4 corporate wellness myths holding companies back

4 workplace wellness myths debunked

November 27, 2024 5:30 AM

A woman rubs her temples while looking down at her laptop; she sits in front of large glass window.

While the onset of the pandemic pushed many employers to emphasize the importance of mental health and work-life balance, it's unclear whether corporate culture in the U.S. has genuinely improved in the last five years.

According to the American Psychology Association, 57% of workers are suffering from the negative impacts of burnout, citing feelings of emotional exhaustion, irritability and anger. And yet, Mercer, a consulting firm, found that 94% of employers with 500 or more employees have increased their mental health coverage or wellness-related benefits in the last three years. Does that mean employers' efforts are in vain?

Sarah Sarkis, senior director of performance psychology at corporate and athletic coaching provider Exos, asks that employers turn their attention to their workplace culture and consider what is holding employees back from utilizing available resources.

"Exos came from the world of elite athletes," says Sarkis. "We had this model: Athletes train, they rest and they have game day. When we ask someone to be at peak performance, there is a fewer number of things on their calendar. But for corporate environments, it's game day every day."

Sarkis notes that corporate culture doesn't traditionally schedule time dedicated to rest and recovery, and misconceptions around what productivity should look like drive employees to overwork themselves. However, leaders can change a lot about their workplace just by changing their mindset, underscores Sarkis.

Here are four workplace wellness myths that are keeping burnout high:

Longer hours equals more productivity

This prevailing idea of productivity was shaken up by the pandemic, but Sarkis knows some leaders still hold onto it.

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"This myth is very much rooted in the hustle culture mentality, and it works against how humans work," she says. "What actually works is creating periods of time for uninterrupted deep, dedicated work, pockets of intentional rest and recovery, and then pockets of meetings or more interactive work components."

For Sarkis, it should be a red flag to leaders if they see team members working long days for weeks on end. That's not necessarily a sign of productivity but a sign that people are being overtasked or that the company lacks structural organization.

"When we intentionally spend our energy, we need less hours to do equally as good, if not better, work," says Sarkis. "Just because your people are logging in for 100 hours a week, that doesn't mean that's excellent work."

Fewer work days is the only answer

While the concept of a four-day workweek is an exciting one, Sarkis understands that many employers aren't confident that their company could successfully make the transition. However, employers can still empower employees to have more control over their schedules, from maintaining work-from-home days to cutting meetings down by ten minutes to give workers a little more time back in their day.

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"You don't have to go to a four-day work week in order to help your colleagues feel as though they have more autonomy over their schedule," says Sarkis. "Without huge organizational change, you can give them pockets of scheduling and autonomy, and it goes a really long way."

Top performers don’t rest

Sarkis reiterates that productivity isn't the result of overworking. She warns employers that any spikes in performance from long hours and limited days off aren't sustainable. And once burnout sets in, workers won't be able to keep up the impossible pace they set for themselves. Again, Sarkis asks leaders to value rest.

"This is just the myth of all myths," says Sarkis. "We love a victory story. We love overnight success. But we need to demystify what's going on under the hood of sustainable high performance."

Changes to workplace culture norms are too risky

While Sarkis understands that many people are hesitant to veer from what they know, embracing new ways of working will ultimately pay off. She encourages leaders to model the behavior they want to see from their team, including adding breaks in the work calendars, utilizing wellness benefits and being vocal about their intentions to stay offline outside of work hours. Employees will likely follow their lead.

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"The only thing more expensive and disruptive we could do right now is to keep the status quo going," says Sarkis. "There's zero evidence that having people essentially destroy themselves physically, emotionally and psychologically in pursuit of organizational goals pays off. That research is never going to come out. As soon as a leader has bought into this idea themselves, the ripple effect, the unconscious permission that happens throughout the organizational structure, is really undeniable."