Spring has sprung yet another new month. May is one of my favorites and also Mental Health Awareness Month – a perfect reminder that our role as leaders is to take care of our own well-being as well as our staff and teams.
Unfortunately, the world is currently not doing this very well, at least when it comes to mid-level managers, as evidenced by Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workforce report. In addition to low employee engagement holding back global worker productivity, the report also indicated that global employee well-being has fallen for a second consecutive year, particularly among managers again.
As my own research has shown, this level of leadership today has more work to do on a tighter budget with new teams. I frequently advocate for sponsoring leadership and team coaching as a solution for disengagement and burnout at this level. I’m pleased to share Gallup’s corresponding findings:
“The best organizations Gallup has studied put manager training and development at the center of their strategy. Even rudimentary training shows benefits to engagement. However, managers who receive best-practice training have seen their own engagement and their team’s engagement improve substantially. Management performance metrics improved by 20% to 28%.”
One clear way to take care of your staff is to continue to invest in their development, even when budgets are tight. Much of today’s workplace stress is driven by fear of being laid off or losing staff resources because of economic uncertainty. A recent survey from Clarify Capital indicates that 1 in 3 Americans experience “layoff anxiety.” This means that nearly 33% of everyday stress may be linked to worries about layoffs and the overall state of the business environment.
Investing in leadership development helps eliminate layoff anxiety and sends the message ‘you matter and your work matters’ even if there are cutbacks in other areas.
Another way to support workplace well-being is by developing opportunities for connection and community in your organization, especially hybrid ones. Workplace loneliness is a real thing that can cause all kinds of wellbeing and mental health issues. Another study found that when people lacked connection, they were 128% more lonely, 107% more anxious, 78% more likely to feel burned out and 49% more stressed.
This week, I’m attending Natcon, the largest conference for mental health and substance use professionals. I’m looking forward to meeting with other Mental Health First Aid instructors from around the country to learn how they are helping workplaces break the stigma and create more mentally healthy environments.
⬇ Download: The Business Case for Connection and Community