanding workloads, tight deadlines, and soaring expectations, employees often find themselves caught in an unyielding cycle of exhaustion. This isn’t just a professional issue; it’s a deeply human one. Each day, talented individuals strive to meet the demands placed upon them, yet they are left feeling drained and overwhelmed, struggling to nurture their well-being while still delivering exceptional results. Imagine the toll this takes—not just on performance metrics but on the very essence of what it means to be a thriving workforce. When stress remains unaddressed, the vibrant spirit of engagement begins to wane. Performance plateaus and the high turnover rates that ensue not only disrupt team cohesion but also drain the organization of its most important asset: its people.

But there is hope. By embracing structured resilience-building initiatives, organizations can transform this narrative. We have the power to cultivate an environment where employees not only survive but flourish under pressure. Picture a workplace where individuals feel supported, where their well-being is prioritized, and where they are empowered to tackle challenges with renewed vigor.

Resilience Development Strategies

Building resilience within organizations is a proactive approach to mitigating the negative effects of stress and burnout. The Stress Regulation Model provides a structured framework for understanding and fostering resilience.⁵ This model is based on four key regulatory factors that influence how individuals perceive and manage stress within the workplace.

The Sequence and Methodology for Implementing the Stress Regulation Model

To implement the Stress Regulation Model effectively, we must adopt a comprehensive, organization-wide strategy that seamlessly weaves resilience-building practices into the fabric of our workplaces. This isn’t just a matter of following best practices; it’s about nurturing a culture that places the well-being of every individual at its core. When organizations prioritize stress management, they empower their employees with the vital tools needed to navigate and regulate their stress levels. Imagine a workplace where every team member feels supported, understood, and equipped to face the daily challenges of their roles. This is not merely a dream—it’s a vision we can bring to life. By fostering an environment that values mental well-being and proactive stress management, we not only enhance individual resilience but also strengthen our entire organization. It also means creating a space where every employee can thrive, not just survive, and where the journey of managing stress becomes a shared commitment to collective well-being.

The implementation of the Stress Regulation Model follows a structured six-stage process designed to equip managers with the necessary tools to regulate stress and develop a resilient organizational culture (see Figure 1). Each stage builds upon the previous one, ensuring a gradual and comprehensive integration of stress management strategies.

Stage 1: Opening Lecture – Understanding Stress and Burnout

The process begins with an introductory lecture aimed at providing managers with an initial understanding of the stress and burnout mechanisms. This session offers an overview of how stress affects individuals and organizations and highlights the critical role of resilience in mitigating its negative impacts. Managers are also introduced to the intervention process that will guide them through the stages of developing organizational resilience.

Stage 2: Workshop – Practical Application of Stress Regulation Tools

In the second stage, managers participate in a hands-on workshop that deepens their knowledge of stress and burnout mechanisms. In the workshop, we use biofeedback training, where managers use a biofeedback tool to observe and understand the physiological responses that occur during stressful situations. By gaining real-time insights into their stress reactions, managers can better grasp the importance of stress regulation.

A key component of this workshop is the “Stress Map” tool, which helps participants identify their stress triggers and assess their regulation patterns. Through guided exercises, managers learn how to apply stress regulators, which are essential techniques for managing workplace stress effectively. This stage is interactive and experiential, ensuring that managers not only learn theoretical concepts but also practice their respective applications in real-time scenarios.

Stage 3: Application and Supervision in Learning Groups

At this stage, we form learning groups where the managers implement the stress regulation tools introduced in the earlier stage. These groups meet under the guidance of trained supervisors to ensure consistent practice and reinforcement of resilience strategies.

Through structured exercises and real-world case studies, managers apply the “Stress Map” tool in their daily work environment. They share their experiences, challenges, and successes with their peers, fostering a collaborative learning process. The emphasis is on practicing stress regulation in real-time situations, allowing managers to internalize these skills as part of their leadership approach.

Supervision is a critical element of this stage, providing managers with ongoing feedback, adjustments, and reinforcement of best practices. As they gain confidence in using stress regulation strategies, they develop a more adaptive and resilient leadership style, preparing them for the next phase of the implementation process.

Stage 4: Value-based Leadership as a Tool for Anchoring the Change

In the fourth stage, we return to a workshop framework in which managers learn about value-based leadership as a tool for anchoring the change they have implemented. Through the “value of values” tool, managers choose the set of values that will allow them to anchor the change and embed it as part of the unit’s culture.

We use Dolan’s 3Es Tri-axial model to ensure systemic anchoring of the change.⁶ This model describes how a balanced set of values needs to include three groups of values:

• The economic-pragmatic group deals with values that direct behavior in an effective way to achieve goals.
• The ethical-social group deals with relationship values like thoughtfulness, influence, loyalty, and tolerance.
• The emotional-developmental group focuses on values that encourage a life filled with interest and passion.

By translating these values into practical action, managers build the psychological contract that will enable the assimilation of the value system and anchor the change in the unit’s culture.⁷

Stage 5: Application and Supervision in Learning Groups

In the fifth stage, the managers are again divided into small learning groups, as was done in stage three, to implement the culture change designed in the previous stage. These groups meet under the guidance of trained supervisors, providing managers with ongoing feedback, adjustments, and reinforcement of best practices. In the groups, they share their experiences, challenges, and successes with their peers, fostering a collaborative learning process.

Stage 6: Closing Lecture

At the end of the process, a summary lecture is given, framing the entire process and integrating the change processes that the managers have made.

Conclusion and Postscript

Through workshops, learning groups, and value-based leadership, the process not only enhances individual coping strategies but also instills lasting cultural changes that promote well-being and sustained high performance across teams.

The paper shows how a structured resilience development process can effectively address stress and burnout in high-demand organizational settings. By leveraging tools such as the Stress Regulation Model and the “Stress Map,” organizations can create a culture that fosters resilience, empowering managers to effectively manage stress and enhance their leadership capabilities. Through workshops, learning groups, and value-based leadership, the process not only enhances individual coping strategies but also instills lasting cultural changes that promote well-being and sustained high performance across teams.

The process that was presented was recently implemented in “Maccabi Healthcare Services”, one of the four HMOs operating in Israel, by consultants from the Israel Values Center and Effect-Tiv Empowering Leaders. At the end of the process, 86% of participants, namely people in managing positions, responded that they frequently use the tools acquired in the process. So, a cascade effect in the organization was observed. The survey conducted before and after the implementation showed an increase in the managers’ feeling that they have room for choice and discretion and a significant increase in the feeling that they have the resources and tools to manage the challenges. Here are several quotes from participants:

“The process turns the issue of resilience into an active action in practice.”

“An excellent combination of theoretical knowledge and practical tools for immediate implementation.”

“Working in small groups added great value and allowed for a more personal and in-depth work process and allowed for an open dialogue in which everyone had a place and the ability to express themselves safely.”

We argue that the triumphant implementation of this model within a healthcare organization in Israel stands as a powerful testament to the profound impact that resilience development can have on employee engagement, satisfaction, and the overall health of an organization. Witnessing the transformative effects on the healthcare staff stirred something deep within, the realization that this approach could be a beacon of hope beyond the walls of healthcare organizations.

Thereafter, a new collaboration was initiated with the R&D Unit of a Clinically Based Teacher Education in “Mofet Institute” in Israel. Fueled by a shared commitment to combat the alarming levels of burnout faced by their dedicated teaching teams, a decision was made to develop a training program for mentors who support student teachers. The goal is to equip these mentors with the ability to serve as “stress-regulating guides” by effectively applying the four stress regulation factors. This initiative is the first step in enhancing the resilience of future educators, ensuring they can navigate the challenges of the teaching profession with greater confidence and well-being. This is more than just a project; it is an emotional journey toward healing, empowerment, and revitalization in our schools. It is our conviction that together, we are crafting an innovative solution that honors the passion, resilience, and unwavering spirit of those who shape the minds of our future.

About the Authors

Dr. Anat Garti is a psychologist, certified family and couple therapist, senior coach (MCIL), organizational consultant, group instructor and lecturer in various academic institutes. She is a psychotherapist and supervisor with wide experience working with adults, adolescents and children in individuals, couples and family contexts and settings. She also consults for organizations in the field of stress and burnout, implementing ISO 45003 – Psychological Health and Safety at Work, with a focus on the field of work-family conflict. Garti is the chief psychologist of the Israel Values Center (www.values-center.co.il) and the author of “The Parent as a Value Anchor”(Garti & Dolan, 2016)  and “Work Family Triangle Synchronization” (Garti & Tzafrir, 2022).

Dr. Simon L. Dolan is a full professor, senior researcher and director of programs at Advantere School of Management (affiliated with Comillas, Duesto and Georgetown Universities). He has published 85 books (in multiple languages) and over 150 articles in referees’ journals. He is also the cofounder and President of the Global Future of Work Foundation. His work, consulting and research focus on values, leadership, coaching, stress management and resilience as well as issues connected to the future of work. He created the concept, methodology and tools connected to leading and coaching by values as well as the Stress Map. His full bio at: www.simondolan.com or www.learningaboutvalues.com

References

1. Grotberg, E. H. (1997). The International Resilience Research Project. Meeting Paper, 55th Annual Convention, International Council of Psychologists, Graz, Austria, 14-18.

2. Lazarus R.S. and Folkman S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. (New York: Springer)

3. Dolan, S. L. (2023). De-Stress at Work: Understanding and Combatting Chronic Stress. (Routledge).

4. Maslach Burnout Inventory, Wikipedia Maslach Burnout Inventory – Wikipedia

5. Dolan S.L, Garti, A.  Ben-Hur R., and Landau A. (2025). Managing Stress and Burnout (in Hebrew, Forthcoming).

6. Simon L. Dolan, Salvador Garcia and Bonnie Richley (2006). Managing byValues: A Guide to Living, Being Alive, and Making a Living in the XXI Century. (Palgrave-MacMillan, London, U.K); and Simon L. Dolan (2011). Coaching by Values: A Guide to Success in the Life of Business and the Business of Life. (iUniverse. Bloomington, IND).

7. Garti, A., and Dolan, S. L. (2019). Managing by values (MBV): Innovative Tools for Successful Micro Behavioral Conduct. The European Business Review.

The post Cultivating Endurance: Sharing a Case for Empowering an Organization’s Resilience and Enhancing Wellbeing appeared first on The European Business Review.

Toxic colleagues don’t always shout or sabotage openly. Often, their behavior is subtle—undermining, exclusionary, and hard to pinpoint. But the impact is real. If you find yourself second-guessing, bracing before meetings, or emotionally drained, this guide offers clear, practical strategies to help you protect your well-being and reclaim your confidence.

You may believe you’d recognize workplace toxicity if you saw it. You’d expect raised voices, power plays, backstabbing, open conflict, or a combination of those. The reality is often far more subtle, especially when the dysfunctional behavior comes from a peer. Toxic colleagues are not always disruptive in obvious ways. Sometimes, they operate through small gestures and patterns. They may consistently dismiss your contributions, leave you out of key decisions, and their praise may sound more like criticism. Each incident, on its own, may seem minor. But when a colleague consistently undermines you, subtly or not, this may lead you to second-guess yourself, brace before meetings, or slowly withdraw from the work you used to enjoy.

In my coaching practice, I often encounter high-performing professionals who find themselves doubting their own judgment and abilities when confronted with the emotional friction of working with someone whose behavior chips away at their confidence.

If you’re in this situation, here’s how to recognize the impact of a toxic colleague and some practical ways to protect your well-being.

Look for the pattern behind the behavior

One of the most confusing characteristics of toxic behavior is unpredictability. Your colleague might be helpful and collaborative one day, and aloof or passive-aggressive the next. That inconsistency often keeps you on your toes. You spend more energy anticipating and managing their mood than focusing on your work.

You might notice:

• Feedback that’s vague or undermining (“I wouldn’t have done it that way, but okay.”)
• Exclusion from relevant meetings or email conversations, followed by casual deflection (“Oh, I must have forgotten to cc: you on this thread. So sorry.”)
• Over-familiarity in the form of inappropriate jokes, comments framed as “banter,” or unsolicited advice about your performance.

This is behavior that’s designed, consciously or not, to keep you off-balance. If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not imagining it.

Validate your experience

The first step is not to confront the toxic colleague, but to gain clarity. Many people stay in toxic dynamics because they assume it’s just them (the “Maybe I’m too sensitive” assumption). But noticing that something feels off is a signal worth trusting.

Try writing down the behaviors you’re seeing, without judgment or interpretation. What was said? What was the context? How did it land? Naming the specific actions helps separate facts from emotions so that you can identify the pattern and have a clearer picture of it over time.

Maintain your boundaries

Toxic colleagues will almost always test your boundaries, both in obvious and subtle ways: dropping last-minute tasks on your plate, speaking over you in meetings, or adding pressure on you in the context of “collaboration.” Once you recognise these are behaviors for what they are – designed to destabilise you – instead of getting defensive, try being assertive:

• “I’ll need that request by [x time] if it’s going to fit into my priorities.”
• “I’d like to finish my point before we move on.”
• “I’d prefer we keep this focused on the work rather than personal opinions.”

You don’t need to justify your limits, but you do need to communicate them clearly and consistently, with calm and composure.

Find your allies

Dealing with a toxic colleague can feel isolating. Especially if others don’t seem to notice or are hesitant to speak up – which happens often. Find one or two people in your organization who you trust to validate your concerns without amplifying the drama. That might be a peer who’s experienced something similar, a mentor, or a manager you trust. Frame the conversation emphasising the impact this disruptive behavior has on your contribution, not necessarily the personal impact: “Here’s what I’ve observed, and here’s how it’s affecting my ability to contribute effectively to the organisation.”

It’s important to keep track and document the patterns of behavior so that, if the situation escalates or doesn’t shift, it’s easier to involve HR and/or escalate through appropriate channels, should you choose to do so.

Protect your energy

Having to deal with a toxic colleague can take a toll on your mental and emotional bandwidth. You might find yourself spending more time anticipating problems than solving them. Reclaiming space for yourself and safeguarding your energy might look like:

• Taking a break after a tense meeting.
• Starting your day with one task you enjoy before dealing with your colleague’s demands.
• Finding moments in your day to connect with people whom you trust and who energize you.

The goal isn’t to avoid discomfort (you can’t do much about that), but to stop internalizing it.

A toxic colleague might not have formal authority, but their behavior can still shape how you feel about your job, your team, and yourself. And while you may not be able to change how they operate, you can absolutely change how much power their actions hold over your day-to-day experience. The strategies above aren’t about fixing them, but about reclaiming your sense of safety, clarity, and control in an environment that might not always offer it freely. You don’t need permission to protect your well-being. You just need to acknowledge (rather than normalise) what’s unacceptable, and then choose your response. That choice is yours.

About the Author

Katia Vlachos is a reinvention coach and the author of Uncaged: A Good Girl’s Journey to Reinvention. She helps accomplished professionals navigate career transitions and create meaningful change without sacrificing their authentic selves.

The post How to Handle a Toxic Colleague – Strategies to Protect Your Wellbeing appeared first on The European Business Review.

Introduction 

Emotional well-being and mental health of employees have become an increasing concern over the last few years. The modern workplace have witnessed a significant transformation. Employee well-being has increasingly gained attention in modern organizational practices, especially within human resource management. With a growing recognition of its impact on productivity, mental health, and job satisfaction, many organizations are investing in strategies that focus on enhancing the psychological health of their workforce. Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to their community  (Herrman et al., 2004). Programs like Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), leadership development, and promoting psychological safety are just a few methods used to address these needs.

This article will explore the various ways HR practices influence mental health in the workplace. It will highlight the importance of implementing psychological safety and mental health initiatives, as well as the role of EAPs and leadership development in improving employee well-being, preventing burnout, and fostering a supportive work environment. Case studies, such as Caterpillar’s hybrid EAP model, will provide insight into how these strategies are applied and the benefits they bring to both employees and organizations.

Importance of emotional well-being 

Outside the field of organizational sciences, “happiness” is often understood as psychological well-being (PWB), which is sometimes referred to as personal or subjective well-being. PWB is generally described as the overall effectiveness of an individual’s psychological functioning. Unlike job satisfaction, which includes both cognitive and emotional components, PWB is primarily an emotional experience. It refers to the ability to manage emotions effectively, and cope with the challenges and stresses of daily living.  

Relationship between job satisfaction and performance

For decades, researchers have explored the theory that happiness and job satisfaction are directly linked to productivity, with studies dating back to the early 20th century consistently examining this relationship. Two primary theories emerge from the literature a) Human Relations Theory, and b) Emotion theory. Let us have a closer look at the two:

1. Human Relations Theory originating nearly a century ago, suggests that higher employee well-being, often assessed through job satisfaction, fosters higher morale, which subsequently enhances productivity.
2. Emotion Theory suggests that positive emotions and moods enhance motivation and performance, either directly or by influencing attitudes and behaviours. These frameworks highlight the significant impact of well-being on workplace outcomes.

Burnout

The adage “Happier workers work better” serves as a driving motivation to Human Resources departments to create a healthy and psychologically safe workplace for the employees. One of the main issues standing in the way of employees being happy is burnout. Maslach and Jackson (1981) conceptualized job burnout as a stress syndrome with three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment. It is a state of chronic physical, emotional and mental exhaustion. Burnout is not just about being tired, it represents a deeper crisis in which stress exceeds an individual’s capacity to cope effectively. Burnout has been a prevalent issue for a long time, but it is only in recent times that it has gained attention. Historically, the concept of burnout was not fully understood or acknowledged, and workers often pushed through stress and exhaustion without considering the long-term impact on their health or productivity. In many cultures, especially in highpressure industries, there was an expectation of constant output, and signs of burnout were often seen as personal failings rather than systemic issues. However, as awareness of mental health and well-being has grown, burnout has increasingly been recognized as a serious concern. The impact of burnout on productivity, job satisfaction, and overall health has prompted companies and HR professionals to take more proactive measures in addressing the issue. 

HR Strategies for Fostering Mental Health

In recent years, organizations have begun to prioritize employee well-being, implementing strategies such as mental health support programs, stress management workshops, and policies promoting work-life balance. There is also a growing emphasis on creating psychologically safe environments where employees feel supported, heard, and empowered to manage their workloads effectively.

Figure 1. Created by the author

Psychological safety

Psychological safety is described by Edmondson (1999) as the “shared belief held by members of a team that their team is safe for interpersonal risk taking – that others will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for speaking up”. Psychological safety is broadly defined as a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves. More specifically, when people have psychological safety at work, they feel comfortable sharing concerns and mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution. They are confident that they can speak up and won’t be humiliated, ignored, or blamed. They know they can ask questions when they are unsure about something. Psychological safety is an essential component of a healthy and highperforming workplace culture. When organizations prioritize it, they tend to experience lower turnover rates, higher employee engagement, and improved productivity. Employees in such environments feel valued, respected, and supported, which leads to greater job satisfaction and better overall performance. In contrast, a lack of psychological safety can foster a toxic work environment. Employees may become hesitant to speak up, share their ideas, or voice concerns, which stifles innovation and creativity. This is especially harmful for marginalized or underrepresented groups, who may already feel vulnerable or excluded, making them even more reluctant to express themselves in a psychologically unsafe environment.

HR practices play a crucial role in implementing psychological safety. Behaviourally, psychological safety leads employees to engage in open communication, voice their concerns, and seek greater feedback; all of which are interpersonally risky behaviors (Pearsall & Ellis, 2011). HR can also promote inclusivity by ensuring that all employees, especially those from marginalized groups, feel heard and valued. Training programs on empathy, bias reduction, and conflict resolution are often part of this approach, helping to create an environment of trust and respect. By embedding these practices into organizational culture, HR can help ensure that psychological safety becomes a foundational element of the workplace. This shift reflects a broader cultural change that recognizes the importance of sustainable working conditions for long-term success, both for employees and organizations alike. By implementing psychological safety in the workplace HR ensures reduction of stress and anxiety, enhanced emotional wellbeing, lower risk of burnout, encouragement of help-seeking behavior, positive organisational culture, increased job satisfaction and motivation which then sums up to positive impact on employees’ mental health.  

Occupational Health Psychology

Occupational Health Psychology is a field that is increasingly utilized by HR departments to improve mental health of employees within organizations. Occupational health psychology (OHP) is an interdisciplinary field focused on the well-being—specifically health and safety— of individuals in the workplace. Worker well-being is a crucial outcome for the employees themselves, as good health and safety directly impact their personal lives. Management often prioritizes employee well-being, recognizing that it can lead to valuable organizational outcomes such as lower healthcare costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and increased productivity. Thus, worker health is vital not only to the individual and the organization but also to society, as it affects national healthcare costs, productivity, and overall quality of life.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

These programs provide confidential counseling and support for employees facing personal problems, including mental health issues, substance abuse, and work-life balance challenges. Research consistently demonstrates that EAPs provide a significant return on investment by reducing absenteeism, improving employee productivity, and addressing mental health issues effectively, thereby enhancing overall organizational performance (Attridge, 2009). HR promotes and administers these services to help employees manage stress and maintain mental well-being.  

Wellness Programs

HR may implement initiatives focused on improving employees’ physical and mental health. Examples include fitness challenges, meditation sessions, ergonomic assessments, or providing resources for healthy eating. These programs are designed to improve employee well-being, reduce absenteeism, and increase overall productivity.

Stress Management Training

HR offer stress management workshops or seminars to teach employees techniques for coping with workplace stress, building resilience, and improving time management skills. This helps reduce burnout and improve overall job satisfaction.

Leadership Development Programs

HR often provides training for managers and leaders to enhance their emotional intelligence, communication, and conflict resolution skills. Leadership development programs have been shown to enhance leaders’ skills, foster team cohesion, and improve organizational effectiveness by creating a culture of trust and empowerment” (Day, 2000). These programs aim to help leaders create a positive work environment and manage teams more effectively, which directly impacts employee morale and productivity.

Case Study: 

Evaluating the Impact of Caterpillar’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) on Workplace Outcomes

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have become a cornerstone in supporting employee well-being, particularly in addressing work-related and personal challenges. Caterpillar, a leading manufacturer, conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of its EAP in improving work performance and overall life satisfaction. This case study details the methodology, findings, and implications of the study. 

Study Design

The study used a repeated-measures design to assess changes in five workplace outcome scales (WOS) before and after the utilization of EAP services. Key aspects of the study included:

• Data Collection: Initial data were gathered during EAP intake, while follow-up data were collected 90 days post-EAP service (Caterpillar Inc., 2015).
• Participants: Only employee clients (excluding family members) were included, with no incentives for participation (Caterpillar Inc., 2015).
• Methodology: Each participant served as their own control, reducing the influence of demographic and clinical factors (Caterpillar Inc., 2015).
• Limitations: The study lacked a comparison group, and potential biases due to non-random sampling and self-selection could not be fully examined (Caterpillar Inc., 2015).

The primary goal was to determine whether improvements in work performance persisted three months after using the EAP.

Results

The analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in several workplace and life satisfaction metrics (Caterpillar Inc., 2015). The table below summarizes the findings:

Discussion

The results of the study revealed significant improvements in absenteeism, presenteeism, and work distress, along with a modest increase in life satisfaction. These findings suggest that Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) can play a crucial role in enhancing key workplace outcomes.

Notably, absenteeism showed the most improvement, indicating that addressing personal issues through the EAP may help reduce the time employees take off work. Similarly, presenteeism was reduced, implying that employees were able to focus better on their tasks as personal problems had less of an impact on their work.

However, the study found no substantial change in work engagement. This may reflect the limitations of EAPs, which, while effective at supporting individual well-being, may not have the capacity to directly address larger organizational factors that influence engagement.

These outcomes align with other studies that suggest hybrid EAP models, particularly those emphasizing face-to-face services, can provide notable benefits in improving employee productivity and reducing workplace stress.

Conclusion

Caterpillar’s EAP proved effective in enhancing employee well-being and improving workplace outcomes. The study highlights the value of EAPs in addressing absenteeism, presenteeism, and work distress, as well as their role in fostering overall life satisfaction (Caterpillar Inc., 2015). These findings underscore the importance of integrating EAPs into organizational strategies to promote a healthier, more productive workforce.

Organizations leveraging similar hybrid EAP models can expect comparable benefits, particularly when focusing on personalized and accessible services. However, broader systemic interventions are needed to address areas like work engagement that extend beyond the EAP’s scope.                                                                                                              

Conclusion

In conclusion, HR plays a vital role in shaping employee mental health by implementing programs and fostering a workplace culture that prioritizes well-being. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), such as the hybrid model used by Caterpillar, are a prime example of how HR can support employees through both onsite and offsite counselling services. By addressing personal challenges that affect work performance, EAPs help employees overcome issues like stress, burnout, and anxiety, which can otherwise hinder productivity and engagement. These programs not only support employees’ mental health but also contribute to a healthier, more productive workforce.  However, the effectiveness of EAPs and other mental health initiatives relies heavily on the environment in which they are delivered. Creating a psychologically safe workplace is crucial to ensure that employees feel comfortable accessing these services. Prioritizing mental health is not just a benefit for employees; it’s a key factor in building a resilient, engaged, and high-performing workforce.

About the Author 

Semra Delić is 26 years old with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and in currently pursuing Master’s degree in Business Psychology at the Media University in Frankfurt am Main. Her research interests are related to emotional well – being and mental health. Her business article describes how HR practices influence mental health at work. 

References

1. Herrman, H., Saxena, S., & Moodie, R. (2004). Promoting mental health: concepts, emerging evidence, practice [Dataset]. In PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e538802013009

2. Maslach, C, & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 2, 99-113.

3. Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44,350–383.

4. Pearsall, M. J., & Ellis, A. P. J. (2011). Thick as thieves: The effects of ethical orientation and psychological safety on unethical team behaviour. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96,401–411.

5. Attridge, M. (2009). Employee Assistance Programs: A Research‐Based Primer. International handbook of work and health psychology, 383-407.

6. Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development:: A review in context. The leadership quarterly, 11(4), 581-613.

7. Workplace mental health – caterpillar. (2015). https://workplacementalhealth.org/casestudies/caterpillar

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By Mark Price

Employee happiness is a crucial driver of business success, enhancing productivity, loyalty, and commercial performance. Lord Mark Price, founder of WorkL, outlines six key factors—Reward & Recognition, Information Sharing, Empowerment, Wellbeing, Instilling Pride, and Job Satisfaction—that contribute to a positive workplace. Good management and leadership play vital roles in creating engagement and retention. Organisations that prioritise employee wellbeing benefit from reduced absenteeism, improved morale, and increased profitability. Investing in workplace happiness is not just ethical but a strategic advantage, ensuring long-term growth and success.

Businesses’ pursuit of profit often overshadows a fundamental truth, that employee happiness is a foundation of sustainable success. I have over 40 years as a leader in business and I’ve dedicated my working life to understanding the dynamics of workplace happiness. I’ve observed that prioritising employee wellbeing not only creates a positive work environment but also drives significant business outcomes.

The Business Case for Employee Happiness

A happy workforce is intrinsically linked to enhanced productivity, creativity, and loyalty. Employees who feel valued and engaged are more likely to contribute discretionary effort, leading to improved customer satisfaction and, ultimately, commercial success. Equally, neglecting employee wellbeing can result in increased absenteeism, high Flight Risk, and poor performance. Research supports this, indicating that organisations with high employee engagement outperform their competitors in earnings and growth.

My Six Steps to Workplace Happiness outlines the key areas that and employers need to focus on, to create a happier employee and workplace;

• Reward and Recognition – Every member of an organisation should benefit from its success. A fair salary is essential—no amount of praise can compensate for underpayment. Your compensation structure should meet expectations and motivate employees to go above and beyond.
• Information Sharing – Withholding information can make employees feel undervalued and disconnected from the business. For a team to perform at its best, transparency is essential. Employees at all levels should have a clear understanding of the business, its strategy, performance, customers, and competitors.
• Empowerment – Empowering employees means involving them in decision-making, valuing their ideas, and integrating their feedback into the company’s strategies. Everyone brings unique experiences and perspectives to the table, and only by considering all views can a team achieve the best possible outcome. While individuals may not be perfect, together, the team can be.
• Wellbeing – Employee wellbeing encompasses physical, emotional, and financial health. Addressing all three areas leads to improved engagement and productivity. A positive workplace culture can reduce absenteeism, as engaged employees tend to be healthier and more committed.
• Instilling Pride – Employees who take pride in their work and workplace naturally become advocates, sharing their positive experiences with colleagues, potential hires, customers, and the community. Their pride will be evident when they talk about where they work. Building this sense of pride goes beyond motivational talks or performance reviews—it’s about cultivating an environment where employees truly enjoy and take pride in their roles.
• Job Satisfaction – A range of factors influence job satisfaction, but two stand out; opportunities for personal growth and the quality of the employee-manager relationship. Employees are an organisation’s greatest asset, and high engagement is essential for success. Research shows that respectful treatment and trust between employees and leadership are key drivers of satisfaction. Poor relationships with managers are often the top reason employees leave, regardless of the company’s brand strength.  

To harness the benefits of employee happiness, organisations can implement several strategies:

• Develop Comprehensive Wellbeing Programmes: Initiatives that support mental, physical, and financial health demonstrate a genuine commitment to employee welfare.
• Create Open Communication: Regular updates, feedback channels, and forums for discussion ensure employees feel heard and valued.
• Provide Career Development Opportunities: Training, mentorship, and clear career progression paths encourage continuous development and job satisfaction.
• Recognise and Reward Contributions: Implementing systems that acknowledge both individual and team achievements reinforces a culture of appreciation.

The Importance of Good Management 

Good management is essential for fostering employee happiness in the workplace. Effective leaders create a positive work environment by offering clear communication, support, and recognition. When employees feel valued and empowered, their engagement and productivity increase. Good managers also promote work-life balance, provide opportunities for growth, and address concerns proactively, reducing stress and burnout. By creating trust, transparency, and inclusivity, they build strong team morale and a culture of wellbeing. Ultimately, businesses that invest in skilled management benefit from higher retention rates, improved performance, and a more motivated workforce, leading to long-term success. 

The Role of Leadership in Promoting Happiness

Leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping workplace culture. Leaders who show empathy, transparency, and inclusivity set the tone for the entire organisation. By prioritising their team’s wellbeing, leaders not only enhance confidence but also drive the company toward greater success.

Investing in employee happiness is not merely a benevolent act; it’s a strategic business decision. Organisations that recognise and act upon this understanding are better positioned to thrive. By embedding wellbeing into the core of business strategies, companies can unlock unparalleled levels of engagement, innovation, and profitability.

About the Author

Mark Price is former Managing Director of Waitrose and former Deputy Chair of the John Lewis Partnership. He is founder of WorkL for Business and WorkL, a digital platform designed to measure track and improve individuals’ workplace happiness. He is author of Happy Economics: Why The Happiest Workplaces Are The Most Successful.

The post The Happiness Payoff: How Employee Wellbeing Drives Business Success appeared first on The European Business Review.

By Dr. Serena H. Huang

Demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and wellbeing initiatives is crucial for securing executive buy-in and funding. This article provides a three-step framework for calculating ROI, including identifying the specific metric to improve, quantifying the impact of the change, and calculating the net return on investment. By aligning initiatives with financial outcomes and running DEI and wellbeing initiatives as a strategic business function, leaders can effectively make the case for these initiatives and drive business success. 

“I need to show a positive ROI on this program, can you help me?”  

Every year around budget planning time, I’d receive this request from department heads and HR leaders who were under pressure to demonstrate the financial impact of their initiatives.  

After years of responding to these requests, I’ve distilled my approach into a repeatable, three-step framework that guides F100 companies in quantifying the ROI of their programs. This framework has been battle-tested to provide a clear, data-driven narrative that showcases the value of their programs.  

The first step is to determine the specific metric that the program intends to improve. This could range from employee retention rates to productivity levels to promotion rates.  

Once the metric is identified, the next step is to quantify the impact of the change in that metric post-program implementation. This involves collecting data before and after the program’s launch, analyzing trends, and isolating the program’s effect from other variables.  

The goal is to present a clear story that demonstrates how the program impacted the metric of choice. Sometimes, there are too many other factors that can contribute to metrics like retention, and organizations choose to demonstrate impact with post-program surveys instead. For instance, a global CPG company’s Speaker series, which provides employees with exposure to external knowledge and expertise, uses a post-event evaluation to assess behavior change through effectiveness and value. 

The final step is calculating the net return on investment. This is done by subtracting the cost of the program from the financial impact of the change in the identified metric. Let’s walk through an example for illustrative purposes. 

An Example: Women in Engineering Leadership Development Program 

Consider a Women in Engineering program designed to retain female engineers within the organization. The program aims to create a supportive community, provide mentorship opportunities for female engineers. The process begins with understanding current female engineer retention rates as a baseline. After the program is implemented, we monitor the retention rates over the next several months. 

Let’s assume the program costs $150,000. Post-program, we observe a 30% reduction in turnover among female engineers. If the average cost of replacing a female engineer is $100,000, and the department historically loses 30 female engineers per year, the annual turnover cost is $3,000,000. 

A 30% reduction in turnover translates to retaining 9 more female engineers (30% of 30), saving $900,000 annually (9 x $100,000). 

The net ROI calculation would be: 

• Financial Impact: $900,000 (cost savings from reduced turnover) 
• Program Cost: $150,000 
• Net ROI: $750,000 (500% return on investment) 

Aligning Initiatives with Financial Outcomes 

This illustrative example highlights a lesson I saw in the interviews I conducted for “The Inclusion Equation – Leveraging Data & AI for Organizational Diversity and Well-being”: the importance of aligning any initiatives with financial outcomes. Several leaders shared in our conversations that their CEO or CFO would simply not accept proposals without a clear ROI within 6–12 months. Quantifying ROI is not merely an exercise in number-crunching, it is also how these DEI and Wellbeing leaders are able to expand their teams and increase their impact. 

Running DEI and Well-being Initiatives as a Strategic Business Function 

One theme from my interviews with leading organizations was the importance of running DEI and wellbeing as a strategic business function, rather than a mere feel-good exercise or one-time public relations stunt. The top leaders who have seen the most significant impact consistently approach their work like the P&L owner. They set clear north stars for their functions, defining a measurement strategy so they know the progress over time. 

“ERGs are not just nice-to-have programs. We have hard data to show that ERG participation improves the career outcomes for individual employees and that drives overall business success,” said one of the leaders I interviewed, Lani Hall, Global Diversity and Inclusion Leader.  

Connecting with Tangible Business Metrics 

The traditional DEI and wellbeing measures, such as representation data and employee engagement scores, while important, do not tend to get the attention of the C-suite. The most effective leaders go beyond these measures and connect with tangible business metrics such as absenteeism and productivity. 

Thinking Beyond Existing Data Systems 

Another common theme among the leaders I interviewed was a willingness to think beyond the constraints of existing data systems and proactively collect new information or come up with creative solutions as a proxy to answer critical questions. I know firsthand what it’s like to stare at the HR database and wonder why some important data elements are missing. Rather than being limited by what is available in the systems, these leaders take a courageous and business-focused approach to identifying the data points that matter most and finding ethical ways to obtain them.  

Conclusion 

Demonstrating the ROI of DEI and wellbeing initiatives is crucial in securing executive buy-in and funding, especially in times of uncertainty. By following a three-step approach, aligning initiatives with financial outcomes, running DEI and wellbeing initiatives as a strategic business function, and thinking beyond existing HR data systems, leaders can effectively make the case for these initiatives and drive business success.

About the Author 

Dr. Serena H. Huang is revolutionizing how organizations approach talent, well-being, and DEI using data and AI. As a top AI keynote speaker and people analytics executive, she has led data analytics strategy at iconic brands like GE, Kraft Heinz, and PayPal. Through Data with Serena, she is helping companies worldwide reimagine work where well-being and profits coexist. Her latest book is The Inclusion Equation: Leveraging Data & AI For Organizational Diversity and Well-being. 

The post From Metrics to Money: How to Demonstrate the ROI of DEI and Wellbeing Initiatives  appeared first on The European Business Review.

As the year begins and we start to plan for 2024, many are setting resolutions, perhaps considering how they can prioritise health and wellness in the new year. Focusing on employee wellbeing is especially important in the finance sector, where  research demonstrates  that 31% of financial services and banking professionals are planning to leave the industry due to the intensity of the pressure.

This data should ring alarm bells for leaders in the finance sector. For workforces to keep up the pace of a rapidly evolving industry, organisations must ensure that their health and wellbeing offering is competitive, by including key tools such as learning and development, manager support, and digital coaching.

Shine the spotlight on de-stressing

It’s no secret that the finance sector is well known for tight deadlines, long working hours, and high demand. Whilst this has always been the case, employees have now begun to reconsider its impact, with 88% of employees now prioritising work-life balance, mental health and finding meaning in their role over salary. In response to this development, organisations should consider a more holistic approach to employee wellbeing, moving beyond the traditional “talk to HR” approach.

It’s not just HR’s responsibility to watch out for the way employees are feeling. Mental ill health can influence an organisation significantly, even impacting the bottom line. Indeed, according to data from the Mental Health Foundation, better mental health support in the workplace could save UK businesses up to £8 billion annually. There are strong motivations for highlighting the importance of wellbeing in the workplace for those at all levels of senior leadership, beyond the HR team.

Managers can pave the way for the rest of the organisation

When looking to develop a more holistic employee wellbeing programme, organisations can consider encouraging a culture of openness, especially between employees and managers. This is especially important when considering that 1 in 4 financial sector workers are not comfortable discussing mental health with their manager. Yet, when an issue is endemically affecting every part of a business’ day-to-day, like employee wellbeing, managers have a key role to play.

Managers must support their staff by ensuring that everyone is catered for when wellbeing initiatives are  implemented into the workplace. Flexibility and tolerance are key behaviours for a manager to display when doing so. By being flexible to each individual’s unique needs, and tolerant of changes in direction if things aren’t working for an individual, management will reap the rewards of a happy and engaged workforce. Aside from managers’ personal behaviours, offering staff the opportunity to have digital coaching, where they can work with one their  career with a coach to find strengths and development areas, means employees feel respected and focussed  and willing to give back to the organisation.

Building a strategy that puts wellbeing front-and-centre 

Wellbeing can’t just be a box-ticking exercise, it needs to be a conscious change to how and organisation operates. Building it into the very fabric of a company is key  in both retaining employees long term and securing a stellar reputation with job seekers. Inevitably, employees in the finance sector may experience  stressors that are unique to their  industry, but there are universal solutions  that businesses can offer across the board. Digital coaching, for example, is an effective way for employees to prioritise what is important to their career journey alongside an experienced coach, identify pain points, and work together to resolve any issues. This could include wellbeing, but can also encompass career progression, leadership, and more. This tool can sit alongside other disciplines, such as mentoring and  digital learning, to create a workplace environment in which people have unique support that meets their individual needs. 

With such a variety of tools and methodologies aiming to enhance employee wellbeing today, organisations can seamlessly integrate wellness into their culture. Wellbeing should be seen as an organisational priority, defined by principles of flexibility and tolerance. Managers should be willing to adapt to individuals’ needs, offering regular discussions about workload, mental heatlh, and responsibilities. They must also be open to shifting gears when something isn’t working, which can ultimately boost productivity and encourage progression. Whilst finance may be dominated by a strong work-hard, play-hard culture, there is always space for employee wellness, bolstered by effective support from employers.

About the Author

Sarah Henson is a Senior Behavioural Scientist at CoachHub who has a passion for problem solving and making a difference. She is a people development leader with experience across a range of disciplines, including coaching and organisational development. Prior to CoachHub, she was Senior Learning & Development Manager at De Beers Group.

The post The Financial Sector’s Guide to Employee Wellbeing appeared first on The European Business Review.

Maintaining a positive company culture should be among your company’s priorities. When you make genuine efforts to establish the best possible environment for workers, the payoffs for everyone involved can be significant. One key area of focus should be to foster a culture of care.

This involves putting protocols in place to demonstrate you’re prioritizing your workers’ health. A culture that shows genuine care for employees has a range of advantages. Obviously, a healthier workforce tends to be more productive with less absenteeism. But also, one study found that organizations with health programs have lower rates of turnover than those without.  

So, how can you effectively prioritize employee well-being? Let’s explore some solid approaches.

Provide Impactful Benefits

Benefits have become a focus for employees as of late. Certainly, amidst the challenges of the Great Resignation, it’s vital to show your workers that you value them. One of the ways you can do this is by providing them with benefits that demonstrate your care for their well-being. Not to mention that they are a great investment in reducing absenteeism and productivity disruptions.

Many of the best benefits you can offer workers today have direct and indirect positive impacts on wellness. 

Some to consider include: 

• • Access to comprehensive health insurance: This means workers have the resources to address illnesses and injuries. This should include coverage for both physical ailments and mental health challenges. 
  • Flexible paid time off (PTO): This gives your staff the freedom to rest and achieve a healthy work-life balance. PTO is a vital resource for workers’ mental and physical wellness while also bolstering workplace productivity
  • Flexible schedules: Many workers find juggling personal and work duties to be stressful. This tends to be worse when workplace schedules are so rigid that workers are forced to make decisions between getting paid and taking care of personal needs. Flexible schedules can relieve a little of the pressure here, which in turn may reduce the negative mental and physical impact.
• Gym memberships: Exercise is a key part of maintaining physical and mental health. By offering access to gym memberships, you’re removing financial barriers to your workforce keeping fit.

Remember, though, that each workforce has varying needs. Take the time to regularly reach out to your staff to get an understanding of how effective they feel these benefits are. The closer you can get to meeting your workers’ wellness needs, the more likely your package is to bolster a culture of care.

Adjust the Working Environment

Your workers have to spend several hours every day within the workspace. Therefore, as part of your culture of care, your company has a duty to ensure this space is optimized for wellness. This should certainly begin with regular assessments to establish that there are no physical hazards. However, you can go further with steps that include:

• Calming surroundings: The design of the office space can have an impact on workers’ mental wellness. It’s worth investing in surroundings that induce a sense of calm. Utilize earth tones in furniture colors and wall decorations. If you’re in a city, adopt sound-reduction tools that prevent outside noise from entering the office. Indeed, providing a dedicated quiet space for decompressing can be valuable, too. 

• Air filtration and purification: Poor air quality can trigger allergies, cause irritation, and even contribute to long-term health issues. You can combat this by investing in good ventilation systems and even high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. 
• Remote and hybrid working options: In some instances, the office may not be the most healthy environment for all workers to operate in. Therefore, you could consider introducing remote or hybrid working options. This enables your employees to work from a space that they feel is conducive to their wellness. Not to mention it supports a good work-life balance.

Remember, too, that workers may need individual environmental adjustments to boost their wellness. Make it clear that you’re open to taking requests for reasonable changes. This may be orthopedic furniture or blue light filters for screens. Importantly, make certain these options are available for remote workers as well as those in the office.

Offer Practical Resources

Maintaining wellness tends to be a little easier when the steps are convenient and easy to manage. Therefore, one route to fostering a culture of care is to offer practical wellness resources to your employees. This isn’t about taking responsibility for their wellness on their behalf. Rather, it’s about implementing a few practical tools that make managing health simpler.

Food

Traditionally, the food in workplaces isn’t exactly healthy. Celebrations tend to involve cake. Managers may reward workers with the occasional pizza. Even the lunch room tends to be populated by vending machines that have junk foods and drinks. Instead, aim to provide only good quality items. This could include foods that are known to boost immunity. Blueberries are a good source of vitamin C and yogurt can help balance gut health. For sweet treats, dark chocolate contains magnesium and iron, which supports a strong immune system.

Telehealth

The health benefits you provide can help the affordability of quality care. However, heading off to a doctor isn’t always practical. Staff may have to try and squeeze appointments between work and family duties. Therefore, offering workers access to telehealth doctor’s appointments — including therapists — can be a great tool. These remote sessions mean staff can get timely medical attention that disrupts neither their personal schedule nor workplace productivity. Wherever possible, offer staff a private room in which they can attend these appointments if they would like to.

On-Site Risk Assessments

Early intervention is vital to minimize negative health outcomes. However, if your staff have busy schedules, they may not always be able to make time for yearly checkups and assessments. Therefore, you could work with local health providers to offer your staff regular on-site risk assessments. These involve medical professionals asking lifestyle and wellness-related questions of staff and performing a few examinations. These professionals then provide your workers with advice related to the health risks they face and any current symptoms they should seek further testing or treatment for.

Focus on Education

Often, the best health resources you can give your staff are those that empower them to help themselves. This isn’t just about benefits or access to healthy food. Reliable and actionable information is important too. As a result, part of your efforts to foster a culture of care should be to provide health education tools.

These could include:

• Guest speakers: Collaborate with local public health organizations to arrange talks on key areas of physical and mental health. Don’t make attendance mandatory, but providing these optional sessions can be useful.

• Health literature: Gather reliable literature — such as leaflets and posters — that provide simple guidance on wellness. This could include advice on seasonal issues, such as avoiding colds and the flu in winter. Place these in accessible areas, such as the lunch room or other communal spaces.
• Links to videos: Videos can be a great medium to share health education. Curate a selection of these and place links to them on the company intranet or shared cloud platform. This enables workers to view them at their leisure.

Above all else, remember that the credibility of your health education resources is essential. Ensure all your efforts are driven by reliable experts in their fields. Commit to researching their backgrounds so that your workers’ health isn’t negatively affected by misinformation and biases.

Conclusion

Fostering a culture of care requires some focus and investment, but it has positive outcomes for everyone involved. Providing a solid range of benefits, creating a healthier workplace, and offering both practical resources and education are good starting places. However, it’s also vital to meaningfully involve your workforce in supporting their wellness. They are likely to know where the prevalent challenges are and offer insights into what your health programs are missing. Importantly, collaborating with workers demonstrates that you not only care about their wellness but also their perspectives on the matter. This can bolster the relationships between your workers and your business in the years to come.

About the Author

Indiana Lee is a writer, reader, and jigsaw puzzle enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest. An expert on business operations, leadership, marketing, and lifestyle.

The post Fostering a Culture of Care: Strategies for Business Leaders to Prioritize Employee Well-Being appeared first on The European Business Review.

Dorthe Jensen, VP, Global Marketing at EPOS talks about navigating the hybrid working landscape and how businesses can use technology and design to empower today’s workers wherever they are located.

Apple’s Tim Cook recently summed up the benefits of the post-pandemic workplace: “hybrid work will allow us to achieve the best of both worlds, the focus and collaboration of the office, and the flexibility and autonomy of remote work”. 

Ongoing global support for the hybrid model can be chalked up to the fact that it offers important benefits for workers and businesses alike. Employees cite improved work-life balance, greater control over their schedules and less stress as primary benefits. This is because, at home, people can manage noise levels, lighting, temperature, and privacy, and tailor their environment to match comfort and productivity. But at the same time, office spaces remain a crucial hub for creativity, collaboration, and culture. 

Navigating this dual landscape requires a delicate balance — one that provides the technology to empower productive remote working, boosted by office spaces that foster teamwork and bonding while providing quiet spaces for those that need to focus.

Office environments which work for everyone

With over 40% of UK organizations claiming that their companies have shifted to a hybrid model, businesses must make sure that office spaces are enticing to encourage staff to travel in and collaborate as a team. This is already having an impact on the way offices are set up.

Many organizations are already waving goodbye to assigned desks in favor of team pods and swapping solitary personal offices for open-plan spaces. Knowingly or not, businesses that take this approach are enforcing MIT professor Thomas Allen’s theory of proximity. This states that most collaboration happens within an 8m radius. Therefore, by physically moving people closer together, organizations are more likely to see staff working together and sharing experiences and ideas. 

While collaboration via proximity is a powerful tool, the downside is that employees can find focused work in the office more demanding due to increased distractions. Background noise can seriously impact productivity leaving workers struggling to interpret and understand the entirety of what’s being discussed in meetings, impacting the absorption and retention of key information. 

However, research suggests that by reducing the effort required in listening, more cognitive resources are freed for speech processing and encoding information into long-term memory, improving recall performance by 10%. What’s more, audio devices designed based on how the brain perceives sound can reduce the cognitive effort to interpret information, resulting in 35% reduced listening fatigue, in turn improving productivity. Investing in smart audio devices is an easy and cost-effective way to reduce staff frustration over noise levels and enhance concentration and productivity when in-office staff need to focus.

Equitable experiences for home and office workers

Another challenge in the hybrid workplace is enabling seamless communication and collaboration between in-person and remote teams. We have all experienced video calls where the sound keeps cutting out or where it is challenges for virtual participants to engage in a conversation that is dominated by the people who are together in a physical space. This is why modern businesses need to create an equitable workplace – one that provides the same opportunities – and visibility – for remote and on-site employees. 

This means investing in collaboration and conferencing solutions that create a unified experience, empowering employees to engage and contribute effortlessly, regardless of their location. A key feature to look out for is exceptional voice pickup – this means that everyone in a meeting can be heard clearly, ensuring that all viewpoints are considered, and nobody gets left out. 

However, technology alone does not have all the answers. Meeting etiquette must also evolve to ensure that virtual participants are being treated in the same way as those physically present – with opportunities to contribute, present and chime in with feedback. This may mean an adjustment in behaviors – for example a regular check in to ensure that virtual participants have had the opportunity to speak. But this behavior change is a small price to pay given the value that true collaboration can bring to a business.

Championing well-being in the Hybrid age 

So, you’ve got your new office space and you’ve figured out the tech. But it doesn’t stop there. To maximize employees’ full potential and boost performance, hybrid frontrunners are also championing employee wellbeing. These frontrunner organizations recognize that employees in 2023 and beyond are looking for more. 

According to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trends Index, 53% of employees are more likely to prioritize health and wellbeing over work. A further 47% are more likely to put family and their personal lives first. Although offering hybrid work structure already provides an opportunity to improve employees’ lifestyles, many organizations are looking to differentiate their offering by thinking about how they can prioritize employee wellbeing to ensure employees feel positive about their employment status. 

Research from the Foresight Factory suggests that as the employee and employer’s evaluation of purpose and work continues to evolve, nice-to-have wellbeing initiatives today will become business-critical in the next three to five years. This will include initiatives like subsidized counselling services and dedicated time for mental and physical wellbeing along with wearables that monitor stress and burnout.

Figuring out what suits your organization 

Business leaders need to ask what well-being means to different people. Are yoga classes as a wellness perk helpful in addition to structural changes such as pay equity or parental leave? Will time for wellbeing initiatives get used, or would mandatory work-from-home and mental health days be better? 

Similarly, business leaders could benefit from empowering employees by offering them a say in their working environment – everything from opting for a standing desk at home to choosing snacks for the office kitchen – as well as more substantial matters like the collaboration solutions an organization invests in.

For hybrid working to be successful, a balance of space will need to be calibrated for each organization and the wide range of individuals within it. What works successfully for one company or team may not translate to another, so the key is to spend time understanding the needs of your individual workforce and tailoring plans to its needs.

About the Author

Dorthe Krogh Jensen is VP, Global Marketing at EPOS, and part of senior management. She has 18+ years of experience as a commercial marketer, spanning marketing agencies to global corporations. She’s passionate about business transformation, brand positioning, and customer behavior, excelling at transforming strategy into execution to build enduring brands and grow tomorrow’s sales.

The post Collaboration, Wellbeing, and Technology Solutions are at the Core of the Hybrid Office appeared first on The European Business Review.

The debate around the ‘Great Resignation’ continues to rumble on as employers and staff adjust to life after the pandemic. And it’s clear that being able to retain your best talent – while being able to attract new recruits – is still something that preoccupies business leaders.

But when it comes to solving this talent pool conundrum, simply increasing salaries isn’t enough. Our recent Healthy People, Healthy Planet survey found that while 84% of workers said they were satisfied with their jobs, 92% said they had considered throwing in the towel and doing something else.

Or to put it another way, while employees seem happy with what they’re doing, they also have an appetite for something else, for something more meaningful from their working life. Our research found that pay rises and perks only go so far in satiating that craving. When we dug deeper, we found that 91% of employees told us they cared about their mental wellbeing and physical health; 85% told us they wanted to work for a company that cares about its impact on the environment; while 88% said they wanted to work for a company with a purpose beyond profit.

Of course, employers could simply ignore this shift and continue with traditional approaches. But as a new progressive generation joins the workforce, this is unlikely to work long-term.

Which is why forward-thinking employers are increasingly listening to staff and addressing these issues, creating an environment that is better placed to maintain a healthy, motivated, and fully staffed workforce.

By tapping into issues such as personal wellbeing, the environment, and societal change for good, employees can connect with each other – and their employer – at a much deeper and fulfilling level, helping to drive job satisfaction, employee engagement and staff retention.

To make this happen, employers need to consider four key things. 

1. Define the company’s wellbeing beyond the balance sheet

For companies to succeed in today’s world they need to account for more than just their profit and losses (P&L). Organisations need to listen to their staff and develop a corporate soul. After all, people who care about the environment or social issues don’t stop caring when they come to work. It’s part of their DNA. 

So, if businesses want to connect with their staff to create a bond, it makes sense to embrace environmental and social responsibility. And not as an afterthought, siloed annual activity or bolt-on. It needs to be led by the C-suite and supported by HR and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) teams, with employees involved at every stage. 

2. Think beyond typical benefits 

Gym memberships, bring-your-pet-to-work days, and free smoothies are all used as incentives to attract and retain staff. And while the lure of free concert tickets or a weekend glamping trip with colleagues may work for some, for many, these simply lack the substance that people are demanding.  

Instead, in-work benefits could involve giving staff time off to work on projects they care about. Volunteering at a food bank, repairing a children’s playground, helping to remove plastic from beaches or using professional skills to help improve literacy or computer skills for those who have been out of work for a long time – these all help to define who we are as individuals.

Whether this is done collectively or as a team project, the sense of achievement – coupled with the good that comes from it – far outweighs any run-of-the-mill benefit.     

3. Transforming the workplace to create a sense of belonging 

As in any relationship, for organisations to successfully engage with employees, meaningful conversations are a must. After all, when it comes to the environment or progressive issues, employees know the difference between employers that are fully engaged – and those that are merely paying lip service. That’s why it’s important to ask staff about the issues that are important to them.

According to our research, if the issue matters to staff, then employers will have no problem recruiting volunteers to run, manage and organise projects. And by harnessing this enthusiasm, employers are empowering staff to take responsibility for issues that mean something. Again, these aren’t just bolt-on activities that can be switched on and off. They become embedded into the rhythm of the organisation helping to cement staff loyalty and contentedness. 

4. Measuring and communicating achievements

The good news is that such schemes can dovetail with an organisation’s own ESG policies underscoring its own progressive ambitions. By delivering measurable evidence of a company’s positive impact on the planet for investors, regulators, and stakeholders, it can further help drive measurable employee engagement. 

As part of that, it’s important to communicate and share your involvement and success. After all, employees don’t want these projects to be isolated or kept under wraps. They want them talked about and discussed both internally and externally. Why? Because these projects help define their employer as a company that cares about the world and its people.   

Purpose matters

By rethinking what it means to run – and work for – an organisation, there is a real opportunity to embrace a new and long-lasting approach to working relationships. By connecting wellbeing, social responsibility and sustainability through an app and measuring its impact on the world, organisations have the opportunity to create a happier, healthier, and more engaged workforce. By recognising the importance of placing employees at the centre of an organisation, not only does this benefit the business, but society and the planet.

The post Why Now is The Time to Bring Together Wellbeing and The Environment to Help Halt The ‘Great Resignation’ appeared first on The European Business Review.

Workplaces have changed significantly in recent years, with the introduction of hybrid and remote working and increasing digitisation shifting the way we think about our careers. These are strategic changes, impacting the way we work as much as what we produce. As the dust is settling around this transformation, and we begin to accept that this is our reality now, it is time that organisations start considering their cultural impact, especially when it comes to wellbeing.

Learn the lesson of concentrating on employee wellbeing

In early 2021, almost half of all employees reported feeling at least somewhat burned out at work, with the true figure likely to be much higher. This trend is a challenge which has long plagued managers but has also worsened significantly in the past two years. There are several potential explanations for this, such as the development of an ‘always-on’ work culture caused by widespread working from home, or a lack of opportunities to blow off steam at the end of the day when under quarantine restrictions. Whatever the reasoning, we must look at how businesses responded in detail.

Innovative strategies were born out of this difficult period, with businesses forced to move beyond the traditional ‘talk to HR’ approach to supporting staff. Instead of being reactive, organisations had to start being much more proactive, nipping potential burnout and mental health concerns in the bud before they bubbled to the surface. Strategies varied from business to business but included ideas such as ‘walking meetings’ whereby the team take calls away from their desk and get out into the fresh air, and digital team-building activities to replace team away days. These answers to a challenging period may have been born out of necessity but need to become part of regular working life – we can all learn from them going forward.

How can leaders support their staff with their wellbeing?

Once upon a time, managers may have seen employee wellbeing as a subject reserved for the HR team. This is no longer the case. When an issue is endemically affecting every part of a business’ day-to-day, like employee wellbeing, it is everyone’s problem, whether a line manager, director or individual employee.

Inevitably, this is dependent on your business, your people, and your industry. Employees who work in a retail outlet will have stressors that are completely different to employees who work in a law office, but there are common services that businesses can offer across the board. There are a myriad of external platforms that effectively utilise digital technologies to both streamline and improve employee access to wellbeing support. Digital coaching, for example, is an effective way for employees to focus on their career journey alongside an experienced coach, identify pain points, and work together to resolve any issues. This tool can sit alongside other disciplines, such as mentoring and e-learning for example, to create a workplace environment in which people have unique support that meets their individual needs.

Embedding wellbeing into your business’ culture

Implementing wellbeing tools and strategies is, however, only the first step in a much longer journey of organisational change. To be really effective, wellbeing needs to be an integral part of your company culture, wherein it is a constant consideration in the background of daily activities, rather than separated initiatives that are launched at different times. Businesses will be at different stages in the journey of culture change, but, even if you are only in the early phases of this integration, it is never too late.

Cultural shift is in this instance all about making wellbeing a priority, defined by two principles: flexibility and tolerance. Managers must be flexible to the needs of individuals, with regular discussions about workload, mental health, and personal responsibilities. They must also display tolerance around these things, being ready to shift gears when things aren’t working for the individual. This contributes to an overall calmer working environment, which is also a more productive one, as staff appreciate being cared for and will give more back as a result. When businesses build an organisational culture that hinges around employee wellbeing it’s not only employees that benefit, but the business’ productivity and prosperity will see a boost too.

About the Author

Gill Tanner, Senior Behavioural Scientist at CoachHub, is an accomplished HR Specialist and Coach who has been influential in driving behavioural and cultural change, enhancing performance, and maximising strategic partnerships. She has worked as a Chartered FCIPD HR Director in various pharmaceutical companies throughout her career, allowing her to build a broad skill set including HR strategy planning, people and organisational development, and stakeholder and employee engagement. After pursuing an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School, she transitioned to her current research-driven role at CoachHub.

The post Building a Positive Organisational Culture Centered Around Employee Wellbeing appeared first on The European Business Review.

1. Keep Track of Pay

What do employees come to work for? Many people would answer money. Ergo, giving an employee a pleasant work experience relies on efficient payment. Unfortunately, this is an arduous task for some businesses, particularly new ones. Paying employees probably takes up a large percentage of your company’s money. It’s also easy to view it as less important than paying for the creation of your services. For new and struggling businesses, this issue tends to result in delayed and reduced payment, which may also result in hurting workers. No matter what your situation is, avoiding this is paramount to helping your employees. You can start by ensuring that detailed records are kept on both sides. You might also consider using tools like a paystub generator that can help with this process.

2. Give Praise

It’s hard to complete a task without positive feedback once in a while. Staff members are given criticism on a regular basis, but praise can often be neglected. In order to give your employees the care each one deserves, it’s important to acknowledge good work. Be sure to stay professional so that the comment is taken seriously. Deciding on a whim to praise everyone isn’t going to win over skeptics. When you see something done right, simply acknowledge it. Don’t go overboard as it might seem false or condescending.

3. Provide Technology

Wasting your time and energy isn’t a pleasant feeling. Regrettably, numerous workers waste hours completing tasks that a machine could do. This isn’t to say that you should replace your employees with machines. Instead, give your staff members assistance through technology. Doing this gives workers a greater purpose and more time. The hours that used to be spent analyzing data can go to more productive pursuits. So, while buying software can be fairly expensive, it’s an effective long-term investment for your entire business.

4. Encourage Communication

A policy of silence in the workplace is never a good sign. If you want a healthy work environment, it’s vital that you encourage communication. Try to maintain an open-door policy. This allows workers to visit you and talk whenever possible. You can also make sure that everyone in the office is able to speak with one another. It can be stressful for workers if a needed individual is hard to find. Also, if a conflict occurs, have it dealt with immediately. Don’t let those feelings fester and corrode the workplace. Lastly, it might be helpful to start social media groups for your workers. Doing so may create friendships and easier methods of communication.

5. Arrange Activities

Doing the same tasks over and over is monotonous, to say the least. Employees can easily become bored and unstimulated, especially if your workplace is in an office setting. One way to combat this is by planning activities. You could try taking everyone out for lunch. If your employees sit all day, plan a trip to a park. You can even host a yoga class or a meditation group. These events have the potential to excite workers. The day becomes full of possibilities and innovative opportunities. It also provides the ability to relax and socialize with others.

You may not be running a daycare center, but your employees rely on you for a lot. You provide money, a place to inhabit and tasks to complete. These individuals also work to make your company better. Therefore, giving each one care and support is a proud duty for any boss to carry out. There are also companies offering workplace wellbeing services that have experts provide help in taking care of your employees’ wellbeing. Stay attentive and keep the golden rule in mind.

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