After landing what I thought was my “C-suite dream job,” I expected to finally feel successful. Instead, I mostly felt stressed.
There were moments of pride, joy and fun sprinkled in — but they were the exception, not the rule. Most days, stress was running the show, and success and joy felt like moving targets I couldn’t quite reach.
There was a significant gap between how joyful I expected this dream job to feel and how joyful it actually felt. I was exhausted, overwhelmed and confused. This isn’t what success was supposed to feel like… was it?
It turns out my experience is far from unique.
In 2018, management consulting firm Kearney began researching the state of joy at work and identified what they called the joy gap. Across all generations, geographies and organizational levels, 90% of working adults reported expecting to experience a substantial degree of joy at work; however, only 37% reported this as their actual experience.
In 2026, I led a national research study on the intersection of stress and joy in the modern workplace and here’s what I learned: the gap between what we hoped work would feel like and what it actually feels like isn’t a personal failure. It’s a cultural one.
Why closing the joy gap matters
This gap matters because the costs of unhappy, chronically stressed workplaces are not abstract.
Researchers working to develop a blueprint for joy in the workplace wrote in the European Journal of Radiology that “the costs associated with an unhappy employment environment are colossal,” citing outcomes such as increased absenteeism, high turnover and reduced productivity. The same research found that positive emotional associations with work lead to higher engagement, effectiveness and work quality.
Global health authorities agree that this is not a fringe issue. In 2019, the World Health Organization officially classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon, recognizing chronic workplace stress as a serious organizational health problem rather than an individual weakness.
And decades of organizational psychology research show that psychological safety — the belief that it’s safe to speak up, ask for help and make mistakes — is a foundational driver of performance, learning and innovation. Google’s well-known Project Aristotle found that psychological safety was the single most important factor distinguishing high-performing teams.
In other words: joy is not a “nice to have.” It’s an operational advantage.
The myth that widens the joy gap
When I started looking for answers, I discovered a myth that had been sabotaging me — and I suspect it’s been sabotaging a lot of leaders too: Stress is the price we pay for success.
That myth isn’t just misguided; it’s dangerous. It fuels overwork, self-doubt and relentless pressure to do more, prove more and be more. It normalizes chronic stress and celebrates burnout like ambition’s loyal sidekick.
But here’s what I’ve learned through research, hundreds of conversations with leaders and teams and my own lived experience: Stress isn’t the price you pay for success — it’s the thief that steals it.
Chronic stress keeps people’s nervous systems in survival mode. Neuroscience shows that when the brain is focused on threat and pressure, it has less capacity for creativity, learning, connection and strategic thinking — exactly the capabilities modern organizations depend on.
Over time, stress reshapes what people come to accept as normal. Expectations shrink. Overwork becomes a badge of honor. Exhaustion becomes proof of commitment. Trust and belonging erode. People stop believing that work can be joyful at all — turning what they hoped work would be into something they merely endure.
That is how stress quietly widens the joy gap.
Where joy actually comes from
At the height of my burnout, two questions changed my life:
- What are your hobbies?
- What do you do for fun?
I couldn’t answer either one. I didn’t even know what “fun” was.
In an interview on NPR, Catherine Price, author of The Power of Fun, defines fun as a combination of three states: playfulness, connection and flow. Price’s recipe for fun includes adopting a lighthearted attitude, creating a special, shared experience with others and committing to being active, engaged and present.
This maps closely to what Kearney found in its research on workplace joy. In Joy Works: Empowering Teams in the New Era of Work, Kearney Chairman Emeritus and Partner Alex Liu argues that joy at work isn’t a luxury — it’s a leadership responsibility. “Why,” he asks, “would we settle for anything less than joy at work?”
In the book, Liu offers a practical, step-by-step blueprint for building joy using three key drivers that determine employee happiness: people, praise and purpose — the same core elements Kearney identified in its joy gap research.
In practice, that looks like:
- Giving specific praise to recognize effort and impact
- Connecting individual work to a meaningful organizational purpose
- Nurturing social connections and encouraging lightheartedness on teams
As one Kearney survey respondent put it: “When I can help customers and make them happy, that brings me joy.”
Another described joy as emerging from shared experiences with colleagues: “When I was with my fellow colleagues, and we were doing a team exercise, we got along so well together and had so much fun we couldn’t stop laughing.”
These are not frivolous moments. They are the building blocks of engagement, belonging and sustainable performance.
A science-backed practice: “New and good”
While studying stress resilience through Harvard Medical School’s executive education program, our faculty began every session with a practice called New and Good.
Each person shares one small positive thing — something new and something good.
Why start serious leadership training this way? Because it works.
Positive psychology research shows that sharing good news triggers dopamine in the brain, improving mood and openness. Hearing others’ good news has a similar effect. These micro-moments of positivity improve psychological safety, broaden thinking and support better decision-making.
I’ve used this practice in countless facilitations. Recently, I used it at an all-day city council retreat. The agenda was heavy. Tensions were high. The check-in brought levity (one person joked about wanting to be golfing) and connection (another shared that their daughter was heading to college on a full scholarship, and the room erupted in applause).
The hard work was still waiting for us — but the emotional tone of the room had shifted. Stress was still present, but so was joy.
Start with simple, low-effort wins
The European Journal of Radiology researchers offer concrete, low-cost ways to start building joy into workplace culture: Appoint a wellness ambassador, brighten the space with color and plants, recognize employees regularly, celebrate milestones, share birthdays, offer brief meditation sessions and create communal areas for connection.
We often underestimate how powerful small moments of joy can be, especially at work. A quick laugh in the hallway, a moment of appreciation or walking to grab coffee together might seem insignificant – but these small moments of joy help build psychological safety and team cohesion. In other words: joy doesn’t just feel good – it does good.
For longer-term impact, the research suggests holding a mission/vision retreat, forming a compensation and equity committee, celebrating achievements, opening meetings with gratitude and adopting a servant-leadership philosophy that supports growth and shared credit.
Closing the joy gap is a leadership choice
The joy gap isn’t inevitable. It’s the result of cultural choices.
When leaders stop treating stress as a virtue and start designing for joy, everything changes: engagement rises, trust deepens and performance becomes sustainable.
Joy isn’t a distraction from success. It’s how success becomes worth sustaining.
Source – https://www.smartbrief.com/original/the-joy-gap-whats-missing-in-the-modern-workplace