Everyone talks about AI. Meanwhile, your people are burning out.

Mental health at work – from crisis to opportunity

We talk endlessly about sustainability, innovation and AI. But meanwhile, workplaces worldwide are cracking under pressure. Gallup even calls it a mental health pandemic.

The World Health Organization reports that 44% of employees feel stressed every single day. Depression and anxiety cost businesses nearly 1 trillion USD each year – equal to 12 billion lost workdays.

Europe is in even deeper trouble: the lowest engagement rates in the world, sky-high stress, and billions lost in productivity. In the Netherlands alone, almost one in three employees struggles with work-related mental health complaints.

This is not an isolated issue. This is a system under strain.

Where it goes wrong

For many, work has become the biggest stressor of the day. Tasks keep piling up, expectations keep rising, and managers often lack the skills to spot early warning signs.

I often hear from managers: “I want to have the conversation, but I don’t know how”. That honesty is the real starting point. Without open conversations and genuine listening, signals stay invisible.

Yet most organizations still rely on absenteeism as their main KPI. But absenteeism is a rear-view mirror: by the time you see it, the damage is already done. And a low absenteeism rate doesn’t mean people are thriving. It may just as well mean presenteeism, where employees keep working while unwell. That hidden cost is often even higher than absence itself.

And no, a fruit basket or mindfulness app won’t solve it. That’s a band-aid on a broken bone. The real issue lies in how work is designed, and how leaders connect with their people.

What science tells us

For decades, psychology has shown that mental health isn’t vague or “soft”. It’s measurable, manageable and deeply tied to performance. Three insights stand out:

Energy in balance The Job Demands-Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti) shows what many employees feel every day: heavy workloads drain, but autonomy, recognition and support refill the tank. Without that balance, stress builds until people break.
Basic human needs Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) highlights three universal drivers of wellbeing: autonomy, connection and competence. If these needs aren’t met, motivation drops and burnout risk rises. When they are, people thrive.
Safety and meaning Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety proves that teams perform best when people feel safe to speak up. Combine that with Seligman’s PERMA framework – positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment – and the recipe for sustainable wellbeing is clear.
Gallup confirms it with hard numbers: employees who feel recognized, use their strengths and find meaning in their work are not only healthier, but significantly more productive.

The bottom line: wellbeing is not a “nice to have”, it’s the backbone of performance and resilience.

The manager’s pivotal role

Research is remarkably consistent: managers make or break the employee experience. Gallup estimates they explain up to 70% of the differences in team engagement. McKinsey shows poor leadership predicts turnover more strongly than pay. Harvard Business Review finds that empathetic managers boost both innovation and health. And the WHO underlines that managers are critical in preventing work-related mental health problems.

Here’s the paradox: many managers are brilliant technical experts – but never trained to lead people. Diplomas and certifications sharpen their professional skills, but none prepare them for the human side of leadership: listening, spotting early warning signs, having tough conversations. Yet from the moment they step into management, that becomes their biggest responsibility.

We ask them to lead people without ever teaching them how. The result? Stress signals remain unseen, engagement slips away, and organizations pay the price in burnout and turnover.

Soft skills are hard business

There’s still a myth that empathy and listening make managers “vulnerable” or “weak”. The data says otherwise. Gallup shows:

Teams with engaged managers are 18% more productive.
Turnover drops by up to 43% when employees feel supported and recognized.
Employees who feel heard are 71% less likely to experience burnout.
These are not soft outcomes, they’re hard business results. One genuine conversation can mean the difference between burnout and growth.

From crisis to opportunity

The numbers are alarming, but this is not a lost cause. It can be a turning point.

Organizations that invest in empathetic leadership, structural support and a strengths-based culture win twice: healthier people and better performance.

Mental health is not a luxury, not a “nice to have”, it’s a core part of business strategy.

What you can do tomorrow

Ask your team: “What gave you energy this week, and what drained it?”
Plan one-on-one conversations that are not about numbers, but about the person.
Put mental health on the management agenda as consistently as financial KPIs.
They seem small steps but they make a big impact.

My question to you

When was the last time your board discussed mental health with the same urgency as revenue or KPIs?

Further reading

Gallup (2023): Worldwide, 44% of employees say they experienced stress a lot of the previous day
World Health Organization (2022): Mental health at work: Fact sheet
McKinsey & Company (2021): Addressing employee burnout: Are you solving the right problem?
Harvard Business Review (2022): Stressed, sad, and anxious: A snapshot of the global workforce
Amy Edmondson (2019): The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth – Wiley link