Rising burnout and low engagement are undermining productivity, even as many employees report generally good health and happiness at work, according to a global report from Sodexo.
Globally, nearly half (48 per cent) of employees are grappling with burnout and only one in five (21 per cent) feel engaged, with the resulting disengagement estimated to have cost US$438 billion in 2024.
In Canada, 58 per cent of employees rate their overall physical and mental health as good or excellent. However, 3 in 10 describe their well‑being as only fair, and 1 in 10 report it as poor or very poor. Quebec stands out, with 21 per cent of respondents rating their health and happiness at work as excellent, compared with 14 per cent in the rest of Canada.
Over 8 in 10 (84 per cent) of Canadian respondents feel their employer supports their health and happiness through workplace design, services or culture. Those under 55 are more likely to feel strongly supported (44 per cent) than those over 55 (33 per cent), suggesting age‑related gaps HR teams may need to address.
“It is actually a reflection of the organisation health,” says Marie‑Agnes Mazas, a senior leader at Sodexo, in talking with Canadian HR Reporter. She adds that the report highlights “all the multiplying impact and the ripple impact on the rest of the organisation.”
She notes that the impact is especially visible in people‑centric businesses. “Because we’re a people service company, the direct impact is not only on the team’s morale, but it’s also on the customer experience,” she says. “If our people are not engaged or feeling burned out, there’s a direct impact.”
However, that extends beyond services.
“It’s true in many other industries as well. The quality would be different, the customer experience will be different.”
About half of workers describe their workplace as stressful, according to a previous report.
What matters most to workers?
Job security and stability are cited as the leading factors influencing health and productivity, with 48 per cent of Canadian respondents saying they have the greatest positive impact, according to the Sodexo survey, which included 891 employed Canadian respondents.
Flexible work arrangements are identified by 37 per cent, while 26 per cent point to a supportive work culture, 24 per cent to social interaction with colleagues and 22 per cent to opportunities for growth and learning. Globally, 42 per cent of employees say they want to return to the office to spend more time with colleagues.
Mazas says the findings on job security reflect a tension between employee expectations and today’s volatile business environment.
“There’s very few businesses today that can really predict what is going to happen to them,” she says. In that context, she argues that employers have a responsibility to be transparent about “what we know and what we don’t know, what is in our control, what’s not in our control,” and to focus on building “employability” by keeping people “really skilled for anything that’s going to come up.”
She adds that this includes both technical capabilities and softer elements: “Whether there are tools, whether they are behaviours, whether they are new skills that are asked on the marketplace, I think we have a responsibility to offer those upskilling and exposure to our people so that they continuously grow, hopefully with us, but if not with us, then on the market.”
Key drivers of resilience and productivity
The global whitepaper highlights three key drivers of resilience and productivity: personal job satisfaction, healthy meeting culture and supportive leadership.
Mazas says employers are responsible for providing clear roles and responsibilities for day‑to‑day work and preparing people for the future through upskilling and talent management, ensuring that “the company grows only if their people grow as well.”
She also points to meeting overload as a common problem across regions where she has worked, including Asia, Europe and Canada, describing “an intensity of meeting all the way through… at any level in the organisation.”
Disengaged leaders are undermining employee engagement, according to a previous report.
Mazas says organisations should be more deliberate about the purpose of meetings and who attends. “How do we make sure that our meetings are productive, that they have a sense that they are here for a good reason… is it a meeting about alignment, or is it a meeting about collaboration, or is it a meeting about decision‑making?” she says.
Mazas adds that employees should feel empowered to challenge whether their presence is necessary. “If you look at your calendar and you’re thinking, ‘I’m not going to add value in this meeting,’ is there an environment that’s safe enough so you can say, ‘I don’t think I’m required here’?” she says.
On leadership, Mazas says there is “no secret around the impact of leadership into an organisation,” noting that leaders “hold and contribute to the culture as a whole.” She says well‑being “can’t just be on the side, it has to be a strategic initiative,” and argues that performance and well‑being should be integrated rather than seen as competing priorities. “One can help the other,” she says. “It’s not one against the other, it’s how do we integrate well‑being to get a better outcome.”
Mazas says organisations that take a comprehensive view of these factors will be better positioned for long‑term success.
“If we want companies to thrive, we’ve got to have our people thrive first,” she says, warning that employers who fail to offer a “holistic experience” risk losing relevance with younger workers. “If we’re not ready to bring that holistic experience to younger generations, I think we’ll lose a lot of purpose and we’ll lose a lot of relevancy to that new generation in the workplace.”
Ineffective technology also contributes to employee burnout, according to a previous report.