Top 4 wellbeing insights of 2024

Can you believe it? We’re halfway through the year. As a midpoint reflection, I peeked at the social content I’ve shared so far this year to identify what’s resonating the most. Here’s what rose to the top: People want to work in environments that enrich their wellbeing.

Let’s break down 4 key learnings of 2024 (so far): ​

1. Creating a “Safe Harbor” at work is foundational to organizational success. 

In a world of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), It’s more imperative than ever that leaders create a “Safe Harbor”—a culture of psychological safety—where employees feel secure expressing their opinions without fear of negative consequences. This topic struck a nerve with more than 1200 of you within our community.

Amy Edmondson, researcher and Harvard Business School professor, describes team psychological safety as an absence of interpersonal fear. When psychological safety is present, people can more freely speak up about mistakes, take risks, and share ideas. Watch my conversation with Amy here as we delve deeper into what it means to “Create a Safe Harbor.”

As organizational psychologist Adam Grant puts it, “In cultures of integrity…people voice their views, and respectful debate improves decisions.” ​

Peek at the comments and share your own thoughts here

Airplanes have crashed, financial institutions have collapsed, patients have died unnecessarily, and catastrophic accidents have occurred on job sites — all due to individuals within these organizations feeling afraid to speak up. Creating a Safe Harbor, where psychological safety reigns, is not about being “soft.” It’s about blending psychological safety with accountability. When a team is in this zone, it is more likely to be a higher performing team, there is less likely to be a safety incident, and people are more likely to step forward if they’re having a mental health issue.
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2. And for new hires — psychological safety can erode quickly, so sustaining it is key.

When I posted this topic on LinkedIn, people commented with firsthand stories of new hires who were quickly let down by their workplaces. Studies show that new hires often face "reality shocks" when their expectations clash with the reality of their new environment. Have you ever experienced something like that? 

In a Harvard Business Review article, Derrick P. Bransby, Michaela J. Kerrissey, and Amy Edmondson reveal that psychological safety for new hires can drop quickly. They found that new employees come in with very high levels of psychological safety — likely because they’re hopeful, excited, and optimistic about their new workplace. Yet as the dust settles, they realize that things aren’t quite what they hoped they would be. And with just one problematic interaction, psychological safety can begin to crumble. 

While intentional effort and time must be spent creating a Safe Harbor at work, leadership frequently misses the opportunity to sustain the psychological safety of their new hires. To foster that energy, leaders should look to giving middle managers the right training and tools for onboarding their newest additions (both practically and emotionally). ​

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Managers & Leaders at Healthstat adopt their favorite power pose during a Managers on the Move Workshop.

​EMPOWER YOUR MANAGERS TO NURTURE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY WITH OUR MANAGERS ON THE MOVE 3-PART SERIES. LEARN MORE HERE. 

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3. The data is in: the success of your wellbeing programs hinges on your company culture.

​In January, a study came out indicating that – SURPRISE! – workplace wellness programs aren’t working. 

British researcher William J. Fleming, a fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center, analyzed survey responses from 46,336 workers at companies that offer wellness programs. Upshot: With one notable exception, employees weren’t healthier – or happier – because of these well-intended programs. And, in some cases, they were worse off.

As I shared this news and insights on my LinkedIn post, so many people were ready to chime in and passionately discuss it. The research hit home on how workplace wellbeing and culture are so closely tied together. 

Put another way: No program, no mindfulness app, no exercise class, no platform can stand up to what Fleming characterizes as the “core organizational practices,” i.e.:

• How meetings are run,
• How people are treated day in and day out,
• How much people feel a sense of belonging at work,
• What people’s workloads are like,
• Whether or not there’s a perceived sense of fairness at work,
• How performance reviews are conducted,
• Whether or not people are getting paid adequately for the work they do.

It’s the systems, the broader organizational culture, and how teams work together that need to be addressed – not the individual employees getting barraged with more wellness “to dos.” 

Addressing those deeply entrenched working practices is HARD WORK. Get started here with suggestions on how organizations can start improving these core practices. 

Or, as I like to put it — we keep targeting the individual (aka, “the fish”)— when, instead, organizations need to address how the work gets done (aka, “the water”).

The Modern People Leader podcast. Listen in here.

​4. And it’s confirmed: having a friend at work matters.
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​In an almost 80-year-old study on human life, the Harvard Study of Adult Development found that good genetics do not greatly influence our health; rather, it’s having warm, meaningful relationships that make us happier and healthier.

If personal connection is THIS powerful, we should sprinkle it in every area of our lives—even at work. 

Longstanding data from Gallup shows that those who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be highly engaged in their work. As we know, high employee engagement is connected to better company outcomes for profitability, wellbeing, and productivity. Yet as I reported on LinkedIn’s survey of U.S workers, just over half of them say they have a friend at work.  

How can we encourage deeper connections? Sure, your company can host more team-building events or Zoom happy hours, but if the workplace norm is to keep your guard up, employees are not going to break the ice and dive deep. 

Is it the CEO who should be taking the charge? The HR department? Yes, their support certainly helps, but the change in company candor and team psychological safety comes from managers. Deloitte, Gallup, and McKinsey all agree - that managers are really the key to the employee experience (read more about it HERE). 

Employees gauge just how authentic and vulnerable they can be by looking at their managers as models for what’s acceptable/encouraged. If a manager creates opportunities for real conversations, positivity, and fun, then employees will interact in those same ways with each other. 

Friendships aren’t just for fun; they’re essential for our wellbeing, too!

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Laura Putnam

​​Laura Putnam is a leading catalyst for wellbeing at work, an international public speaker, and author of Workplace Wellness That Works. As CEO of Motion Infusion and creator of the leadership training program Managers on the Move, she infuses wellbeing into the workplace to help employees, teams and organizations thrive. You can follow her on Twitter @MotionInfusion.