25-𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐈𝐌 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐃𝐮𝐞 𝐓𝐨 ‘𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞’

This news has been making the rounds for the past few days. This person worked at one of the top consulting companies, a place that many think is great for career growth and success. But this tragic event shows a big problem behind the scenes of these high-level jobs: too much stress from work and a bad work environment can really harm people, especially younger workers.

Organizations are experiencing extreme cost pressures, pushing hard to make more money and be the best, but this can mean they need to pay more attention to how this pressure affects their workers.

Even as work has changed, with people first working from home and then being asked to come back to the office with threats of not getting promotions or raises if they don’t, it shows companies care more about the work than the workers’ happiness. This is leading to a revolution of its own kind, be it the Great Resignation, Digital Nomadism, Boundary Setting, Anti-Work Movement, or even Quiet Quitting.

Whenever I have spoken to leaders, their common confession is, “I don’t think we’re doing enough to get young workers ready to be leaders. Our focus always is on skills related to the job, not enough on understanding people, managing teams, and being emotionally smart.”

So now the question is, what can be done to address this?

☑️Redefining Success: See success as more than just profits, including how happy and healthy their employees are. Celebrating both the results and the effort, including mental health and balancing work with life, is key.

☑️Leadership Development: Invest in training for leaders on a war footing. Try balancing technical skills with learning how to understand and care for people, communicate well, and handle stress.

☑️Focus on Outcomes: The pandemic showed us how valuable flexible work is. Businesses should understand that being in the office and clocking 9 hours isn’t the only way to achieve productivity.

☑️Mentorship and Support: Invest in strong mentorship programs and peer support groups to give young workers the advice and community they need to face work challenges confidently.

☑️ Work-life balance: Companies must ensure policies are in place to help employees manage work and personal life, such as clear work hours, encouraging breaks, and access to health resources.

☑️ Listen and Speak: A workplace where feedback is valued and acted upon can improve company culture. Regularly checking in with employees can prevent problems from getting worse.

Modern work demands a new approach from both companies and workers. It shouldn’t have taken the loss of a young professional to work stress to realize the urgent need to care more about employee well-being.

What steps can we all take to make a work culture that cares as much about well-being as success?

#wellbeing #stressmanagement #leadership #empathy