Category: Wellness

Employee engagement and workplace wellness may not be the buzzwords they once were, but they still matter. Burnout is real, and it’s not going away. Failing to take steps to mitigate it could cost your business 15-20% of your payroll budget per year.

On top of that, burnt-out employees are 63% less likely to show up for work and twice as likely to look for a new job.

When businesses have workplace wellness programs, 89% of employees feel happy and engaged at work. So here are some less talked about—but still important and effective—employee engagement strategies that can boost your workplace wellness in 2026.

Offer bereavement leave

Employee engagement isn’t just about fun activities. Sometimes it’s about meeting employees where they’re at. If they’ve just lost someone they love, coming into work is going to be the last thing they want to do. However, they may worry about job security so feel that they don’t have a choice.

Having a clear bereavement leave policy—so that both managers and employees know what’s expected and what to do if an employee loses someone they love—means everyone is treated equally. Employees also get treated with compassion and respect during a difficult time.

Grieving doesn’t happen in a straight line, nor does it neatly finish within a couple of weeks. Especially if those couple of weeks also require an employee to focus on work when their mind is elsewhere.

Supporting employees during their toughest times can improve employee engagement and retention in the long-term because they feel valued. Seen. Treated like an actual human being. These shouldn’t be workplace perks, they should be basic human rights. But so often, they wind up as forgotten parts of workplace wellness.

Provide mental health support

We live in a complicated world, and that’s not going away. Mental health support can provide employees with the tools to handle at least some of these complex challenges.

With 91% of businesses wanting to invest more in their workforce mental health solutions, not offering this could put your employer brand at a disadvantage on top of the cost to your employees’ short- and long-term health.

It’s important not to forget that workplace wellness encompasses both physical and mental (and emotional!) health.

Make sure employees use their PTO

This shouldn’t need to be said, but it’s all too easy for employees to forget to take time off because they’re simply too busy. That’s a sign that you’re overloading your workers and they feel like they’ll fall behind if they go and get a sandwich.

It’s not just about breaks, though.

Many employees don’t use their PTO because they want a buffer in case something goes wrong. In fact, just 51% of employees use all their PTO in any given year. That’s a lot of time to recharge and disconnect going unused.

Instead of requiring employees to use PTO for illness or emergencies, why not have dedicated policies for these things? An employee shouldn’t have to sacrifice rest time because they came down with a bug or their child is sick.

And while we’re at it, if you’ve got an “unlimited PTO” policy, let’s be serious: the subtext is no time off. Let’s just give employees some actual, concrete time to switch off, yeah?

While employees taking time off may sound bad for business, that’s short-term thinking. Prioritizing rest and workplace wellness will ensure your team is ready to give their best and stay with your organization for the long-term.

Give them the right equipment 

A little accommodation goes a long way. At a previous role, I had a really bad back. They got me a coccyx cushion to take the pressure off, and it sort of helped. But my back still spasmed from time to time, making walking a challenge.

At my next role, I had a more ergonomic chair. My back problems went away. Nothing else had changed. 

Except that now, I could concentrate more at work because I wasn’t in as much pain. I got more done, I was happier, and I was more engaged at work because I felt supported by my employer.

Sure, the cushion was cheaper. But it wasn’t a fix. It was just the only thing they were willing to offer.

Sometimes investing in the more expensive solution is what will get you the biggest rewards when it comes to workplace wellness (and therefore make you more money in the long-run).

Cut back on the meetings

Some companies see meetings as the solution to everything. But they can be a huge time sink and they don’t always mean you get things done. They’re far more open to tangents and people talking over each other than asynchronous communication. The latter forces people to clarify their thoughts and can mean quieter employees are more likely to get heard.

There’s a fine line, though. It’s good to have time to speak to your colleagues, especially as some people come across very differently in writing compared to when they speak. Meetings can help with employee connections and communication, too.

But when they start to take up an employee’s entire workweek, you have to wonder if they’re really as effective as they seem. And you have to consider their impact on employee wellbeing and workplace wellness.

Walk in nature

Nature is hugely beneficial for our wellbeing (and for workplace wellness!). It can help us feel calmer, for example. This can be useful for difficult conversations, or just to relax after a challenging meeting.

Walking meetings in nature are also useful for idea generation. And, walking side-by-side can make difficult conversations easier as they feel less confrontational.

One-on-ones are the perfect opportunity for a walking meeting, or any other that involves a small team or requires some creative thinking.

Give back with volunteer days

Recent research has found that having a purpose in life can improve our cognitive health.

However, many people can’t do this because they’re living paycheck to paycheck.

Giving employees the opportunity to volunteer for a local nonprofit, or a cause that’s important to them—while still getting paid for it—provides them with a sense of fulfillment without sacrificing security.

It’s also great for workplace wellness and for your employer brand, showing you care about more than just profits.

Offer personal project time

Personal projects can give employees a chance to try new things, get to know new tools, or challenge traditional ways of doing things.

Whether they have an afternoon a week to explore, or a week every quarter, it’s an opportunity for employees to innovate.

You never know—they could come up with something that could benefit your business. In addition to the benefits to employee happiness and workplace wellness.

Conclusion 

Boosting workplace wellness isn’t just about the fun stuff like days out. It’s also about supporting employees through difficult times and offering them opportunities to learn, grow, and explore other interests.

If you’d like to make it easier for your employees to take part in employee engagement activities and boost workplace wellness, why not try Workrowd? You can keep all your employee initiatives in one place, making them faster to find and join in on. Get in touch today to book your free demo.

Back when I first started writing about HR in the late 2010s, topics like employee wellness, engagement, and experience were everywhere.

Fast-forward to now, and it feel like there’s radio silence.

There are still those of us who care about it, of course. But it’s no longer the central focus that it once was. However, taking care of your employees still matters.

So why are fewer businesses than ever talking about it?

So-called wellness benefits are the first employee initiatives that organizations cut when budgets shrink.

Businesses want to model Silicon Valley tech culture, so they follow the “all work and no play” approach. They assume it’s fine to pay someone too little to live on while expecting their lives to revolve around work.

Those things are not compatible.

If you’re not paying employees enough, and not treating them like they’re valued…why would they stay? Why would they be loyal to your business?

Prioritizing employee wellness will ensure your team members not only want to stick around, but that they can be at their best while working for you.

More than just lip service

It’s not about tokenism or lip service. Employee wellness shows the people who work for you that you value and appreciate their effort.

It’s a way to ensure that they keep working for you long-term. And you keep getting high performance from them.

Failing to support employees means their performance will suffer as their stress levels increase. Their home lives will also take a hit because they’re so stressed they don’t have enough energy to spend on loved ones. Ultimately, they’ll end up quitting because they no longer enjoy working for you.

Your company culture, meanwhile, will deteriorate because those who’d previously motivated their colleagues will leave. This creates a hole others are unlikely to fill. Especially if your culture is struggling and no one wants to be there.

The longer this goes on for, the worse your culture will become.

You’ll have a hard time retaining your existing employees, the number of new hires who leave during probation will go up, and eventually word will get out that your company culture isn’t great. So the quality of your job applicants will go down, and you’ll get fewer of them to fill your vacancies.

Deprioritizing employee wellness creates a cycle of worsening culture and conditions that can be hard to escape.

Why employee wellness still matters

The world is literally on fire. Ask any Australian.

There’s so much content out there about resetting our dysregulated nervous systems because it feels almost impossible to be calm when the climate emergency is here—and virtually no one is doing anything about it.

Politics is going in a scary direction (or is already there) in many places all over the world, and it’s leaving a lot of us feeling helpless.

The hard-fought rights of marginalized groups are being stripped after less than a century of them having any rights at all.

More money is being concentrated at the top, leaving Millennials and Gen Z-ers not wanting children because it’s impossible for so many to own a house, let alone have enough to raise a child. So then governments complain there aren’t enough children, but of course there aren’t—no one can afford to raise them!

AI is coming for jobs, and so far it hasn’t created as many as it’s replaced. It seems unlikely to as well, when so many businesses are using it to cut costs.

Then there’s the fact businesses are posting ghost jobs to make it look like they’re growing when they’re not.

Is it surprising that workers feel stressed? Or that they need employee wellness initiatives more than ever?

The ripple effect

All these things have an impact on employees. They affect their ability to focus; to be present at work; to communicate with their colleagues.

And, you might argue, it isn’t a business’s job to “fix” employee mental health. But isn’t it a business’s job to look after its workforce?

The business wouldn’t exist without employees. Employees choose to show up every day, whatever their reason for doing so may be.

So by supporting employees, businesses build loyalty that can see them through the tough times. It helps them build a better culture, and even innovate to build better products.

I read a post on LinkedIn recently about a woman who lost a parent right before starting a new role. Her new manager gave her six weeks bereavement leave, fully paid.

How many organizations do you know that would do that?

The humanity with which that business treated that woman will stay with her for the rest of her life. It will build loyalty to her employer that no money could buy. Those are the kinds of employee wellness initiatives that matter.

But they’re also not the kinds of things that people regularly talk about. They’re part of the painful side of humanity that we want to hide from because it’s uncomfortable.

But the more we run from it, the more the painful side wins and the harder it is to feel hopeful for the future.

It’s only when we face what’s actually happening, and approach it with compassion and the desire to help other people, that we actually make progress.

Conclusion 

Employee wellness isn’t something that went in the trash like a box of Covid-era face masks no one wants to wear anymore.

Forcing someone to work until they’re exhausted is not a way to treat people who work hard for you. It’s not a way to treat people who are struggling to make ends meet through no fault of their own.

Instead, employee wellness should be something that’s embedded into a company’s culture.

It should involve treating employees like human beings, remembering that they’re stressed because of the world we’re in, and the more businesses can do to support their teams, the more loyalty, innovation, and ultimately, profit, they’ll generate.

Create a culture of community

If you’d like to create a culture where your employees feel engaged and able to support each other, try Workrowd. You can use it to manage your employee initiatives, including events, programs, and groups, and track the impact they’re having. It’s a one-stop shop to connect your people with their colleagues and support employee wellness.

Stay tuned for part two where I explore how you can support employee wellness in 2026. It goes so much deeper than you think.

In 2023, there were 5,283 fatal workplace safety incidents. There were 2.6 million nonfatal workplace safety incidents. Those are some huge—and preventable—numbers. Which goes to show that businesses need to do more to improve health and safety in the workplace.

Why does health and safety in the workplace matter?

We spend more time working than we do with our loved ones, especially when you add in overtime. Don’t employees deserve to feel safe when they’re at work?

Well, it makes you wonder when you see that only 63% of employees feel that their employer thinks physical safety at work is extremely important. 75% of employees believe that their employer thinks the company reputation is more important than safety. And, 68% think their employer values the bottom line more.

Employees don’t feel things are changing, either. 59% of employees don’t think their employer has increased physical safety efforts in the last year. At best, they’ve stagnated.

If employees feel worried about their safety, there’s no way they’ll be able to be at their best. Anxiety is an energy suck. Even if an employee only worries subconsciously, that’s still draining. Which can then lead to more accidents as their anxiety distracts them from the job. A little bit of training around health and safety in the workplace can go a long way towards reassuring them that they, and their job, are safe.

Tips to improve health and safety in the workplace

Here are some ways to improve employee health and safety in the workplace.

Use effective equipment

The quality of your safety equipment is a small but important step toward improving health and safety in the workplace.

Consider the masks worn during Covid. They had to meet certain standards to be considered medical-grade and protect staff from getting sick.

But the UK government lost £1.4 billion (about $1.8 billion) on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE) during Covid. All because they didn’t check that what they were buying was compliant. Over half of the surgical gowns purchased weren’t checked until after they’d expired, either. So most of that tax payer money was lost.

You don’t want to fall into the same trap.

Make sure any safety equipment you purchase for your employees will actually protect them from what it should. And check this before any warrantees or expiration dates pass so that if they’re unsuitable, you can get a refund.

Using the best equipment will also mean that you’re protected from potential lawsuits because someone got sick or injured due to improper equipment.

Keep policies up to date

Any health and safety in the workplace policies should be regularly updated to ensure they’re legally compliant. In addition, be sure that any new information has been added, and the right contact details are included. It can help to have a review date for policies, such as every three years.

Hold regular training sessions

Want to reduce workers’ compensation claims? Health and safety in the workplace training can do just that by up to 42%. That’s a huge reduction in costs for any business at risk, or that puts its employees at risk.

While people may roll their eyes at health and safety in the workplace training, or regular refreshers, they’re important. It’s easy to forget the little things.

For instance, experienced drivers often fall into bad habits like not checking their mirrors enough, or taking one hand off the steering wheel. (Don’t tell me you don’t know someone who does this. We all do.)

Reminding your employees of basic safety procedures keeps them, their teammates, and your business, safe.

Training doesn’t have to be a boring explainer video, either. In fact, if you want employees to remember a training session’s content, it shouldn’t be.

Interactive training such as an in-person workshop, or even a quiz or a game, helps everyone remember what they’ve learned. That way, you’re not just talking at them; they’re actively participating in the learning process.

It’s a bit like how we don’t remember as much of what AI tells us compared to when we do the research ourselves. The more work we put into doing something, the more it sticks.

Ensure employees feel safe to report incidents

If something does go wrong, the impacted employees (especially those who reported it) need to feel safe to talk about it. They shouldn’t fear consequences for reporting something, expressing concern for their colleagues, or being involved in an incident.

Managers and HR should always be accessible, too. This is true broadly, but especially when it comes to health and safety in the workplace. Otherwise, issues can linger and get worse, meaning preventable accidents become inevitabilities.

Have a review process if something does go wrong 

You need a clear review process to prevent the same incident from happening again.

Think of it like black boxes in airplanes. Those almost indestructible devices collect so much data on what’s going on that the aviation industry can make things safer for future flights once the investigation is complete.

While most companies can’t have a literal black box, you can have an airtight investigation into any health and safety in the workplace incidents. That means your business comes out with a safety-first reputation that will help you attract better talent, save money on compensation claims (the average is $40,000), and improve your business brand.

Have a place to ask questions

Employees need a safe place where they can ask health and safety in the workplace questions. This prevents issues from arising in the future and means they can learn from their colleagues’ experiences. It’s a great way to connect employees across your organization and share wisdom.

It’s much better for employees to feel comfortable asking what may be perceived as “stupid” questions than for something to go wrong and cost them, their colleagues, and/or your business because they were embarrassed to ask.

You could create a knowledge base and/or employee group where they can ask questions, for example.

Employee groups are excellent places to set up and organize mentoring programs, giving your more experienced colleagues a place to support newer recruits.

Or, you could connect employees with similar backgrounds that might make work more challenging, like new parents.

Need help managing your employee initiatives like groups or mentoring programs? Workrowd can help. Our one-stop shop keeps all your employee initiatives in one place. That way, it’s easy for team members to find and make the most of everything you offer.

Conclusion 

Health and safety in the workplace doesn’t have to be a minefield. With considered, regularly updated policies and training procedures that everyone follows, work can become a safer, more welcoming, and more productive environment for every employee.

Want to make it easier for team members to learn about your employee initiatives, safety-focused and otherwise? Check out Workrowd. One place, everything an employee needs. Get in touch today to book your free demo.

90% of employees report feeling stressed at work. Which means there are a lot of supervisors out there struggling with managing stressed out employees.

If so much of the working population feels stressed, what impact is that having on not just their work, but their personal lives and their relationships with their colleagues?

The more your employees feel stressed, and the longer they feel stressed for, the greater the ripple effect within your business.

When your employees are stressed, it doesn’t just dampen their ability to work. Their stress can influence the rest of the team, bringing the mood and productivity down.

So what are some strategies for managing stressed out employees?

What are the consequences of not managing stressed out employees?

When you fail to take a strategic approach to managing stressed out employees, it can affect their:

• Mood
• Mental health
• Physical health
• Personal relationships
• Work relationships
• Ability to think or focus
• Attention to detail
• Idea generation

This can then lead to your stressed employees bringing their colleagues’ moods down with them. As a result, you get a declining company culture, employees quiet quitting, and an unwelcoming atmosphere for new hires.

Over time, this increases churn rates, reduces tenure, and brings your rating down on sites like Glassdoor. 

So then, you don’t attract as many high-quality candidates, further impacting your brand and your profits. All because you didn’t take steps to help your supervisors with managing stressed out employees.

Tips for managing stressed out employees

Now that you know why it’s so important to support your stressed team members, here are some best practices for managing stressed out employees:

Know the early warning signs

If you can spot the early warning signs, and take steps to mitigate the damage, it can go a long way towards preventing employee stress from having a negative impact on individuals, their teams, and your business.

Have honest conversations

If you know an employee is stressed, you need to have an honest conversation with them. Find out why they feel the way they do and what both they, and you, can do before it spirals.

Solutions could involve rebalancing their workload, bringing more people into a project, changing what they’re working on, or even looking at how management handles things. When it comes to managing stressed out employees, it may come out that the problem isn’t the employee, but their leader(s).

After all, over half of employees leave a role because of a bad boss.

Find the cause

What’s really causing your employees to feel stressed?

When you have an honest conversation, you need to get to the root of what’s going on. If you don’t know the cause, you can’t solve it. The most you’ll be doing is putting a Band Aid over the top.

And as soon as things get even worse, that “solution” to managing stressed out employees is going to be as useful as a cheap Band Aid in the shower. It’ll fall off and make the wound sore all over again.

Not only that, but if you don’t treat the cause of the problem, it becomes like an infected wound. It will fester within that employee’s psyche and attitude towards work. Eventually, it will infect your other employees and their attitudes, too.

Offer community support

Sometimes, all we need to feel better is to express our pent-up emotions. This prevents them from having a hold on us.

That’s also why deep friendships are so important—they give us a healthy outlet to talk out what holds us back. There really is truth in a problem shared is a problem halved.

Employee groups are a powerful way to connect your employees. They enable them to meet like-minded colleagues who share their experiences. Oftentimes, they can also offer more understanding than family or friends. Because let’s face it, our family and friends often don’t get what we do unless they work in the same industry (just me?).

They may also be able to offer coping mechanisms to help with managing stressed out employees. Or at the very least lend a sympathetic ear.

Want more from your employee groups?

Workrowd can help you organize your employee initiatives so that you, and your team members, get more from them.

You can keep everything in one place so that employees always have the latest information on hand and don’t have to go searching for it. Get in touch today to find out more.

Offer flexible working

Flexible working is an essential tool when it comes to managing stressed out employees. It’s particularly useful if someone has health conditions or family commitments that make arriving at their desk for 9am every day challenging.

Allowing them to start work at a different time can make some of these other challenges a bit less taxing. It will help them come to work in a better mood and more able to take on the day.

Flexible working also means people can work during the hours that suit them. When employees can do that, you’ll get more from them. Even if it means someone has a breakthrough at 11pm when all their colleagues are asleep.

Not everyone fits into the traditional 9-5 mold. By forcing them into it, all it does is decrease workplace productivity and creativity because they’re working at times when they’re not at their best.

Send a survey

Employee feedback surveys are crucial for measuring employee sentiment. 

They can act as canaries in the coal mine, signaling that stress levels are increasing. That way you can intervene to work on better managing stressed out employees before they negatively impact productivity or profits.

Using Workrowd, you can send automated feedback surveys to employees at set milestones. That means there’s no reason not to send them and measure what’s really going on across your team. You can prevent challenges and stressful times from escalating into something that’s detrimental to your team and your business.

Conclusion 

Employee stress doesn’t have to be inevitable. So much of it relies on your company culture and managing expectations, from clients, leadership, and employees.

Providing adequate support is also an important part of managing stressed out employees. Employee groups enable you to empower your employees to support each other, which can help them reduce stress and better manage their workloads.

To get more from your employee initiatives and track employee sentiment in real time, check out Workrowd. Get in touch today to book your demo.

We live in a world that’s divisive, lonely, and frankly, scary. Sweeping things under the rug and pretending like none of it is happening does nobody any favors. In fact, it’s likely to make people feel worse and hurt employee wellbeing.

Bottling up emotions can cause everything from mental health conditions to chronic pain. So neglecting employee wellbeing can lead to costly medical bills. It can also mean you lose employees to sick leave or disengagement.

Beyond that, it increases business costs: $322 billion is lost globally due to turnover because of employee burnout. 75% of medical costs are the result of preventable conditions.

Work is a huge factor for this. 84% of employees state that work conditions contributed to at least one mental health challenge.

So supporting employee wellbeing is obviously important. 87% of employees consider health and wellness offerings when job hunting. What’s more, 90% report feeling more motivated if leaders support their wellbeing.

So now that we’ve covered why employee wellbeing matters, let’s dive into how you can support it on a budget:

How to support employee wellbeing on a budget

Listen to employees’ needs

To get the most from your team, it’s important to ask what support they need, then act on it. That’s the shortest path to improving employee wellbeing.

Asking what employees want, then not implementing it, breaks their trust and will cause them to disengage.

Acting based on what they want and need from you, on the other hand, increases engagement and ensures they can perform to their fullest.

Host events

Encouraging employees to connect with each other is a simple way to combat one of the biggest causes of health issues: loneliness.

Mental health is declining at a startling rate. Connecting employees in person or online for book clubs, lunch and learns, or other team-building activities shows that you value connection beyond the transactional relationships that happen at work. It can give employee wellbeing a big boost.

Set up ERGs

Employee resource groups are a simple way to connect your team members. They help combat loneliness that can decrease motivation and productivity, while increasing collaboration between teams as they get to know each other beyond traditional role boundaries.

Want to ensure you’re getting the most from your employee groups? Workrowd can help you manage your groups and activities so that you can see what’s working, employees feel compelled to use them, and they stay engaged. Get in touch to find out more.

Encourage employees to take PTO

Many employees feel so busy that they don’t take all their paid leave each year. But this creates a vicious cycle. Without taking their leave, they risk becoming sick and burnt out. They need to learn that their department can run without them, whatever their role is. And things at work are rarely as urgent as they seem.

As one of my former colleagues once said to me: ‘we’re not changing the world – it’s not life or death. Things can wait a few days.’

While there will be some places where it is life or death, for most of us, this rings true.

Taking time off is important for all of us. Being a workaholic can increase stress levels and mean that when an employee does finally take a break, they become sick because they were running on adrenaline for so long that their immune system crashes and they’re susceptible to every germ they come into contact with.

So, even if they’re a remote employee and they spend their week off at the same desk, but gaming instead of working, encourage them to disconnect from work once in a while to improve employee wellbeing.

Respect work hours

Another thing that can lead to burnout is working too many hours without time to switch off.

Employees shouldn’t feel the need to respond at midnight just because that’s when the CEO, who works in a different time zone, sent an email.

They should work when they’re at their best, during their work hours. That’s how you’ll get the most from them and maximize employee wellbeing.

Remember: breaks are your friend

Tying into respecting work hours is the fact that we all need regular breaks.

Breaks allow us to clear our heads and come back to solving problems more effectively.

Sometimes the answer is right in front of us, but we’ve been looking at a challenge too long to fully see it. A five-minute break to get a drink or go for a walk can help us recalibrate and solve a problem faster than staying glued to a desk, staring at a screen and growing increasingly frustrated.

Offer flexible working hours

The traditional 9-5 model doesn’t work with a lot of people’s circadian rhythms. But we’re stuck in a cycle that we can’t seem to break out of. Even though there are no scientific reasons to use the 9-5 model.

Some people are more productive in the afternoons or evenings. Some people get up at five in the morning and have written thousands of words before others have had their first coffee.

Embracing these differing schedules ensures that you have the most effective, productive team possible. It could enable you to have employees working around the clock to solve customer problems, too. This can help you provide a better quality of service alongside boosting employee wellbeing. 

Consider part-time work or freelancers

Many jobs don’t actually need to be full-time. In fact, you might get better value for your money by employing someone to work part-time or freelance instead.

Too often, full-time work can be full of busywork. There can be scope creep, or priorities can get confused. Tasks get turned into meetings that don’t actually need to be meetings.

No one can concentrate for eight hours nonstop, five days a week. To convince ourselves that’s happening with anyone is a lie. A lie that hurts employee wellbeing

Conclusion

It’s not difficult to support employee wellbeing on a budget. It simply requires being willing to make accommodations around employees’ needs. And keeping in mind that what they need at one point may be different from what they need in six months’ time.

If you’re ready to up your game on employee wellbeing, Workrowd has your back. With all your employee initiatives available in one place, plus automated surveys and real-time analytics, everyone can tap into what they need with less stress. Get in touch to learn more and schedule your free demo today.

It’s a sad fact that 120,000 deaths in the US per year are associated with work. It should come as no surprise then, that organizational anxiety is something that can impact anyone. Just because someone doesn’t outwardly seem to be struggling, that doesn’t mean they aren’t.

What is organizational anxiety?

Organizational anxiety is when the state of your company makes employees feel anxious. This could be due to mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, finances, etc.

Remember: anxiety is contagious

I often call anxiety a contagious disease. Not because it’s spread by bacteria, but because if one person in a room feels anxious, there’s a high probability that person will pass their anxiety on to other people even if they don’t mean to.

This could be through the words they use and how they describe a situation. Or through subconscious things like how they move or their facial expressions.

For instance, someone constantly twitching their foot under the desk. Yes, I know it isn’t always anxiety. 

But it is a sign of excess energy you need to burn off. And this can often be due to anxiety or stress increasing our cortisol and/or adrenaline levels. 

Sometimes we just need to go stretch our legs. That fidgeting could be annoying to colleagues, and they’re just too nice to say anything.

It’s these kinds of thoughts and actions that are contagious. And that’s why it’s really important to remember that when things are up in the air in your organization, organizational anxiety will be high. Even if you don’t see the signs that you think you will. Mental health issues don’t always manifest how we expect.

Organizational anxiety may also be worse if you’re office-based or hybrid, because employees spend more physical time with each other. So they can experience how others feel more easily. And it’s much harder for them to switch off from that than if they work remotely.

How to reduce organizational anxiety

Here are some tips to reduce organizational anxiety during challenging times in your business:

Offer remote work

As I mentioned above, anxiety is contagious. So if employees can work remotely from somewhere they’re protected from the contagious nature of organizational anxiety, it’s less likely to rub off on them, even if they have their own concerns.

Create a culture of psychological safety

If employees don’t feel comfortable or safe at work, they’ll naturally feel anxious just leaving the house or sitting at their desk to check in for the day. Building psychological safety ensures employees can discuss their worries before they develop into organizational anxiety.

Communicate clearly

If you take just one thing away from this list, make it clear communication. Clarity is one of the strongest ways to diffuse organizational anxiety.

When employees know where they stand with you, what to expect from the business, and you talk to them as equals, they’ll feel more at ease.

Encourage breaks

Sometimes, when we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough, or trying to fix something, we want to keep going. But this is exactly the time when things can go wrong or we don’t perform at our best.

Breaks are a key part of resetting our mental health, even if we don’t have anxiety.

Encouraging employees to take regular breaks to grab a drink, stretch their legs, or talk to colleagues about what they watched last night, breaks them out of a cycle that can lead to burnout.

The more often employees take breaks, the calmer they’ll be. Which means fewer mistakes and happier team members.

And the more often your people can perform at their best, the more you’ll get out of them. And the less organizational anxiety will take its toll.

Make it okay to discuss mental health

While we’ve come a long way on the mental health front, it’s still often taboo to discuss it.

I’ll never forget something that happened in a previous role: a colleague took time off due to work stress. And people mocked him behind his back for it.

That was my signal never to discuss mental health with those people because they’d never get it.

It sometimes only takes one comment from a colleague or senior leader for employees to feel able to—or never able to—discuss their mental health. 

But if you want high performers, you have to acknowledge that that comes with lows like anxiety, depression, and burnout, too.

You can’t have the highs without the lows. We can’t perform at 100% all the time. Acknowledging that, and sharing our mental health stories, allows us to bond with colleagues and feel more able to be ourselves. Which in turn reduces the risk of organizational anxiety.

Know the signs

Do you know how to spot the more subtle signs of anxiety?

Someone I know is a huge perfectionist. Their colleagues praise them for their attention to detail, reinforcing this perfectionism—and creating huge work-related anxiety.

Colleagues praising their high standards has created a dangerous cycle. They now ruminate over small details and hyperfocus on work instead of taking breaks. 

But since perfectionism often isn’t considered a sign of anxiety, their colleagues have never thought about raising the issue.

When people channel everything into their work and have no time for hobbies, exercise, sleep, or to cook a healthy meal, that’s a neon sign saying something is up and that person is at high risk of damaging their mental health. Perhaps they’re worried that their role is insecure or that they’re not good enough. Or maybe they just don’t want to let their colleagues down. It’s important to get to the root of the problem and address it before it spirals into organizational anxiety.

Take inspiration from therapy exercises

When employees can share how they really feel and what they’re worried about, they’re far more likely to feel calm. Encourage them to come up with solutions if they can. Or if it’s out of their control, to discuss/write down what’s really on their mind to get it out of their system.

Focusing on solutions or writing down hypothetical worries can help us to let go of any organizational anxiety we’re carrying. That way we can get back to the task at hand.

Conclusion 

Organizational anxiety can feel somewhat inevitable, especially in challenging times like these.

But there are steps you and your leaders can take to put your employees at ease and support their psychological wellbeing so that they can perform at their best.

Connection is the antidote to organizational anxiety

The causes of organizational anxiety aren’t always things that are within an employee’s control. Helping them stay connected to each other can make them feel more supported and able to take what’s happening within the organization in stride.

Empowering your team with a central hub for your employee experience ensures they never have to wonder. All the information they need is in one place, alongside opportunities to bond with colleagues, automated engagement surveys, and in-depth, real-time analytics for you.

Discover how Workrowd can help you mitigate organizational anxiety—book your free demo today.

An employee assistance program (EAP) can reduce absenteeism by up to 70%. It can also improve presenteeism, life satisfaction, workplace distress, and employee engagement.

But, on average, only around 10% of employees use EAPs.

Prior to the pandemic, this number was even lower at just 5%.

Why is this? Let’s explore what an employee assistance program is, how to encourage employees to use it, and how to increase its impact.

What is an EAP?

An employee assistance program is a type of benefit some businesses offer their employees. Through it, team members can get a handful of counseling or therapy sessions.

It’s designed to support employees’ mental health at work.

And given that a fifth of US adults are estimated to experience mental health challenges, it could have a huge impact on your employee engagement and productivity.

How to get more value from your EAP

Having an employee assistance program and experiencing its benefits are two different things. If your employees don’t use it (and as the numbers show, most don’t) then it’s not only a waste of money that you could invest elsewhere, but it also means your employees suffer needlessly.

So, what can you do to get more value from your EAP and ensure it’s money well spent?

Make sure you’re using the right provider for you

Just like with any other business you work with, you want to ensure your EAP provider aligns with your company values.

The way some companies offer support, even down to the language they use when talking to employees, may not be compatible with your business.

If you choose to keep your employee assistance program in-house, consider whether your employees will feel comfortable sharing private information with someone internal.

When discussing personal information, there’s always a chance employees will prefer to remain anonymous. Or that they’d rather discuss challenges with someone external and objective.

Especially when most people assume HR is there to protect the business, not its people.

These small differences can influence whether employees feel comfortable using your EAP and if it’s a success for your organization.

Tell employees about it

If team members don’t know about your employee assistance program, or how to access it, they’re not going to use it. So you won’t get your money’s worth and they won’t get the support they need.

Make sure to remind employees that it’s there regularly—in all-hands/town hall meetings, company-wide emails, on Workrowd, etc. The more places they can see it, the more likely they are to use it.

It can also help to remind employees that the support is there during challenging times such as mergers or layoffs. That way they know there’s support out there for when they feel like they’re on shaky ground. It can offer them techniques to support their mental health, prioritize their workload, manage survivor’s guilt, and more.

Make it accessible to everyone

Data shows that 75% of employees in the highest quarter of earners have access to an EAP. In contrast, just a third of the lowest quarter of earners have access.

But someone can experience challenges regardless of what they earn or where they are in their career. So why not make it accessible to everyone?

Especially in the current climate, when so much of what’s happening economically, politically, technologically, and environmentally is unpredictable and will inevitably impact employee well-being.

Your employee assistance program could provide team members with the tools they need to overcome obstacles and progress in their careers.

Create a culture where people are open about using an employee assistance plan

There’s still a lot of stigma out there around asking for help or having mental health struggles. Creating a culture where people feel open to admitting that they’ve used, or are using, your employee assistance program can help remove some of this stigma.

It can be particularly useful if your leaders share their journeys with similar initiatives. Whether that’s therapy, counseling, coaching, an EAP, etc. It shows they really do understand that it’s both necessary and helpful to get mental health support, and they won’t judge anyone for using it.

Share successes

Sharing successes—such as employees being able to better handle problems or even getting a promotion because of the guidance they received—can encourage other people to use the employee assistance program. It gives them a concrete example of what they could achieve if they used it, too.

These successes could be internal successes from current or past employees, or, if the program is new, external case studies provided by the provider you choose.

Ask employees what they need help with

The only way you can help employees effectively is if you know what they really need help with. How do you find that out? Ask them!

Using Workrowd, you can automate feedback surveys to see what is and isn’t working across your employee experience. This data can then help you make more informed decisions about how best to support your employees now and in the future.

Collect data

When you ask employees what they need help with, it can be useful to do so in a quantitative, rather than qualitative, way. This makes it easier for you to visualize how your employees feel and what they need from you.

For instance, you could ask them if they’d prefer an internal, external, or hybrid employee assistance program. Collecting information on this will help you create a program that’s more likely to be successful. Or it will allow you to pivot to improve employee participation rates. 

Conclusion

An employee assistance program can be a vital tool to help you provide an exceptional employee experience. If used the right way, it can create a culture of support and openness that helps employees overcome barriers. That way, they can progress in their careers and help your business stay ahead of the competition.

Support your employees from day one

If you’d like help finding out how best to support your employees, why not try Workrowd?

You can use our tools to collect employee feedback and share everything they need to know about your employee assistance program in one place. Get in touch today to book your free demo.

Signs of burnout can range from quiet quitting to getting sick more often. Sickness in an office is contagious. Whether it’s a physical or a mental illness, it can have a ripple effect across the workplace.

Someone’s lack of energy or productivity can make the rest of the team feel lethargic or demotivated, particularly if the person who is ill is in a senior position.

There’s no time this is more likely to happen (other than in winter in a cramped office) than after a huge project has come to an end. This is called the let-down effect, and it’s one of the major signs of burnout.

What is the let-down effect?

The let-down effect is when you get sick after completing a big project or dealing with another source of stress like exams.

When we work on a huge project, we run on the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. They ramp up to keep us going, helping us fight off things that might get in the way of us achieving our goals, like a pesky cold.

And as soon as the project is over, those hormones stop.

And as soon as the day after, signs of burnout can start to appear and we can get sick.

The let-down effect hit me back in November. I had so much to do in October. Client deadlines, a writing class to teach, a book reading, and a book to edit. Lots of prep, lots of stress. I was excited, but I was definitely running on adrenaline.

I kept saying to myself, “just make it to the end of October, then you can rest.”

That was a big mistake.

The morning of November 1^st, I woke up with the flu. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been that ill, and I’m not entirely sure I’m completely over it six months later. 

It led to infections, chronic pain and fatigue flare-ups, allergy flare-ups, new allergies, insomnia…I could fill a blog post with all my symptoms since November, but you get the point.

The let-down effect can lead to new or worsening physical or mental health symptoms. It can worsen signs of burnout, and there’s no telling how long it will take to recover.

So what can you do about the let-down effect at work?

How to avoid the let-down effect in the workplace

Stress hormones have a role in our bodies, but it should only be a short-term one. The longer they build up, the more detrimental they become. 

They can lead to chronic inflammation and a weakened immune system, which is why chronic health issues can flare up after a big project, or it feels like we have a never-ending stream of illnesses.

The people most prone to burnout are the ones who care the most about what they do. That’s because they often work harder to achieve their goals. 

When someone enjoys something, it doesn’t feel so much like work.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t still lead to stress. Everyone needs a break sometimes.

So, one of the key things you can do to manage it is to check in with your employees.

Watch for signs of burnout. Ask them how they’re doing and what they need from you.

Would they prefer to work from home, where it’s quieter? Or come into the office later and stay later?

Or do you need to have an honest discussion about a deadline because it’s just not achievable? 

It may even be a case of needing to hire new employees to help you meet a deadline or avoid signs of burnout in the future.

Encouraging employees to reduce their stress levels slowly is also vital.

Instead of doing what I did, and saying, “Just make it to this date, then I can rest,” ensure employees pace themselves during stressful periods and ease back from the situation slowly.

Activities like exercise or cold showers can temporarily increase stress levels and help to avoid the sudden shock to the body from a lack of stress hormones.

How to support employees through the let-down effect

Sometimes, employees push themselves too hard or fast even when you tell them not to. Inevitably leading to signs of burnout, and ultimately, the let-down effect.

When they reach that point, it’s important to have an honest conversation with them. Some people can’t see that they’ve pushed themselves too far until their mind or body can’t function anymore. Ideally, you want to prevent this from happening.

Encourage them to rest. Despite what society tells us, rest is good for productivity. 

This could mean taking more breaks during the working day (away from their desk, not at their desk reading news articles), or it could be a week off to recover.

It may also mean channeling their energy into something else, like a new project that’s less pressure.

Recovery will look different for everyone.

It involves a lot of patience and self-care, which can be difficult for people who are used to pushing themselves hard and fast. 

You could organize workshops to help everyone recognize signs of burnout, as well as the causes, symptoms, and solutions of the let-down effect so that they know how to handle it. 

It also means that they’re prepared to help both themselves and their colleagues.

Connection is important, too. 

Helping employees network with like-minded folks who are equally driven—but perhaps further into their journey so they know when to slow down—will teach them valuable lessons on managing high-pressure projects.

You could facilitate this through mentoring, coaching, or employee groups. Each has different benefits depending on your organization.

You could even set up employee groups for stress-reducing hobbies such as reading, meditation, exercise, or puzzles.

Conclusion 

The let-down effect can impact anyone within the workplace, particularly after a long, challenging project.

To support employees through it and manage down signs of burnout, make sure they feel comfortable telling you how they feel and requesting what they need. This could be more time off—either a day at home or a vacation—accommodations such as working on lower-pressure projects for a while, or even a new role.

Whatever you choose, Workrowd can help you organize your program and get the most out of it for you and your employees. Contact us today at hello@workrowd.com to book your free demo.

Stress prevents around a million Americans from going to work each day. When you consider that 94% of people feel stressed at work, it’s surprising that number isn’t higher. It also really highlights the importance of reducing stress in the workplace.

Stress comes with too many physical and mental health issues for me to list in this blog post, but some of its more insidious symptoms include joint or muscle aches; shorter tempers; detachment from events/surroundings; and getting ill more frequently.

All these symptoms can impact an employee’s home life and their ability to do their job.

It’s not just employees who feel the impact of work-related stress, though. The global cost of stress, anxiety, and depression amounts to roughly $1 trillion in lost productivity.

So not working towards reducing stress in the workplace can have a huge effect on your business. 

How do you prevent your employees from experiencing stress at work? Here are our tips for reducing stress in the workplace:

Don’t treat everyone like an extrovert

It’s been years since Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking debuted. Yet for introverts, it can still sometimes feel like we’re expected to be raring to go and happy to be around people all the time.

Not everyone likes loud, open-plan offices or socializing after work. That doesn’t mean they don’t like their colleagues. It just means they need time to reset so that they can perform at their best.

What one person sees as celebratory drinks with coworkers, another may see as a trap. Whether someone drinks or not, we don’t get a lot of time to ourselves after work. For those of us who need a quiet space, those few hours between work and sleep are crucial.

Yet saying no to those drinks can mean colleagues judge us and even pass us over for promotions. All because we recharge our batteries differently.

And, while we’re at it, someone not talking in a meeting doesn’t mean they’re not engaged. It could simply mean they’re digesting what’s being said. Or they’re uncomfortable around so many people. It doesn’t mean they’re incapable of performing in their role.

Accommodating an array of different communication styles is an important way of reducing stress in the workplace.

Monitor workloads—and adjust accordingly

It’s all too easy for a manageable workload to slowly get bigger and bigger until it becomes unmanageable. And this can happen without employees or managers realizing it until the employee becomes stressed or burned out.

Managers therefore need to keep an eye on their employees’ workloads, ensuring they’re doable within their working hours and they don’t have to sacrifice personal time to hit deadlines. Unsurprisingly, employees’ workloads have a huge impact on how well you succeed at reducing stress in the workplace.

Be realistic with deadlines

While deadlines can be motivating, they can also lead to a lot of stress. It’s all too common for managers to overpromise to clients then push their employees too far and cause them to burn out.

For instance, this is especially common in the gaming industry, with what they call “crunch.”

The closer a game’s release gets, the greater the expectation that employees work longer hours, sacrificing time with their loved ones and possibly even sleep, too.

Someone I know who previously worked in the gaming industry would get home around midnight, then leave around six the following morning. For months. That’s not healthy, normal, or acceptable.

Things in the game industry are changing, slowly. And while the game industry may be bad, it’s not the only industry that pushes its employees to work harder and risk burnout to hit an impossible deadline.

Maintaining reasonable expectations is key to reducing stress in the workplace.

Keep an eye out for discrimination and microaggressions

Any time a business thinks that it’s 100% dealt with discrimination, it’s likely to slip backward.

Preventing discrimination in the workplace requires constant, active effort, in the same way that for a business to grow it requires regular effort. It is work, after all.

Just because you don’t experience discrimination in the workplace, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It could just be that it’s directed toward a different group and you haven’t seen it. Or you don’t know what to look for.

Disabled people experience the most discrimination in the workplace, for example.

People with hidden disabilities may not even share their disabilities with their colleagues for fear of negative reactions.

I’ve been told many times that I’m being a drama queen because I find lights too bright or spaces too noisy, even if sensitivity to those things affects my ability to do my job.

Those types of comments affected how comfortable I felt in the workplace and made me feel judged and less accepted in that space. It was a clear indicator that employer wasn’t as inclusive as it claimed to be.

If you see someone say or do something discriminatory, either call them out on it if you feel comfortable doing so, or if you don’t, speak to HR. When your organization is more inclusive, reducing stress in the workplace becomes easier.

Connect employees

Loneliness can be stressful. And even someone surrounded by people every day can feel lonely if the people they’re with don’t understand them.

Employee groups can help them to connect with colleagues from different departments, or even countries, who have things in common with them. This helps employees feel like they belong at work and can help new employees settle in faster.

But finding an effective way to manage employee groups can be challenging. That’s where we come in.

Using Workrowd, you can manage your employee groups in one, simple place. Employees have everything they need to network with their colleagues. And, you can measure your groups’ effectiveness with regular feedback surveys.

Conclusion

Stress, like many health conditions, can creep up on you. One minute you’re fine, the next you’re crumbling over a never-ending workload.

That’s why it’s so important to always be on the lookout for signs of stress in the workplace, in both you and your colleagues. You can then find ways to work towards reducing stress in the workplace before it escalates.

Are you ready to implement some of these strategies for reducing stress in the workplace? Workrowd can help.

With our all-in-one engagement tool suite, you can easily keep tabs on stress levels in your organization. From automated surveys to groups offering crucial support to stressed employees, everything you need is in one place.

Curious to learn more? Visit us online or email us directly at hello@workrowd.com.

It’s estimated that 12 billion working days are missed each year due to depression and anxiety, costing $1 trillion in lost productivity annually. Needless to say, it’s pretty important that companies do what they can to address workplace mental health and support employees who may be struggling.

I knew depression and anxiety were bad, but I didn’t realize they cost the economy that much. It’s no surprise though, when you consider that almost half of employees feel their mental wellbeing declined in 2022, and 28% feel miserable in the workplace.

60% feel emotionally detached at work, too. And emotional detachment from things we previously enjoyed is a major symptom of depression.

So what can you do to support better workplace mental health?

Remove (or mitigate) distractions

Offices can be noisy, distracting places. Even the virtual office can bombard us with notification after notification. It’s easy for anyone to get distracted, let alone someone who’s already struggling to concentrate.

What distractions can you remove to better support workplace mental health? It may be worth asking your employee what distracts them the most, as the answer will be different for everyone.

Some examples include:

• Bright lights
• Loud noises
• Lots of people coming and going
• Slack notifications
• Email notifications
• Traffic outside the window

The solution might be to allow them to work from home, move the location of their desk, or have specific focus hours where others can’t distract them.

Utilize noise-canceling headphones

Noise-canceling headphones are magical, especially in noisy offices.

I couldn’t have survived working in an open-plan office without them because the constant shouting (yes, really) coming from other people’s desks made it almost impossible for me to concentrate.

Try fidget toys

I bought a fidget toy last year, and I regularly use it when I need to concentrate on editing something. I find it grounding, using it to keep my hands busy while my mind focuses.

It makes it easier for me to hone in on one task. So many of my friends were skeptical when I first got it, but they’ve tried it and since bought their own.

There’s a fidget toy out there for everyone, whether it’s a fidget spinner, stress ball, or something else. You could even order some with your company’s branding to distribute to employees in support of workplace mental health.

Buy supportive tech

My reMarkable 2 is my best friend. I use it every day to write what I have to do and what I have to remember. And I get a hit of dopamine every time I check something off my to-do list. If it isn’t on my reMarkable, it doesn’t get done.

What technology could you adopt to help your employees keep track of tasks? Is there an app, like ClickUp or Todoist? Or a piece of hardware like a tablet?

Something as simple as having an easy way to organize to-dos and visualize progress can boost workplace mental health.

Get a whiteboard

Tech is great, but sometimes it can also be handy to have something glaring and in your face so that you really can’t forget what’s most important.

An office whiteboard is a simple way for employees to see what’s been done and what still needs to be done.

Or even to jot quick notes to each other or play a game during some downtime. (Tic Tac Toe can be great when you need to rest your brain, whatever your age.)

Try sit/stand desks or anti-fatigue mats

Movement can really help our ability to concentrate. It’s also much better for our posture than sitting at a desk all day, and helpful for someone who’s feeling fidgety or restless.

So incorporating more movement opportunities into employees’ days can be great for workplace mental health.

Giving people the option of a sit/stand desk enables them to work comfortably based on how they feel physically and mentally. It’s great for their short and long-term health.

Anti-fatigue mats, meanwhile, can help employees who stand at their desks. The mats improve blood flow and are much more comfortable on employees’ feet than a hard office floor.

Embrace natural lighting

The best type of lighting for our minds—and eyes—is natural light. It’s very different from harsh, bright, overstimulating light that can add to someone’s stress levels if they already feel down, anxious, or ill.

Could you dim the lights in the employee’s space? If there’s no option to dim them, could you disconnect one or two to make it less harsh?

Also consider ways to take the glare off people’s screens from windows, such as screen protectors or moving their desk space. These are simple, no or low-cost adjustments that can make a big difference for workplace mental health.

Allow a support animal into the office

Hugging or petting an animal can calm our nervous systems, making it a quick and simple way to reset when we feel stressed. As a result, we can get more work done because we spend less time feeling anxious or worried.

Allowing pets in the office is also a good way to increase your talent pool. Some pet owners are unable to afford pet care, so enabling them to bring their pet with them can really help to improve workplace mental health.

Create private spaces

Sometimes, we just need to be alone. And once we’re alone, we can get so much more done.

But to get to that point, we need a quiet space to recharge and disconnect from the outside world. Something which is increasingly hard to come by these days.

Is there a quiet room you could allocate for employees to do some deep work? Or even allow them to nap or meditate when they need some alone time?

Could you use a room-booking software for it, to ensure that nobody disturbs them?

Make the work environment calmer

We live in a world that’s switched on 24/7. And that’s terrible for workplace mental health. Is there a way you can create a calmer environment?

Not to the point where employees feel like they’re going to fall asleep at their desks, but where their senses aren’t being bombarded all the time. 

For example, lots of posters or things to look at in the office can be overwhelming. Ditto to lots of smells or sounds. A calm color, and a landscape painting or two, is much more soothing.

Conclusion 

Supporting workplace mental health is about a combination of physical workspace transformations and actions that allow employees to work in a way that’s best for them. Every person’s needs will be different, which is why it’s important to listen and adapt things as needed.

If you’d like to offer more workplace mental health support, why not help employees connect with others through a mental health-focused ERG? While you’re at it, why not make it easier for the whole team to access programs, groups, and events related to their mental wellbeing?

Workrowd puts everything employees need right at their fingertips. Combine that with our easy, automated feedback opportunities, and you’ve got a flexible, turnkey way to improve workplace mental health.

Want to see how this can change the game for your organization? Visit us online or send us a quick note at hello@workrowd.com.