As we’ve seen with the Great Resignation and the conversation around quiet quitting, the fundamental relationship between employees and employers is being rewritten. Employees expect more from their employers now. Communication is the foundation for this new relationship.
That’s what Thrive’s newest feature, Thrive’s Daily Check-In, is all about.
Thrive’s Daily Check-In has become the entry point to Thrive’s platform: it’s a daily question for employees that prompts a moment of reflection about their well-being, delivered via the platforms they’re already using, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, and offering them personalized, in-the-moment recommendations that can help them take the next best step to improve their well-being. A user answering that they’re low in energy might receive a science-backed Thrive Microstep to help them get better sleep that night, or a Thrive Reset to help them recharge in the moment, or a module from Thrive’s Learn library targeted to help them understand the science on the link between food and energy, or a Thrive Challenge designed to improve their well-being and practice Microsteps in a group setting with their colleagues. Thrive’s Daily Check-In results are then aggregated and anonymized to give leaders unprecedented real-time insights into their people’s mental health and well-being. And I’m thrilled to say that since we launched Thrive’s Daily Check-In in April, we’ve had over 1 million of these conversations with employees in 73 countries around the world.
With this robust data engine at the core of our behavior change platform, our users receive insights and recommendations that are more and more personalized, and management gains a better understanding than ever before of their people’s pain points. This continuous feedback loop allows leaders to prevent burnout, attrition and negative outcomes – in medical terms, to have more biopsies and fewer autopsies. With Thrive’s Daily Check-In, you can spot the signs of burnout in your organization before they take root so you can take action – rather than learning about them in exit interviews and your annual attrition numbers.
So what have we learned from 1 million Daily Check-In conversations? A lot. As we continue to build and iterate on Thrive’s Daily Check-In — and as the world of work continues to evolve — we’ll be paying close attention to patterns and themes that emerge. Here are four of the top-level takeaways so far about what employers can do to help their people thrive.
1) Many employees show high engagement in their work.
Two of our daily Daily Check-In questions designed to track engagement or disengagement at work are: “I feel happy when I am working intensely,” and “Time flies when I am working.” Since we began measuring in April, the most common response to both of these questions has been “often.” In an age of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation, it’s an encouraging sign.
2) Highly-engaged employees are still experiencing early warning signs of burnout.
These employees are highly engaged with their jobs and feel energized when they work hard, but have shown signs of burnout. We can see this when we look at the interaction between engagement questions like the above and questions about energy and fatigue. Our data shows that most respondents have answered that they are “Sometimes” fatigued. These highly-engaged but fatigued employees need some kind of support so they feel fully recharged as they start their days, and our platform offers thousands of interventions, from Microsteps to Resets to scientific content designed to support employees when they need it most.
3) Burnout can be seasonal.
This cohort of highly engaged employees with high burnout potential shows the influence of seasonality on burnout. The percentage of respondents who fall into the Highly Engaged with High Burnout category hovered around 37% during summer, but dropped to 10% in September, and remained low through October. It’s a great example of data that leaders can use to prompt conversations and dig deeper. For example, was burnout higher among working parents who had to juggle work and childcare during the summer months with their children out of school? Can employers offer greater support to caregivers during the summer, or consider reinforcing flexible schedules during seasons of higher burnout risk? Thrive’s Daily Check-In takes the guesswork out of the equation, so leaders can make real-time decisions based on data, rather than assumptions.
4) Employees are discovering the tools they need to fight burnout.
Since launching Thrive’s Daily Check-In in April, we’ve seen a 6x increase in users taking advantage of the entire Thrive platform, which brings Microsteps, storytelling, Resets, Learn content and Challenges directly into their workflow. And this engagement with the Thrive platform has clear results on business metrics:
• 76% increase in productivity
• 97% increase in healthy culture
• 102% increase in engagement
• 104% increase in burnout prevention
• 233% increase in stress management
According to a study from The Society for Human Resource Management, when employees believe their employer cares about their whole health and well-being, they’re 38% more engaged in their work. And yet a recent poll by Gallup found that just 24% of employees strongly agree that their employers care about their well-being. Thrive’s Daily Check-In is a way for employers to translate the value they place on well-being into actionable results that drive business metrics.
Business leaders have a clear opportunity both to increase the engagement of their disengaged employees and to support their most engaged team members who are most at risk of burnout. By preventing burnout before it escalates, companies can foster a thriving, engaged, and healthy workforce. The key to that is listening – and giving employees the opportunity to speak up in a safe, meaningful way, rather than quietly disengaging.
Connect with Thrive Global today to learn more about how you can introduce a culture of well-being within your organization through the Thrive platform.