Latest news with #workplacewellbeing
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Health
- Fast Company
How to banish toxic positivity at work
Sure, we know that feelings are highly contagious, and being positive can help others around us to feel the same, but let's be honest for a moment: sometimes life isn't all rainbows. Some days aren't great, and sometimes positivity isn't the best way to handle it. And research confirms it: one 10-year study into using avoidance to cope—perhaps by pretending things are fine, rather than addressing when they aren't— finds that it can increase chronic, acute stress and be linked to long-term depressive symptoms. In my experience as an emotional intelligence and human behavior specialist, our workplaces are becoming more focused on employee wellbeing, but it's an easy way to compel us to fake optimism, regardless of the real circumstances at hand. In workplace cultures, toxic positivity compels people to remain optimistic or think positively regardless of the real circumstances—say, key clients lost, budgets and bonuses frozens, or team-wide layoffs. And it's pervasive: one survey by workplace blog Science of People finds that almost 68% of people had experienced toxic positivity in the last week. The fundamental basics of relationships between people is based on the ability to trust. Trust is created through being honest and transparent, being accountable and creditable, and being empathetic and vulnerable. It takes being real—and fake positivity isn't real. If I can see that your optimism is a put-on, how can I trust the other things you say or do? Do I feel safe to be real, or do I, too, need to fake positivity? When this occurs, it impacts every part of our workplace—from our culture, to our performance and our mental health. Ultimately it impacts the overall success of each person and in turn, their organization. Here are five steps to shut down toxic positivity in a workplace. Own the reality of the situation. The world is not perfect; we are not perfect. Things will go wrong, and we will get it wrong at times. The only thing we have control over in this world is how we choose to respond—and our response should be authentic and genuine. Respond appropriately to the workplace situation, at the right intensity, without the need for forced toxic positivity. Face emotions head-on. There is no such thing as a 'good' or 'bad' emotion, and while we tend to think positivity is the former, that isn't the case. We should be focusing on whether an emotion is appropriate for the situation, and whether the intensity that we are feeling the emotion is appropriate. We feel emotions for a reason. Acknowledge and understand what is driving an emotion so that it can be processed before we move on. Understand how the people around us are feeling. Our emotions are influential to the people around us, but people can spot an insincere emotion from far away. Faking an emotion is setting a standard in workplace environments of what is acceptable and what is not. Trust and respect won't be created when people are not being authentic or genuine. Ask the right questions, and answer questions asked. Communication is always key to the workplace environment, and the ability to communicate effectively directly influences our culture. When we are feeling any form of intensive emotion, we have something to say. Ask the right questions to better understand what is driving another person's emotions. Answer the questions they have, and provide the information they require to be able to move forward. Drive emotional intelligence. Realistically, we know that a great culture in a workplace is when all emotions are being displayed appropriately. In some situations, it may be optimism—and other times it might be sadness, anger, disappointment, fear, or frustration. Let's not judge someone else's emotion. Assess it, and do what it takes to ensure they are felt and processed before moving forward. 'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept,' Australian Lieutenant General David Morrison once said. Every person contributes to the culture of a workplace. By facing toxic positivity and choosing more effective communication, you can change yours.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Poor mental health is driving young people out of their jobs. My own journey showed me how to help
Last month, new figures showed that one in four young people in England have a mental health condition. An unwillingness to examine the challenging social and economic conditions – from housing insecurity to financial concerns – means there can be a tendency to explain this rise as a result of overdiagnosis, although there is little evidence for this claim. Clinicians cite the criteria for diagnosis to show that overreporting is not substantiated – if anything, the severity of reported conditions has increased, in part due to a reduced stigma resulting in more people seeking help. Young people with poor mental health are nearly five times more likely to be out of work, and there is a growing understanding that inadequate support around young people's mental health in the workplace is driving them to leave or consider leaving their job. In response, the government has proposed cuts to under-22s' health support. While there isn't evidence that removing financial support motivates people back to work, there are things we can change to make workplaces healthier environments – and, for the times when things are not OK, for poor mental health to be accommodated and supported. Too often workplaces default to fear, competition, 'everyone out for themselves' attitudes and poor trust between colleagues. In this context it's dangerous to admit to struggling with your mental health, and there is still a tendency to see these struggles as a diversion from the norm rather than as a normal part of the human experience. Our mental health is also hugely affected by the social, economic and political conditions in modern society. A lot can happen during our working life. Maybe a parent gets sick, we have caring responsibilities, we suffer an unexpected loss or financial difficulties: these can all trigger difficulties in our mental health. Alongside life events, persistent structural racism, classism and ableism take their toll. Having a workplace that recognises these factors – normalising all mental health struggles whether there is an immediate reason or not – can be important to being able to stay in work. A both rewarding and sad moment for me in my last few months of being a director at an NGO was a relatively new employee saying: 'I know I can get sick here and it would be OK.' He had previously worked at another organisation where, when sick leave was taken, it would implicitly be viewed as an inconvenience to the rest of the team. There is no shortage of people unhappy with their boss – in fact stress at work is the norm, and people who have a positive relationship with their workplace are in the minority. The UK has the highest percentage of workers globally who say they wouldn't work at all if money were no object, with stressful working conditions cited as the main reason. There aren't just bad apples – something is wrong with the way we organise our places of work. Since society individualises behaviour and managers' or bosses' flaws, there is no collective diagnosis for what's going wrong or how to improve workplace culture and leadership, and raise the bar to a healthier level for what's OK. Young people are the first cohort to push back against this. They are demanding more from their workplace. This is part of a generational shift that is well under way: my four-year-old is taught emotional literacy at nursery and at home, taught to understand his full range of emotions and not to feel shame around them, while his grandparents' generation is still stuck in the mindset that negative emotions such as sadness or anger are problematic and to be avoided and suppressed rather than understood. Against this backdrop, we should be seeing young people's struggles with mental health as an invitation to understand not only their situation and context, but also our own. To really undo the ableist concepts around mental health we absorb every day in society, often we need to have our own experience or to deeply empathise with someone close to us. For me, it was my own journey with depression while leading an NGO that forced me to rethink some of my beliefs. First it took me a long time to acknowledge and admit I was depressed. My internal view of myself didn't allow it to register until a colleague and a friend, both of whom I admired, shared their experiences of depression with me. As I learned to manage my own struggle, I became kinder towards myself and shifted how I led. I was less controlling and more able to let go of things more easily. It became clear to me that it's not only possible but preferable for high-performing teams to have a culture of care. Showing understanding for others' situations is an important foundation for then being able to ask people to take responsibility for their own needs and the needs of their role. While I was director we implemented policies and best practices we learned from other organisations, such as the use of a duvet day, when you could take time off without warning if you felt you needed a day in bed – a way of normalising taking days off for poor mental health. Getting the balance right isn't always straightforward, and there is an ongoing need for self-reflection and accountability. Part of what young people need in order to navigate their difficulties are emotionally mature adults who have their back and who want to understand root causes. What they often get are impatient older generations who think they are complaining too much. That has to change. Fran Boait is a leadership coach, freelancer and writer
Harvard Business Review
01-07-2025
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
The Best Leaders Encourage 'Spacious Thinking'
Soren, an executive in charge of the archives at a global arts institution, was told that he needed to deliver immediate cost savings and that layoffs were likely. Rather than thinking narrowly and simply demanding budget cuts from his direct reports, Soren convened a meeting with his department to discuss the broader question of its purpose and sustainability. The team's conversation led to the recognition that there were overlooked assets in the archive that might be used for a new program. This idea eventually led to a top-line contribution of tens of millions, and reductions in workforce were avoided. In contrast, other departments in the institution simply moved forward with cycles of layoffs which reduced morale and led to burnout. For the last few years we have been researching two modes of attention that people use at work: doing mode, in which people pay narrow attention to a specific task in order to control, predict and get it done efficiently; and spacious mode, in which people pay attention more expansively, without hurry, making them more receptive to relationships, interdependencies, and possibilities—like Soren's approach to cost-cutting. Spacious mode leads to critical benefits in the workplace, such as gaining insight into challenges, thinking strategically, spotting opportunities, building relationships, and sparking joy and motivation. Unfortunately, we've found that spacious thinking is regularly suppressed in favor of doing mode in organizations. This is hardly a surprise. We are living in a time of cultural obsession with productivity and achievement across all spheres of life. Our research—which has included a global survey of more than 3,000 employees, ongoing discussions with 50 global professionals, and interviews with leaders and those they lead—shows that employees looking to excel worry that shifting into spacious mode can be interpreted as a lack of efficiency or urgency. As a result, it feels career-limiting, and like it requires permission from a manager, so few employees do it regularly. While all employees have some agency to shift to spacious mode, leaders play a crucial role in making it more accessible at work because they can legitimize it as a good way to spend precious time (or not). In this article we'll show how leaders often unknowingly discourage spacious thinking on their teams, and what they can do to help instead. How Leaders Get in the Way Leaders and managers are the key to encouraging spacious thinking because their behaviors signal what is acceptable. Too often, managers are narrowly focused on achieving the next short-term deliverable which means their teams are stuck in doing mode too. And though the team's to-do list gets ticked off, there is no way of knowing whether those to-dos were the right ones, no space for a team to grow, no joy or interest to discover what is possible. This can suck the life out of a team. One senior manager we came across in our research was infamous in her organization for her catchphrase: 'Be clear, be quick, be gone.' In our conversations with her team and colleagues, it became clear that less-confident employees kept quiet around her and declined to raise complex, important challenges that would require inquiry and exploration. You may think that, unlike this manager, you already engage in spacious mode, so you don't need to worry. But leaders tend to overestimate how spacious their own behaviors are. For example, our research has shown that the more senior we are in a hierarchy, the more we think we are open to hearing others, when we are really not. Similarly, in our experience facilitating meetings, leaders almost always underestimate how much airtime they take up. Leaders also tend to mistakenly believe that it's easy for their direct reports to move into spacious mode without permission—or that it would be easy to ask for that permission. This is driven by ' advantage blindness,' which can cause those with higher standing in a hierarchy to underestimate the power they hold and the impact it has. Therefore leaders overestimate how approachable they are and how able those lower on the hierarchy are to choose their own course of action. How to Encourage Spacious Mode To give employees permission to spend time thinking, learning, innovating, and collaborating, you'll need to rethink how you communicate and which behaviors you reward. For example, Toni, a regional manager at a large U.S. retailer we spoke with during our research, counted herself lucky: 'My chief people officer has a real sense of spaciousness around her and the way she shows up. I feel like I've got a lot of permission and protection from her in my role.' Our research points to three behaviors of leaders and managers who enable their teams in this way: Focus on ideas instead of tasks. One of us (Megan) was working with a CEO who wanted his senior team to focus more on the bigger picture rather than day-to-day operations. Through their conversations, he realized that in his meetings he almost inevitably focused first (and often solely) on quarterly results. To expand the team's thinking, Megan suggested that he begin some meetings by asking, 'What hasn't gone well over the last few weeks, and what have you learned from that?' or 'How have you developed your team recently?' Over time, the team's conversations naturally began to shift more toward group-wide perspectives that bolstered their learning and development. Our survey showed that many employees feel that tasks are consistently prioritized over more spacious topics. They ranked learning, values, purpose, creativity, and relationships as topics they'd like to talk to their managers about above tasks. Managers need to structure meeting agendas in a way that includes these spacious-mode topics. Bring in novelty. We often meet in the same places, follow the same agendas with the same people, and assume that the same process can meet any number of different outcomes. It's almost heretical to suggest that a meeting doesn't have to end with actions to add to our already over-stuffed to-do lists. However, other outcomes might be far more important. For example, at a recent meeting at a life sciences company, participants told one of us (John) they found it 'cathartic and hopeful' that the agenda had been specifically designed to be an inquiring conversation rather than their usual action-focused drills. In the weeks following the meeting, participants' senior leadership reported feeling an increase in the team's energy to the point that they felt comfortable shifting away from their usual directive control. As a result, speed of decision making ramped up and the market agility that had been espoused came to life, as staff in the U.S. and Europe felt trusted to use their own judgment in co-ordinating their work. External facilitators and invited guests can bring in fresh ideas and perspectives. For example, different venues can inspire different sorts of conversations: a walk-and-talk or meeting outside might engage a more open mind than the goldfish bowl of a glass-walled meeting room in the bowels of a building. One manager we worked with bought his team a new book every quarter, which focused on a different sector or a broader industry- or society-wide issue, and then put some time aside to discuss what they'd read together. Other executives encourage their teams to get out of the office to experience the world as their customers do. When they do, the teams explain to us that these efforts help them to bring the wider context back into view, and that leads to valuable conversations about strategy and purpose. Encountering novelty jolts them to course-correct, keeping on track with customer demands rather than losing sight of those amidst shorter-term tasks and targets. The conversations also strengthened relationships in the teams, through sharing experiences and listening to different viewpoints. Value and reward spacious mode. Typically people who are visibly busy and get things done get rewarded. While there is nothing wrong with this—certainly doing mode is vital to high-performing teams—it needs to be complemented with recognition of team members who listen, explore, challenge, and invite the rest of the team to look up and around. Elaine was introduced to us by her peer, Ben, who had recommended we speak to her for our research. He noted that in the high-pressured transformation project they were leading, Elaine had, on several occasions, challenged the team's viewpoint in a meeting and forced them to consider alternative courses of action. At the time, he reflected, there was some frustration in the team at being held up, but the team agreed that the decisions they ended up making in the spacious mode that Elaine had brought into the conversation were wiser than those they had been about to make while in doing mode. Elaine and Ben's manager recognized this not simply by complimenting Elaine, but by spending time explaining how her attention had benefited the program. After this, when the team faced an important, adaptive challenge, they were more comfortable in pausing to examine and challenge key decisions. Spacious mode might be hard for you to see as a manager. Consider how your biases might play into this: The same behavior that in one employee may be labeled as annoying, wasteful and lazy, when practiced by someone else (especially someone who is already more powerful) can be seen as strategic and evidence of their readiness to continue moving up the managerial hierarchy. If you are dismayed to see a team member step back from doing mode, ask yourself whether they're actually engaged in spacious mode. We have created managerial and organizational norms which over-privilege doing mode and hide the value of spacious mode. But only when insights from spacious mode guide teams' actions in doing mode can leaders be sure that team members are focused on doing the right work in the right ways. There needs to be a rebalancing of the relationship between these modes if organizations are to thrive and perform.
Forbes
28-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Men's Health At Work: A Silent Threat To Culture And Productivity
Men's health in the workplace is a silent issue brewing. In Corporate America, you'll rarely hear male leaders admit they "need a break" or openly ask for help. Yet behind the scenes, many high-performing men are silently burning out, neglecting their well-being, and pushing onward until something breaks. Men's health is lagging behind that of women. As of 2023, U.S. men live, on average, 5.3 years fewer than women—75.8 years compared to 81.1. As it pertains to the workplace, according to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, psychological distress in men drives $8,432 per person annually in presenteeism losses and $2,796 in absenteeism, which is double the impact seen in women. June may be Men's Health Month, but for corporate America, men's health needs a 365-day focus. The cost of ignoring it is significant: diminished productivity, increasing healthcare claims, leadership attrition, and untapped potential not realized. Addressing this requires reframing men's health and how organizations approach performance, well-being, and leadership sustainability, starting with these three foundational shifts. Rest Doesn't Equate To Weakness Or Lower Ambition In many high-pressure environments, rest is viewed as a luxury or, worse, a risk. Taking a break can feel like you're falling behind. This mentality quietly undermines leaders' ability to operate at their highest level. Just as athletes suffer when recovery is skipped, so too do executives. When rest and circadian-aligned living are neglected, judgment erodes, creativity stagnates, and leaders become reactive rather than responsive. As burnout and retention strategist Chazz Scott shared, "Most people can't say, 'I took a break today and still felt successful.'" That quiet guilt, he noted, is deeply embedded in many male leaders and often stems from inherited beliefs that rest equals weakness. However, the reality is the opposite. Rest, recovery, and restoration aren't the enemies of ambition. Instead, they're essential components of your optimal performance infrastructure. Ignoring these pillars doesn't just affect the leader; it affects everyone downstream. Leaders can build systems and cultures that support performance and recovery through: Well-Being Isn't A One-Size-Fits-All Equation There's been a much-needed shift toward prioritizing well-being in the workplace. However, most initiatives still fall short. While meditation apps and fitness challenges are well-intentioned, they often miss the mark, especially for male leaders navigating unique physiological, cultural, and socioeconomic stressors. Health risks are not distributed equally. Black men, for instance, face significantly higher rates of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic stress, regardless of income level or professional title. Potential reasoning for this is, in some circles, attributed to what researchers call the weathering effect: the cumulative toll of enduring racialized stress over time, which accelerates biological aging and worsens long-term health outcomes. As Justin Grant, author of Company Men: A Wellness Guide for Black Men in Corporate America, shares, the higher Black men rise in corporate spaces, the more likely they are to experience anxiety, isolation, and declining health. And they're not alone. Latino, Asian, and even first-generation professionals each face distinct challenges that generic wellness programs don't address. A more precise and culturally strong wellness strategy might start with: Guard Your Mind And Don't Marginalize Yourself For many male leaders, performance and identity become inseparable. Output becomes an ever-growing proxy for self-worth. Titles become personalities. And over time, the line between the person and position blurs. In this environment, mental health isn't just about managing stress. It's about preserving a sturdy sense of self. As Scott noted, when leaders operate in emotional isolation, they lose what he calls "social capital": the trust, rapport, and influence required for meaningful and effective leadership. The health risks are serious. A study published in World Psychiatry found that isolation and a lack of social support increase the risk of burnout, anxiety, depression, and PTSD in professionals—no amount of success or compensation shields against this erosion. High performance doesn't require abandoning your identity. Yet many men, in pursuit of growth and achievement, entirely sacrifice their hobbies, passions, and relationships, only to arrive at the top with fractured lives. Leaders rooted in their identity and a strong sense of self, rather than just achievement and accolades, tend to be more resilient. Organizations can support this by: Men's Health in Corporate America Men's health struggles don't show up on quarterly reports until it's too late. By then, they've already surfaced as stalled leadership pipelines, costly turnover, disengaged teams, and declining innovation. High-performing men aren't immune to exhaustion, disconnection, or identity loss. They're often the most skilled at hiding it. When that happens, companies not only lose talent but also trust, longevity, and untapped potential. Much like women's health, the well-being of your male leaders isn't just a personal matter; it's a business imperative. And it's also key to winning the future of work.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Does mental health first aid work?
If you hurt yourself at work, chances are you'll be treated by a first aider. But mental health problems aren't always as straightforward as a cut or sprain – and it isn't always obvious what to do or who to ask for help. This is where mental health first aiders come in. Volunteers usually undergo a two-day training course to identify, understand and respond to the first signs of mental health challenges or emotional distress among workers. But they aren't psychologists or therapists; they are simply supposed to listen and direct people to mental health services, with the aim of tackling the growing problem of poor mental health in workplaces. Now, more than 20,000 employers have used Mental Health First Aid England to train staff members to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health challenges among workers. According to MHFA England, more than 1 million people have now been trained to be mental health first aiders. But does it really work? There is no denying that something needs to change in our workplaces. One in seven people in the UK workplace are currently experiencing mental health problems – and one in four people in the UK feel stressed more days a month than they don't. Despite this, many workers still feel unable to speak to their employers about a mental health problem. 'The purpose of a mental health first aider is to act as an accessible, trained peer who can identify early signs of mental distress, offer initial support, and guide colleagues toward appropriate professional help,' says Maria-Teresa Daher-Cusack, an organisational psychologist at Health Assured. Read more: How employers can prevent mental health crises at work They aren't expected to diagnose or treat mental health conditions. Instead, they are trained to listen without judgement and signpost individuals to resources such as Employee Assistance Programmes, GPs or therapists. Essentially, mental health first aiders serve as an initial point of support for individuals who are struggling, and research shows early intervention is widely associated with more positive outcomes for individuals. 'Their presence helps to normalise conversations around mental health, reduce stigma, and create a more open and supportive workplace culture,' says Daher-Cusack. 'Mental health first aiders can be a vital part of a broader wellbeing strategy. They offer a human connection at a time when someone might be feeling isolated or overwhelmed. Sometimes, just knowing there's someone approachable nearby can make all the difference.' It's easy to see why the scheme has become so popular. It's quick, easy and relatively inexpensive to train a volunteer to be a mental health first aider. In 2023, Conservative MP Dean Russell even proposed that all employers should be legally required to offer mental health first aid training. But, experts caution that it's not a silver bullet. In fact, there is mixed evidence as to whether it makes a significant difference to workplace mental health overall. A systematic review of nine studies published in 2023 found 'insufficient evidence' that the scheme 'improves the helping behaviours of trainees or the mental health of recipients'. Another study, in which researchers reviewed 21 trials of mental health first aid training involving 22,604 participants, found no reliable evidence to suggest that the programme is effective. And, studies examining the practice were found to be at a "high risk of bias". A lack of clear evidence doesn't necessarily mean that mental health first aid doesn't work. However, experts have highlighted that there are limitations. It doesn't address the wider considerations of supporting mental health at work, such as flexibility, culture, leadership and accessing professional support. 'Wellbeing initiatives underpinned by people practices as well as policies, and embedded in the culture of an organisation, can contribute to increased feelings of psychological safety at work. MHFA's can be a part of that mix for sure, but only a part of it,' says counselling directory member Nadia DiLuzio. According to DiLuzio, a downfall of mental health first aid is that it might be the workplace itself causing, contributing to or exacerbating mental health challenges. Therefore, a volunteer isn't likely to address the underlying problem. Read more: Why the pressure to be liked at work is holding women back Another commonly cited concern is the limited scope of training. 'Most MHFA courses last just one or two days – enough to build awareness and basic skills, but not sufficient to equip someone to handle complex or high-risk situations,' says Daher-Cusack. 'There is also a risk that organisations may over-rely on MHFAs or treat the initiative as a tick-box exercise. Without ongoing support, supervision, and integration into a wider mental health strategy, the impact can be limited and the emotional burden on the first aider can be significant.' Should employers abandon mental health first aid? Not necessarily. It can be effective, but only as part of a broader, systemic approach to workplace wellbeing. This includes fostering a culture of openness, clear referral pathways, access to professional support, and flexible work options. A 2023 University of Pittsburgh study found that companies offering flexible hours and locations saw significantly lower rates of depression. 'As the conversation around mental health in the workplace continues to evolve, mental health first aiders represent a promising step forward,' says Daher-Cusack. 'But like any first aid measure, their value lies in what happens next: the care, the follow-up, and the commitment to long-term wellbeing.' Read more: How to cope with pregnancy sickness at work How the maternity system is failing self-employed women Why neurodivergent workers pay the price for poor communication
