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Forbes
26-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
The Quiet Crisis Behind The Workforce: Why Employee Quality Of Life Should Be A Boardroom Priority
Jaclyn Wainwright is the cofounder and CEO of Humankind. We're facing a quiet crisis in today's workforce, and effectively addressing it could unlock your business's performance. It's not a shortage of talent or engagement or even burnout (though all three are symptoms). The real issue is that millions of people are coming to work in survival mode. They're navigating financial stress, mental and emotional exhaustion and food and housing insecurity while still trying to meet the expectations of a full-time job—oftentimes without a network to turn to for support. And we're measuring the wrong things in response. For decades, we've tried to assess workforce performance through absenteeism data, benefits utilization or engagement surveys. But these are downstream indicators. If we want to understand what's really driving turnover, productivity and growth, we need to get upstream. We need to start measuring and improving employee quality of life. Survival Mode Is Not Sustainable At Humankind, we support more than 2.5 million employees across large employer groups, helping to address root cause issues that drive overall well-being. We use the World Health Organization's Quality of Life (WHOQOL) survey to understand how individuals perceive their well-being across four domains: physical health, psychological health, environment and relationships. This isn't a satisfaction survey or measure of engagement or utilization; it's a validated, globally recognized tool that measures whether people feel well and capable in the context of their actual lives. The key detail there is that it measures what people feel is true for them, not just what can be objectively observed from the outside looking in. That self-reported experience is crucial for understanding why people show up the way they do—and how we can help. What we've found is sobering. When people score low in any of these areas (especially the environmental and psychological health domains), we see clear patterns emerge: Absenteeism rises, productivity drops and turnover increases. But when we intervene early and support individuals in stabilizing the things that matter most to them, we see something remarkable happen. Motivation increases. They report better health, greater job satisfaction, and lower intention to quit. According to the most recent CIPD Good Work Index: • Engaged employees are far less likely to quit (13%-16%) than those who feel exhausted, miserable or lonely (32%-51%). • Feelings of misery and loneliness are linked to lower performance and elevated attrition—those employees are up to four times more likely to quit than their enthusiastic peers. • Job performance scores stay above 90% when employees feel positive (energy, enthusiasm, flow), but drop to 74% for lonely employees. This is the future of workforce strategy, and it starts with rethinking what we consider a business issue. Quality Of Life Is A Performance Metric The truth is, many of the challenges we've categorized as 'social issues' are showing up on your shop floor, in your hospitals and at your help desks. According to recent studies, more than half of Americans are one crisis or missed paycheck away from being unhoused. Financial strain doesn't stay at home. These challenges don't disappear when people clock in; they follow them to work, impact their cognitive load and limit their ability to focus, collaborate or innovate. In my conversations with HR leaders and C-suite executives, there's often an assumption that benefits (particularly health benefits) are already doing enough. But quality of life isn't about what you're offering on paper. It's about how employees perceive their reality. If a person has excellent medical coverage but is worried about eviction or can't afford groceries that week, that benefit is irrelevant to their current experience. When people feel unsupported or lack the social support network that previous generations had, they disengage from their job and their potential. As I often say, people can't perform at their best when they're just trying to survive the day. We're Paying For The Wrong Things The irony is that many companies are already investing heavily in their workforce, but they've been convinced to invest in a checklist of services or products, rather than investing in supporting the individuals in their workforce. Between health plans, short-term disability, mental health programs and other wellness initiatives, the budget is there. What's missing is a strategic reallocation of those resources to address the root causes of poor performance. In our work, we've seen clear correlations between quality of life improvements and reductions in medical claims. Take the physical symptoms of unresolved stress: headaches, back pain, digestive issues. When someone finally gets the behavioral health support they need, those symptoms often ease, and their reliance on high-cost medical interventions goes down. But those financial savings are just the beginning. The more transformative impact is cultural: Trust improves, loyalty increases and discretionary effort returns. What Employers Can Do Differently There's a better way forward, and it doesn't require a massive overhaul of your HR programs. Here's where I recommend starting. Don't begin with the solution; start with the problem. What are your current pain points? Is it turnover, absenteeism, short-term disability or something else? Get clear on what success looks like before you invest in new tools or vendors. Engagement surveys have their place, but they don't tell you if your people are surviving or thriving. To understand the lived experience of your workforce, move away from metrics that only indicate usage of benefits (such as enrollment, utilization and app downloads). Instead, focus on outcomes metrics that indicate how their people are actually doing. This can uncover gaps that traditional metrics miss entirely. The most impactful interventions happen before someone asks for help. When employers proactively assess and respond to quality of life gaps, they send a powerful message: We see you, and we're here to help. We often assume people have the emotional and mental bandwidth to meet job demands, but many don't. If your workplace is asking more than your people can give, it's time to revisit the equation. Whether it's a benefits vendor or a mental health provider, ask the hard questions: What are you measuring? What outcomes will you guarantee? What's your impact on cost, performance and retention? This also means asking ourselves (as employers) the hard question: Which business outcomes would be most impactful to our business if we could address them? A Call To The Boardroom If you're a CFO, CHRO or CEO, I'm not asking you to become a social worker. I'm asking you to become a smarter investor. Every dollar you allocate to workforce strategy is either spent mitigating crises after they've exploded or preventing them before they derail your business. Investing in quality of life is a business advantage. When people feel seen, supported and stable, they perform better. They stay longer. They unlock new potential. And that's the kind of ROI no spreadsheet can fully capture, but every bottom line will reflect. It's time to elevate quality of life from an HR afterthought to a strategic priority. Because the real performance metric isn't just how people show up at work, it's whether they're in a position to show up at all. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This author wants to stop smart graduates getting sucked into finance and consulting jobs — the 'Bermuda Triangle of talent'
Rutger Bregman says top graduates going into finance and consulting are wasting their talents. He advocates for morally ambitious career paths to inspire meaningful societal change. Bregman says people can break out of the fog by starting their own "cult" of like-minded, ambitious idealists. "It's an extraordinary waste of talent." That's what Rutger Bregman has to say about smart graduates from top universities going into careers in consulting and finance. "In a rational society, you would expect that if you go to a jobs fair at these elite institutions where the best and brightest go, you would have one stand about preventing the next pandemic, a stand about curing malaria once and for all, and a stand about abolishing extreme poverty," he told Business Insider. "But instead, what we have is Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Kirkland & Ellis. What the fuck is going on here?" Bregman, a historian from the Netherlands, is the author of "Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference." In the new book, he argues that too many people go into "socially useless" professions and thus feel their chosen careers are pointless. Many even realize this before making their decision, but don't know what else to do, he said. "Most of them are very well-meaning and deeply care about the state of the world. They want to do better, but then somehow they get sucked into this Bermuda triangle of talent." Bregman's previous books, "Humankind" in 2020 and "Utopia for Realists" published three years earlier, were both New York Times best-sellers. His works have sold more than 2 million copies. Throughout Bregman's career, he has spoken and written about how the most damaging jobs to society — big tobacco, for example — tend to be the best paid. Not all consultants and bankers necessarily fall into this category, he said, but having so many of them is a problem. "It's not all totally destructive or anything like that," he said. "But compared to what these people could do, if they would take on some of the biggest challenges, the opportunity costs are massive." Some people are "just a little bit shallow and boring" and "care deeply about owning many cars or owning a big house or having the corner office," Bregman said. "You probably can't help those people." But for many, money isn't the most important goal of choosing the consulting and finance route. A huge motivation is "preserving your optionality," Bregman said, because "many of these people are just terrified of the future." "Many of these kids are spiritually a little bit lost," Bregman said. "They don't really know what to do with their lives. McKinsey is very good at tapping into that." He said big companies offer them a continuation of what they were already doing, which is the "logical next step." "They were going from the best primary school to the best high school, and then always doing the honors classes at university, getting the best grades," Bregman said. "It's a way of postponing the real decisions, postponing actually becoming an adult, and that's very attractive if you are an insecure overachiever who has no idea what the hell to do with your life." Working in finance can also be intellectually challenging, which attracts people who like solving puzzles. Bregman said there needs to be more options in morally ambitious fields. "Many of these kids, they just want to play in the Champions League," he said, in reference to the European top-flight soccer competition. "What I think we've got to do is to create the Champions League and the Olympics for do-gooders." Some options for morally ambitious people include entering large-scale research and innovation fields and focusing on solving some of humanity's biggest problems, like hunger and the climate crisis. Bregman said it's not about following your passion, but figuring out "where your impact can be greatest." "The right path depends on the challenge you're tackling. Some problems need cutting-edge research and innovation, others demand activism, lobbying, or bold entrepreneurship," he said. "Whether you're working to end hunger, fight climate collapse, reduce factory farming, or stop tax avoidance by the superrich — what matters is that you go where you're needed most." Bregman hopes to inspire people who feel stuck to break out of going through the motions with the School for Moral Ambition, which he cofounded. "We want to help as many people as possible devote their careers in their lives to some of the most pressing issues that we face as a species," Bregman said. "When you study these moral pioneers of the past, it's not that they were good people and then started doing good things," he added. "It's the other way around, really. They started doing good things often because they were asked, and then they became good people, which is a very important difference." Bregman likens it to Gandalf knocking on Frodo's door in "The Lord of the Rings." Frodo wasn't passionate about going on a long journey and risking his life, Bregman said. But Gandalf's perspective changed him as a person. "Frodo was really passionate about gardening and having a really relaxed life full of second breakfasts," he said. "But when the old wise wizard explained everything, he was like, yeah, that's probably quite important." Bregman jokingly advises those who feel like they want to do something more to start their own "cult." "If you want to be a really ambitious idealist, it's quite hard nowadays because you're often swimming in a sea of cynicism," Bregman said. "What you need then is to surround yourself by other ambitious idealists, because then you'll be like, Hey, I'm not alone." Ambition, he said, is energy, and what really matters is "how it's used, and how it's channeled." "Find yourself some wise old wizard, a Gandalf who has a really good idea about what you should do with your life," Bregman said. "Then listen and do it." Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This author wants to stop smart graduates getting sucked into finance and consulting jobs — the 'Bermuda Triangle of talent'
Rutger Bregman says top graduates going into finance and consulting are wasting their talents. He advocates for morally ambitious career paths to inspire meaningful societal change. Bregman says people can break out of the fog by starting their own "cult" of like-minded, ambitious idealists. "It's an extraordinary waste of talent." That's what Rutger Bregman has to say about smart graduates from top universities going into careers in consulting and finance. "In a rational society, you would expect that if you go to a jobs fair at these elite institutions where the best and brightest go, you would have one stand about preventing the next pandemic, a stand about curing malaria once and for all, and a stand about abolishing extreme poverty," he told Business Insider. "But instead, what we have is Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Kirkland & Ellis. What the fuck is going on here?" Bregman, a historian from the Netherlands, is the author of "Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference." In the new book, he argues that too many people go into "socially useless" professions and thus feel their chosen careers are pointless. Many even realize this before making their decision, but don't know what else to do, he said. "Most of them are very well-meaning and deeply care about the state of the world. They want to do better, but then somehow they get sucked into this Bermuda triangle of talent." Bregman's previous books, "Humankind" in 2020 and "Utopia for Realists" published three years earlier, were both New York Times best-sellers. His works have sold more than 2 million copies. Throughout Bregman's career, he has spoken and written about how the most damaging jobs to society — big tobacco, for example — tend to be the best paid. Not all consultants and bankers necessarily fall into this category, he said, but having so many of them is a problem. "It's not all totally destructive or anything like that," he said. "But compared to what these people could do, if they would take on some of the biggest challenges, the opportunity costs are massive." Some people are "just a little bit shallow and boring" and "care deeply about owning many cars or owning a big house or having the corner office," Bregman said. "You probably can't help those people." But for many, money isn't the most important goal of choosing the consulting and finance route. A huge motivation is "preserving your optionality," Bregman said, because "many of these people are just terrified of the future." "Many of these kids are spiritually a little bit lost," Bregman said. "They don't really know what to do with their lives. McKinsey is very good at tapping into that." He said big companies offer them a continuation of what they were already doing, which is the "logical next step." "They were going from the best primary school to the best high school, and then always doing the honors classes at university, getting the best grades," Bregman said. "It's a way of postponing the real decisions, postponing actually becoming an adult, and that's very attractive if you are an insecure overachiever who has no idea what the hell to do with your life." Working in finance can also be intellectually challenging, which attracts people who like solving puzzles. Bregman said there needs to be more options in morally ambitious fields. "Many of these kids, they just want to play in the Champions League," he said, in reference to the European top-flight soccer competition. "What I think we've got to do is to create the Champions League and the Olympics for do-gooders." Some options for morally ambitious people include entering large-scale research and innovation fields and focusing on solving some of humanity's biggest problems, like hunger and the climate crisis. Bregman said it's not about following your passion, but figuring out "where your impact can be greatest." "The right path depends on the challenge you're tackling. Some problems need cutting-edge research and innovation, others demand activism, lobbying, or bold entrepreneurship," he said. "Whether you're working to end hunger, fight climate collapse, reduce factory farming, or stop tax avoidance by the superrich — what matters is that you go where you're needed most." Bregman hopes to inspire people who feel stuck to break out of going through the motions with the School for Moral Ambition, which he cofounded. "We want to help as many people as possible devote their careers in their lives to some of the most pressing issues that we face as a species," Bregman said. "When you study these moral pioneers of the past, it's not that they were good people and then started doing good things," he added. "It's the other way around, really. They started doing good things often because they were asked, and then they became good people, which is a very important difference." Bregman likens it to Gandalf knocking on Frodo's door in "The Lord of the Rings." Frodo wasn't passionate about going on a long journey and risking his life, Bregman said. But Gandalf's perspective changed him as a person. "Frodo was really passionate about gardening and having a really relaxed life full of second breakfasts," he said. "But when the old wise wizard explained everything, he was like, yeah, that's probably quite important." Bregman jokingly advises those who feel like they want to do something more to start their own "cult." "If you want to be a really ambitious idealist, it's quite hard nowadays because you're often swimming in a sea of cynicism," Bregman said. "What you need then is to surround yourself by other ambitious idealists, because then you'll be like, Hey, I'm not alone." Ambition, he said, is energy, and what really matters is "how it's used, and how it's channeled." "Find yourself some wise old wizard, a Gandalf who has a really good idea about what you should do with your life," Bregman said. "Then listen and do it." Read the original article on Business Insider
Express Tribune
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Civilization' returns this month
PARIS: Fans have waited more than eight years for the new instalment in heavyweight strategy game Civilization, with the release of the seventh instalment on February 11 promising to get budding philosopher-kings thinking more about the consequences of their actions. At first glance, little has changed since the very first title released in 1991: players are presented with a top-down view of the game world in which they build up their society turn by turn from the Neolithic period to the modern era. Virtual rulers can exert their will over opponents either by diplomacy or war – a formula that brought sales over the whole series to 73 million by summer 2024, according to Take Two, parent company of publisher 2K Games. Civilization spawned a whole genre known to gamers as 4X, for its core gameplay activities: Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate. Comparable titles include Paradox Interactive's starfaring Stellaris (2016) or French developer Amplitude's Humankind (2021). That range of alternatives is one reason why fans "don't just want the same game with a new coat of paint, with fancier graphics," Ed Beach, creative director for the Civilization franchise, told AFP in August at Germany's Gamescom trade fair. "We need to do something new each time... something that is going to really improve the game." Civilization is still developed by US studio Firaxis, which has run the franchise since its third instalment. Its seventh edition, available on PC and console, allows players to set any historically-inspired ruler at the head of any empire – allowing Charlemagne to govern Egypt, for example. A match is now divided into three acts, each wrapped up with a major crisis such as the collapse of an empire or a foreign invasion. The way players cope with the challenge defines how their civilisation will adapt as they enter the next age. That is one way the developers wanted to confront player-governors with the consequences of their actions. "We're not trying to say you have to play a certain way," Beach said. "There are times I play as a very bad guy, and that's an interesting way for me to look at the world and look at history as well." Nevertheless, topics tackled in Civilization such as climate change or the battle of democracy versus autocracy – are hot issues out in the everyday world. "It's not getting political, it's just we're always thoughtful about what the human journey has been," Beach said. Firaxis itself brought in historians to advise on keeping gameplay plausible and modelling civilisations in the new structure – all while allowing the player as much freedom as possible.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Superfan gets Super Bowl surprise
Hello and welcome to the Humankind newsletter. I'm Terry Baddoo, here with more touching tales and inspirational stories to boost your mood. Among the must-see videos this week: 🏈See the emotional moment a football fan honors his best friend who was killed in the New Orleans terrorist attack by accepting surprise tickets to the Super Bowl.🏟 🏃♀️Also, check out some amazing performances by female athletes in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.🏅 🐶And watch this dog have its day when it's named honorary mayor of New York City.🗽 We hope you enjoy our weekly shot of good news. And, if you'd care to share, invite your family, friends, and neighbors to sign up for the Humankind newsletter right here. Now, for more feel-good videos, scroll down.👇
