Mental health and well-being of employees as a strategic HR priority

  Image credit- https://www.freepik.com/ These days, it feels like everyone’s expected to be a superstar at work, always pushing harder, faster, better. But behind the hustle, a lot of folks are quietly burning out, moving from fired up to completely wiped out. According to Maslach and Leiter (2016), burnout isn’t just about being tired—it comes from constant workplace pressures like too much work, feeling out of control, or losing that sense of camaraderie with coworkers. It’s not that people are failing at their jobs; it’s that the workplace isn’t set up to help them keep going strong. One major culprit? Our “always-connected” world, made worse by remote work and those slick AI tools that promise to make life easier. Derks and Bakker (2014) point out that being tethered to emails and messages around the clock makes it tough to switch off. Work creeps into personal time, leaving you emotionally drained and detached. Those productivity apps and gadgets? They’re supposed to hel...

  Image credit - https://www.freepik.com/ In an attempt to improve the employee well-being programs, organizations mainly give priority to wellness programs; however, they ignore a crucial element—psychological safety. Which means the concept where employees feel safe and comfortable to express themselves, like new ideas and inputs, take responsibility for their mistakes, and voluntarily admit them and ask for support without the feeling of being judged, fear, or any kind of negative impact. This invisible factor will lay the foundation of employee mental health. Edmondson and Lei (2014) highlight that it is mandatory to give importance to psychological safety. Without feeling safe, workers may hide their feelings, avoid taking career-related risks to grow, and keep the stress hidden within as they are not comfortable expressing it. This will definitely lead them to burnouts. On the other hand, psychological safety will lead employees to be more expressive, increase the a...

  Image credit- https://www.freepik.com/ Since the digital evolution of the digital era, mental health awareness has become an increasingly important topic. Hence, as per legal regulations and to attract a pleasant image in society thanks to social media, companies are investing more in employee well-being programs. However, without measuring the success of these programs from time to time, it will just be another useless show that organizations have to maintain to keep the standards. To show and measure actual outcomes, the results should come from actual measures and real-life studies rather than being theoretical. As per Krekel, Ward, and De Neve (2019), when the employees become happier, they become more efficient, loyal, and less likely to abandon the company in crisis. Not only is this beneficial to create a good environment within the organization, but also, due to word of mouth and social media spreading the news from the employee angle, these companies will be more fa...

  As AI becomes a major part of businesses, employees future has shifted from the typical structure. Just recently, before AI, the basic physical and psychological values that organizations have focused on changed into more complex requirements such as human and digital interactions, psychology, and complex human values in hybrid environments. As Valtonen et al. (2025) state, in an AI-driven work environment, AI can improve the workplace well-being by creating automation tools for repetitive and low-intensity tasks, giving employees more time to be independent and make valuable decisions, and offering analytical and productive insights, which will help with burnout. The study found out that when AI tools are used to support employees, instead of being used to control them, they will positively improve employee mental wellbeing and reduce work-related burnouts. Image credit- https://www.freepik.com/ However, Jin, Jiang, and Liao's (2024) research on affective well-being propose...

  Image credit- https://www.freepik.com/ In high-speed industries—examples: finance, consultation companies, and IT companies—unachievable deadlines and work targets will lead to employee burnouts. Research shows continuous work pressures lead to emotional exhaustion and reduce the work effectiveness of employees when personal resources are not sufficient enough to meet high demands (Jacobs 2023).  HR can strategically reduce this by allocating workloads that employees can balance, encouraging workers to take microbreaks to refresh their minds, and providing them with new technical tools (automation, AI tools). Valtonen et al. (2025) identified that AI not only influences well-being but also increases the quality of the work, which will protect workers from stress. Adding to this, Alena Valtonen et al. (2025) strengthen the theory of indirect effects of AI—managing the workload by being a useful tool will lead to employee satisfaction and mental health.   Going furth...

  Luckily for us, there is one human trait AI can't replace yet. Which is our Emotional Change (EI). Since HR leaders control the organization, EI is mandatory, but it has become a superpower. With the modern responsibilities, the typical view we had about HR (merely doing recruitments, complaints, or issuing service letters) is now changing into a much more complicated role in an organization. Instead of managers, good leadership with EI will set an example for employees to change, inspire, be more adaptive, be more comfortable with company culture, etc. As per Boyatzis, Rochford, and Taylor (2017), these emotionally intelligent leaders will increase employee engagement by being good listeners and setting examples. Just imagine for a moment when an unexpected incident occurs, what glues the company together is not the structure, policies, or rules; it’s the people. When the employees are surrounded by emotionally intelligent people, by their understanding of reading the emotions, ...