With workplace stress on the rise, dignity becomes more important

As leaders, people are our number one priority. People’s wants and needs for everything, including in their career, are fluid and dynamic. They change and evolve based on who they are, where they are at in their lives, and the conditions surrounding them at any given time. This is why we’re always presented with new and emerging challenges with each passing year.

You can look back and find examples of this pretty easily. You might find things about the Great Resignation, or the emergence of hybrid work, quiet quitting, things of that nature. Over the years, we’ve had to grapple with these trends, the reasons behind them, and cut through to the core of what keeps employees satisfied, fulfilled, engaged, and motivated in their roles.

With 2025 right around the corner, I wanted to take some time to sit down and think about the things that we can project will shape the workplace of next year and beyond.

What’s in the books for 2025?

The data shows us that 2025 is building up to be a year of intense turnover. Matt Becker provided some interesting insights in his article on the topic. A Gallup survey shows that over half of U.S. employees are actively watching or seeking a new job. Becker also shared a Glassdoor report as recent as July of this year that employees reviews are mentioning “burnout” at the highest rate since 2016, and an Upwork report that found that 33% of employees are likely to quit their jobs in the next half year due to the pressure of increased productivity.

It seems that the risk of a high turnover rate is a reality that a lot of organizations are going to be dealing with this coming year. Stress in on the rise. People are becoming dissatisfied enough with their jobs that they are starting to look for out routes. Employees are fed up with all the pressure at work (which compounds the pressure in their personal lives) and are experiencing burnout at historically high rates. Organizations are going to need to find some kind of solution to de-stress their employees, or they will be putting themselves at risk of experiencing turnover that might be too much to handle.

The responsibility for finding and executing these solutions is going to be placed on us as leaders, so we’re really going to be in the hot seat this next year. If I were a betting man, I would put a lot of money on the possibility that a little bit of dignity would go a long way towards keeping stress at a minimum.

Dignity – the ultimate stress reducer

Through our research and experience at Dignify, we have learned that the number one cause of stress among people is what we call a “dignity violation.” A dignity violation happens when someone, knowingly or unknowingly, acts in opposition of someone’s unique dignity. Dignity violations can come in all different shapes, sizes, and severities, ranging from direct and purposeful actions to small habits that happen to bother someone else.

We know that the vast majority of dignity violations that occur happen unintentionally and unknowingly, so it’s really hard to pick up on when this is happening. Making it worse is the fact that people usually don’t make it explicitly make it known when they feel their dignity has been violated.

You very likely won’t know that something you are doing or affecting as a leader is violating someone’s dignity until you deliberately seek that information. It’s hard for people to tell others, especially their leaders, that their work is too much, that they need flexibility, that they are getting fed up with something or someone. Many people will simply struggle through until the stress passes or they can find an alternative before they offer up their thoughts and opinions on what’s happening.

With this in mind, the solution is clear – give your people a platform! Check in with them frequently and actively listen to what they have to say. Let them know that they are safe to express what’s stressing them out without consequence so that you can take action to remedy it.

Do one better and take the time to learn about your people as people, not just employees. Learn about what motivates them. What keeps them going every day? What’s going on in their lives? How do they prefer to communicate and be communicated with? These are all questions with answers that will help you build a team member’s role, workload, and environment in a way that fulfills their dignity and minimizes overall stress.

The bottom line

As a leader, the best thing you can have in your toolbox is information that will help you adapt and respond to changing circumstances. The information going into next year shows that stress and burnout are major problems for today’s employees. They stand to become major problems for employers should their people decide to jump ship. As leaders, it’s our time to shine. Let’s get active in understanding who our people are, how to support their dignity, and how we can relieve their stress by reducing dignity violations.

JOE KIEDINGER

ACTION PLAN: Set up consistent meeting cadences with each of your direct reports – use those meetings as an opportunity to learn how to support each of them better and take some stress off their shoulders.