Wellness @ Work: Beyond Policy & Into Leadership
This week’s newsletter explores:
🌱 The hidden cost of discomfort
🌱 3 leadership shifts that impact wellness
🌱 Practical steps you can start today
Let’s explore what makes AI a strategic partner — and how you can lead with AI, not just use it.
Imagine a system that:
Flags deadline risks before they become crises
Suggests resource shifts based on real-time capacity
Automatically compiles status updates from email, chat, and tools
This isn’t future talk. This is happening now—and it’s changing how projects are delivered and teams are led.
🌿 Wellness at Work
When most organizations talk about wellness at work, the conversation usually starts with policies: PTO, sick leave, gym stipends, maybe even meditation apps and definitely "work-life balance". Don’t get me wrong—those are valuable tools.
But here’s the truth: policies don’t create wellness. Leadership does.
A policy is paper. Culture is lived.
And if employees don’t feel comfortable enough to actually use those benefits—without fear of judgment, backlash, or silent penalties—then the policy is meaningless.
An important note on the "Culture is lived" - culture is not regurgitation of things you think people should hear. When you simply regurgitate things you were told in "Leadership 101", people know. PEOPLE. KNOW. If you don't believe the words you're using, if you don't mean them, spend some time with yourself and ask yourself hard questions like, "Why do I want this leadership role?".
When you are just regurgitation, you are not building trust (for good reason). This is what you're building -
🚩 The Hidden Cost of Discomfort
Think about your team. Do they feel safe enough to say:
“I need a break.”
“I’m overwhelmed.”
“I don’t understand this.”
If the answer is no, the cost is higher than you think.
When employees don’t feel safe to speak up, stress compounds silently. Engagement drops. Turnover creeps up. Health deteriorates. Trust deteriorates. Team members start going around you to get things done.
And the organization ends up paying for it—financially and culturally.
Workplace wellness isn’t a yoga session at lunch. It’s creating an environment where employees can show up as humans without fear. Where they know they'll be supported as humans.
🌱 The Leadership Shift
Here’s the key: Wellness is a leadership responsibility, not just an HR checkbox.
Strong leaders understand that how people feel at work directly impacts how they perform. And the culture we create as leaders determines whether employees can truly be well.
Four essential shifts leaders can make:
Create Psychological Safety When employees know they can ask questions, admit mistakes, or share concerns without fear of punishment, they’re more resilient and innovative. This will take courage on your part. We'll talk more about courage next week.
Model Healthy Behavior If you never log off, never take vacation, and glorify “always being on,” your team won’t feel comfortable doing it either. Modeling balance isn’t weakness—it’s leadership.
GRANT Healthy Behavior If it's only ok for you to take time off, and you criticize your team when they take their allocated time off, or you constantly reach out when they're off, you're not granting your team any health benefits. You're not allowing them to recharge. You're not showing them that they are important. You're showing them that you are important.
Encourage Honest Conversations Checking in with “How are you?” is nice. Following it with, “What do you need to be well here?”—and listening—is leadership. Actually having real connection points in these conversations is even better. Do you know your team? Are you sure? What if your conversations started more like this - "How are you? You seem a little stressed this week, is there anything I can do to help?" or this - "Is everything going alright? You aren't speaking up in our team touchpoints like you usually do."?
🔑 Practical Steps for Leaders
Here’s how to turn theory into practice:
Ask and Act: Regularly ask your team what they need to feel supported—and follow through. Empty questions erode trust. Action builds it. (Again, don't use a cookie cutter question to get these answers. Have real conversations.)
Normalize Breaks: Treat breaks as productivity boosters, not time wasted. Encourage people to step away, recharge, and return focused.
Balance Accountability with Compassion: You can still demand excellence while giving space for humanity. The two are not opposites—they’re partners.
📖 A Real Example
We've seen more "unlimited PTO". On paper, it's generous.
A colleague of mine saw this shift in their own workplace and found that in practice, employees started taking less time off than before. Why? Because leaders never modeled it. They praised “hustle” over balance. People were afraid to use the time off because the time allocated wasn't hard documented and no one was showing them they could use it.
LUCKILY, leadership noticed (or got burnt out or both) and finally shifted—blocking time off on their own calendars, encouraging unplugged vacations, and openly talking about rest—employees followed. Productivity rose. Burnout dropped. Retention improved.
Not because of a new policy. But because of new leadership behavior.
✨ The Takeaway
Wellness isn’t about adding another HR policy. It’s about creating a culture where employees feel safe, supported, and human.
When leaders prioritize wellness, employees don’t just stay healthy—they stay engaged, loyal, and creative.
As leaders, we have a choice: Do we want our wellness program to be a checklist—or a culture shift?
Created with © systeme.io