As Workforce Well-being Dips, Leaders Ask: What Will It Take to Move the Needle? | Deloitte Insights

The article presents insights from Deloitte’s second Wellbeing at Work Survey. The survey involved 3,150 C-suite executives, managers, and employees across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Key findings include: 1) Many employees continue to struggle with low levels of wellbeing, experiencing exhaustion (52%), stress (49%), and feeling overwhelmed (43%). 2) There is a gap between the perceptions of C-suite executives and the actual wellbeing of employees. Over three-quarters of the executives mistakenly believe that their workforce’s wellbeing has improved (refer to Figure 1). 3) Employees prioritize their wellbeing, but face obstacles in achieving it. Eighty-four percent say that improving their well-being is a top priority this year, and 74% say it’s more important than advancing their career. However, 80% are facing obstacles, such as heavy workloads, stressful jobs, and long hours. The article suggests three strategies for enhancing employee wellbeing: empowering managers, holding the C-suite accountable, and adopting a long-term perspective. As leaders strive to improve the well-being of their workforce, I believe there is an untapped opportunity to reduce or eliminate sources of stress related to ways of working. With this as the backdrop, I’m resharing this HBR article titled “The Hidden Toll of Microstress” by Rob Cross and Karen Dillon. They define microstressors as “individual stressors that seem manageable at the moment, but they accrue, and they can create ripple effects of secondary and sometimes tertiary consequences that can last for hours or days — and even trigger microstress in others.” The article offers a diagnostic tool to help identify 14 microstressors, which can apply to aspects of the work environment and ways of working.