Here’s what the data says

When psychological safety is high, 74% of workers call their productivity high, 91% rate their performance as very good or outstanding, and 97% find pride in their work. When psychological safety is low, these shares drop to 43%, 69%, and 87% in the same respective categories. Manager relationships show a similar pattern. Workers who are satisfied with their manager and more likely to report high productivity (62% vs. 38%) and top-tier performance (84% vs. 59%). When psychological safety is low and manager relationships are weak, burnout markers such as low energy, difficulty focusing, and feeling ineffective become more common. People in those settings also report lower productivity. Older workers more often rate both performance and productivity as high. This is a descriptive pattern rather than a judgment about capability.

When asked what would help them produce better work, people name fundamentals rather than buzzwords. Some of these items include:

• More control over how I do my work (72%)
• More personal fulfillment from my work (72%)
• Better access to resources (72%)
• A stronger relationship with my direct manager (70%)
• Better psychological well-being (70%)
• Better physical wellbeing (68%)

In open-ended comments, workers add that leaders should set clear goals, allow flexibility, and stop micromanaging. People want autonomy and trust, along with support when they need it.

Where technology can help (and where it doesn’t)

Most employees say new technology helps them work more efficiently and accurately (74%) and lets them accomplish more than before (71%). Among employees who already use AI tools, many report a positive impact on productivity (76%), quality (74%), time management (74%), creativity (68%), job satisfaction (66%), and even mental health (59%).

Positive views of technology are more common when psychological safety and the manager relationship are strong. But, there are still cautions employees face. About 4 in 10 worry that AI or other technology could replace some duties. These worries pair with higher stress, weaker learning, and more micromanagement. Electronic monitoring is also linked with stress and micromanagement. These are all conditions that undermine focus and trust.

How can you apply this?

1. Build psychological safety: Make it normal to ask questions, name risks, and share mistakes without blame. Tie the feedback to learning and not judgment. The survey linked higher psychological safety with higher self-rated productivity and performance. If you create a place where people feel safe to speak up, you will also raise the odds that work quality will increase.

2. Get the manager basics right: Set clear and measurable goals with context when assigning tasks. Replace spot checking with regular one on ones that remove blockers. The report shows that stronger relationships with managers go with higher reported productivity and performance.

3. Increase autonomy and reduce micromanagement: Let people choose how they meet outcomes. When you need to step in, coach rather than trying to control. Survey respondents point to autonomy, clear expectations, and trust as direct boosters of productive work.

4. Close resource gaps fast: Missing tools and information drain momentum. Do quick audits with your team to find what is slow, broken, or missing. Access to the right resources is one of the top reasons workers say would lift their productivity.

5. Maintain energy, not just time: Watch for burnout signals such as low energy, difficulty focusing, and irritability. Act early and swap back to back meetings for focus blocks. The survey associates burnout indicators with lower productivity and links better well-being with company gains.

6. Adopt technology with training and guardrails: Map out real use cases with your team. Provide quick starts, simple examples, and a way to share wins. Many workers already say technology helps them work faster and better. Lean into that and pair adoption with upskilling so the benefits stick.

7. Avoid productivity theater: If you monitor activity, be clear about why and how. Check whether the practice is creating stress or eroding trust. If it is, focus, motivation, and retention will likely fall. The reports connects these dynamics to weaker outcomes.

Final Thought

You don’t need a grand program to promote productivity. You need a safer, clearer, and better resourced system where people have control over their work. That’s what the data in the survey shows. Psychological safety and strong manager relationships line up with higher self-rated productivity and performance, while autonomy, fulfillment, resources, and well-being are the levers people say would push them further.

Reference:

American Psychological Association. (2024). 2024 Work in America Survey: Psychological

Safety in the Changing Workplace. American Psychological Association.

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When we think about maintaining employee well-being at work through perks such as mindfulness training or meditation rooms, we tend to focus on the individual. It becomes the employee’s job to regulate their happiness, utilizing what is given. But something is missing in these conversations. 

A 2022 paper by Anna-Maria Mutrola and Neil Vallelly, published in Organization, suggests we have been looking at well-being through a narrow lens. They question: Who cares for wellbeing? Not in the “who loves it most” sense, but literally, who performs the work that enables workplace wellbeing? 

Their answer may surprise you, and it may change the way we think about creating happy workplaces altogether.

Wellness isn’t a solo project

Let’s start from the beginning. Over the past decade, “corporate wellness” has become a trending topic in the industry. Companies are investing more than ever in the wellness of their employees. And that’s a great thing, we want initiatives that make people feel valued and supported at work. But what happens when the responsibility for well-being starts to feel a little bit like just another performance metric? 

Murtola and Vallelly point out that most wellness programs today are deeply individualised. You, the employee, are in charge of your own stress levels. It becomes your job to stay resilient, be mindful, eat right, and show up every day and perform to the best of your abilities. 

At first, it can seem somewhat empowering or comforting that the company supports your own wellness journey. However, after some time, it can feel a bit alienating. There are struggles employees have to face that are outside of their control. This can include work deadlines, poor management, or family care responsibilities. If you are not feeling well at work, the blame tends to shift to you. 

The hidden costs of individual responsibility

Wellness initiatives are mostly built on good intentions. But when they treat well-being as a private problem, that can actually increase pressure. If you feel overwhelmed? You need more mindfulness. Feeling exhausted? You should try breathing exercises.

These responses focus on the symptoms, not the causes. They look over deeper systemic issues, such as understaffing, gendered expectations around care work, or the rising cost of living. Corporate wellness can be used as a way to shift responsibility from the employer to the individual.

But what if the real problem isn’t just that we individualise well-being? What if we are ignoring the bigger picture?

The social side of well-being

Employee well-being doesn’t begin at the office. It happens long before and far beyond the workplace. Murtola and Vallelly use social reproduction theory to explain this. The idea is simple: people need support systems in order to live and work well. That implies food on the table, care for their kids and parents, clean homes, transport to work, healthcare, emotional support, and so on. 

And guess what? Someone is doing all that work. 

Someone cleaned the office before you arrived. Someone is looking after your children so you could attend that early meeting. Someone cooked the meal you ate for lunch, and cleaned the cafeteria after you. These essential workers form the foundation for workplace well-being. Despite that, they are rarely discussed in conversations about wellness.

Are Essential Workers Expendable?

The COVID-19 pandemic helped make this invisible work visible. The people whose jobs are often overlooked, but whose contributions are quite literally life-sustaining, became the hot topic. When everything went into lockdown, office workers were able to continue working at home through Zoom. Essential workers, on the other hand, had to continue showing up in person, often without proper protection, pay, or recognition. 

The authors extend that any recognition they did have was purely symbolic. These workers are still underpaid and undervalued. 

So here’s the uncomfortable truth: the well-being of one group (corporate employees) often depends on the labour and sacrifice of another (essential workers).

A broader definition of “happy workplaces”

Happy workplaces change the world, but we also have to be honest. A part of that means recognising that happy workplaces don’t exist in a vacuum. They are built on networks of support, care, and fairness. That’s why the question “Who cares for wellbeing?” matters so much. It asks us to think beyond perks and personal responsibility. Systems of race, gender, class, and migration all shape who gets to be well and who gets left out. Happiness focuses on being supported in every aspect of your life, not just at the desk.

So what can organisations do?

If we accept Murtola and Vallelly’s argument that well-being is socially produced, what does that mean for companies aiming to create genuinely happy workplaces? 

The article urges organisations to move beyond narrow, individualised wellness models and acknowledge the broader ecosystems of labour and care that support employee well-being. Here are five actions companies can take, inference from the paper’s insights: 

1. Recognise Invisible labour 

Start acknowledging the people behind the scenes. Cleaners, security staff, food service workers, and delivery drivers all contribute to the foundation of the workplace’s well-being. 

2. Pay attention to structural inequality 

Assess whether systemic inequalities are playing out in your own environment. Are some groups taking on more unpaid emotional labour or logistical care work? Are support roles under-resourced or staffed disproportionately by marginalized workers? 

3. Go beyond the office 

Support your employees outside of work. Offering flexible scheduling for caregivers or providing child and elder care support are all actions that can improve well-being. A happy employee is someone who feels supported both in and out of work. 

4. Move from symbolic to material change 

Invest in people’s material needs, such as better wages, safer working conditions, or mental health services. Those in these support roles should receive proper funding and respect. 

5. Include essential workers in the conversation 

Bring essential workers into your well-being planning. Understand what they need and act on their feedback. As the backbone of the company’s functionality, they deserve to take part in any well-being strategy adopted. 

Final thought

Murtola and Vallelly don’t reject wellness; they support it. But they want us to redefine it and stop people from thinking wellness is a personal achievement and start seeing it as a shared practice. A truly happy workplace uplifts its employees and the communities that sustain them. So, the next time you’re asked how your organisation supports well-being, start by asking: Who makes well-being possible here? Are we caring for them too?

Reference:

Murtola, A.-M., & Vallelly, N. (2023). Who cares for wellbeing? Corporate wellness, social reproduction and the essential worker. Organization (London, England), 30(3), 510–527. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084221131642
 

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To put things into a numerical perspective as to how bad things really are, 62% of employees are disengaged, and another 17% are actively unhappy and vocal about it, according to Gallup statistics. We lose $8.8 trillion each year in global productivity because of unhappiness at work. That’s 9% of the world’s GDP gone.  

But we don’t want to just talk about what is going wrong; we want to understand how happiness at work can be fixed in a way that benefits everyone. An Oxford research study found that happy workers are 13% more productive than unhappy employees. They tend to stay at the company longer, help their colleagues more, and bring better energy to the workplace. These employees have real reasons to care about what they are doing. McKinsey and the World Economic Forum estimate that improving employee health and well-being could unlock $11.7 trillion in global economic value. 

An article from Harvard Business Review in 2023 by Jennifer Moss outlines 3 steps to optimize happiness in organisations.  

1. Availability of flexibility 

Post-pandemic, the corporate industry changed entirely. Many people got used to working from home, giving them more time, more control, and less stress. Now, some companies are trying to revert to full in-person working conditions. But people do not want to commute for hours just to sit at a desk they already have at home. They experienced managing work from home, and they know they can do it. When people talk about flexibility and freedom over how they work, they aren’t just referring to working remotely. They also want various start and end times or different projects that have meaning to the company.  

A global survey by Cisco found that 82% of employees said working wherever they want to makes them happier. Gallup found that employees are most engaged when they work remotely 60% to 80% of the time. The ILO reported that flexibility, whether it is about location or hours, directly improves work-life balance and productivity. All these statistics found in a variety of studies back up our claim.  

If we narrow it down even more, we can see that flexibility isn’t distributed equally. During the pandemic, women were more likely to work from home. Even now, 41% of women are remote, whereas only 28% of men are. This may seem like progress, but it actually can backfire. If in-person employees start getting the promotions and all the visibility, we could risk pushing women into lower-paid and lower-growth roles. 

Adam Grant, a psychologist who studies working conditions, says that it is not just about where we work, but also about when, how much, and how. Being able to take a later or earlier lunch break or pick your own start time is what flexibility should include. Having this opportunity for both men and women equally would be the baseline for building a workplace where people can function and perform well. 

2. Belongingness matters

Despite co-workers interacting with one another every day, only 3 in 10 employees say they have a best friend at work. This number matters because people with stronger social connections are more likely to recommend the company to others, stay with the organisation, and feel satisfied with their workplace.  

Culture plays a big role in these results. Belonging isn’t felt from forced fun or team-building activities without context. It requires trust, inclusion, and recognition of all employees at an organisation. Thoughtful praise or gratitude alone can improve productivity. Even small interactions, such as checking in with someone about how they prefer to work, can build relational cadence. 

When employees feel safe enough to be honest, make mistakes, and be human, engagement tends to rise. Oftentimes, employees need their leaders to model this behaviour (leaving on time, admitting fault, taking real vacation) for them to feel comfortable doing the same. An example of companies offering benefits to support this is Airbnb, which offers a $2,000 annual travel stipend for employees to stay at any of their listings. While these are great perks, they are more effective because employees don’t feel burdened or ashamed about using them. We want people to restore connection and prevent burnout.  

3. Help people find a purpose 

Not everyone finds purpose in their work, which is completely okay. But when all there is to working is to earn a living, support your family, or save for the future, people feel as though their time isn’t spent on something meaningful. This then leads to drops in motivation, which will inevitably affect performance. This link between purpose and performance has been studied for decades. Raj Sisodia’s research on conscious capitalism found that companies driven by values and not just profit saw returns of 1,646% over 15 years. In contrast, the S&P 500 averaged just 157% over the same period. However, Sisodia urges that purpose should not be used to boost profits and that companies need to commit to values because they believe it is the right thing to do.  

There is also a strong connection between purpose and mental health. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 76% of workers report experiencing at least one mental health symptom. 84% of respondents claim their workplace conditions contributed to at least one mental health challenge, and 81% said they would consider leaving their job for one that supports mental health better. 

Hilton Hotel is one example of what this kind of culture looks like. When COVID-19 closed down most of their businesses, they didn’t just lay off their employees. They kept recruiters on staff to help employees find roles in other industries. They also donated one million hotel nights to healthcare workers who needed a place to quarantine. This displayed Hilton’s company values and how they treat their employees.  

Final thought

All of this is easier said than done. It requires time, commitment, and money from companies. But if you want to achieve better performance, you need to be willing to invest in the conditions that make it possible. Simply asking your team, “What would make your week easier?” or “Do you feel like you’re growing here?” can make a significant change. It won’t be fixed overnight, but the more an organisation listens, the clearer the path becomes. Happiness at work is the foundation for everything else that matters in business.  

Reference:

Gallup. (2025). State of the global workplace: 2025 report. Gallup, Inc.  https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx

Gallup. (2022, March 9). The increasing importance of a best friend at work.  https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/increasing-importance-best-friend-work.aspx

McKinsey Health Institute. (2023, October). Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve  

productivity and change lives. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives 

Moss, J. (2023, October 20). Creating a happier workplace is possible — and worth it. Harvard  

Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/10/creating-a-happier-workplace-is-possible-and-worth-it 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. (2022). The  

U.S. Surgeon General’s framework for workplace mental health and well-being. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/workplace-well-being/index.html 

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The World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Health Institute published a report that focuses on this message by explaining how improving workforce well-being could create between $3.7 trillion and $11.7 trillion in global value, or roughly 17% to 55% of average annual pay.

Now, this isn’t regarding employee perks or company missions. It’s about designing an office where people can be engaged and productive long-term.

These numbers are estimated from fewer people leaving jobs, fewer missed days, and better productivity at work, but the largest share comes from reducing presenteeism. This is the act of working but not at your best capabilities due to stress, illness, or other health issues.

Preventing presenteeism actually creates more value than cutting absenteeism and represents 54% to 77% of the total opportunity. There is also a macro effect. Healthier workforces could lift global GDP by 4% to 12%. High and middle-income economies each contribute about half of that total, and the number of workers who benefit is 2.5 billion in middle-income countries and 636 million in high-income economies.

Who is most at risk?

In a global survey of more than 30,000 employees across 30 countries, only 57% reported good overall health across mental, physical, social, and spiritual dimensions. Around 22% reported burnout symptoms. It also looks different depending on the industry. Human resources, education, and construction reported higher well-being. Accounting, retail, and media reported lower well-being and more burnout.

The gaps across groups are statistically consistent. Women reported more exhaustion than men, even when overall health scores were close. Employees a part of the LGBTQI+ community reported lower well-being than those who aren’t. Neurodivergent employees reported much lower scores than neurotypical employees.

Younger workers between the ages of 18 and 28 reported burnout at about three times the rate of workers of 60. Employees with unstable finances reported far worse outcomes than those who felt financially secure. Caregivers stated higher well-being on social and purpose measures, but also much higher burnout driven by exhaustion.

All of these cases are common profiles found in most companies and workplaces. When leading a team, you need to plan for these differences. One policy will not benefit everyone. Creating targeted fixes that match people’s needs is what will effectively improve productivity.

What effective programmes look like

Several companies in the report show how this can work. Novo Nordisk runs a global stress and mental health survey with validated questions. In 2023, about 14% of its 64,000 employees reported stress symptoms. Managers of high-stress teams receive support from organisational psychologists and targeted tools. Stronger interventions typically reduce the share of reported stress by 20% to 30% within one to two years.

On, a sportswear company, offered a programme with coaching sessions, a self-care library, and workshops. Roughly half of the employees enrolled. The company reports an annual return of 11.6 times the programme’s cost, or about $2.9 million a year. $1.3 million is from productivity gains from a 5% improvement in presenteeism-related loss, $1.1 million is from a 30% drop in voluntary attrition, and $500,000 is from reduced HR case-handling time.

Swiss Re launched a metabolic health pilot in the United Kingdom. Employees completed a risk survey and received plans on nutrition, sleep, movement, and stress. 40 people received one-on-one planning, and five completed a seven-day residential programme with a year of virtual follow-up.

These examples share the same pattern: use data to target action. They address both individual support and the structure of work. They track a handful of outcomes leaders already watch and stick with the programme long enough to see results instead of hopping between trends.

How to get started in your organisation

The report gives six simple steps to build your plan.

First, measure your starting point so you know what to fix and where the value sits. Track productivity with simple outcomes like tasks completed on time, sales per person, or service quality. Track absenteeism as days missed due to illness. Estimate presenteeism using short self-reports on how many health issues limited work that day. Track retention by looking at unwanted turnover and average tenure. Track attraction by watching application per opening and offer acceptance rates.

Second, choose a few initiatives that match your risks and strategy, not just a generic template.

Third, pilot these initiatives with a defined group and a clear time frame. Then, decide to scale, adjust, or stop.

Fourth, track three to five metrics that connect health to outputs and share results with managers and employees.

Fifth, make senior leaders accountable by tying outcomes to goals and reviews.

Lastly, embed health into how you run the organisation. This includes job design, scheduling, performance management, and leadership training.

If you manage people, you can make work healthier with small moves. Hold shorter, focused meetings and protect blocks for deep work. Set clear priorities and stop low-value tasks. Give teams more control over how they sequence work. Review roles to remove ambiguity. Check in on the workload, not just the results.

When you see warning signs from employees, ask what is getting in the way of good work and try to remove it. If you are an employee, ask for what you need to do your job well. That might include clearer priorities, shift swaps, referral to counselling, or even just a better chair. Explain how the change will improve your focus, quality, or reliability. Managers are more likely to say yes when the request is linked to an outcome.

Japan’s Stress Check Programme requires workplaces with more than 50 employees to offer an annual stress survey and provide physician consultations for high-stress workers. Chile introduced a mandatory workplace environment and mental health evaluation in 2024.

The EU expects employers to assess and prevent psychosocial risks as part of safety. OSHA raised U.S. penalties for health and safety violations to $15,624 per violation in 2023. Policy is moving in the same direction all over the world. Acting now will reduce compliance risk and avoid rushed fixes later.

Final thought

The case for action is straightforward. Healthier employees get more done, stay longer, and need less crisis management. Healthier teams adapt faster when roles or tools change. Healthier organisations avoid fines and reputational damage. Work will always involve pressure and deadlines.

The goal isn’t to completely remove all stress. It’s to remove unnecessary stress and support recovery so people can sustain their performance. No one had a perfect plan to begin with. After starting with a baseline and one targeted fix, prove it with data and keep going. Over time, these efforts will result in fewer sick days, steadier teams, better customer outcomes, and cleaner financials.

Healthy employees lead to healthy organisations. Build your decisions around that idea, and you will make better calls about policies and leadership.

Reference:

World Economic Forum. (2025, January). Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve

productivity and change lives (in collaboration with McKinsey Health Institute). World Economic Forum. https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives

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