Almost 7 in 10 said their manager had a greater influence on their mental health than their doctor or therapist.
There's a piece of research that's stayed with me since I first read it.
Nearly 3,500 people, across 10 countries, were asked about the influences on their mental health. Almost 7 in 10 said their manager had a greater influence on their mental health than their doctor or therapist.
Let that land for a moment.
Not a policy. Not a wellbeing programme. Not HR. Their manager - the person who sets the tone, manages the workload, gives the feedback and shapes the day-to-day reality of working there.
As a leader of people, that's a powerful reminder of just how much we shape the experience of the people around us.
But here's where it gets really interesting, because the same research revealed something else.
9 in 10 HR and C-suite leaders believe working for their organisation has a positive impact on employees' mental health.
Only half of employees agree.
That gap - between what leaders believe and what people actually feel - is significant.
Not because leaders are being dishonest, but because the view from the top and the reality on the ground are often genuinely different things. And when that distance exists, it's difficult to know what to address, what to prioritise, or where to focus.
“The gap between what leaders believe and what people actually feel is where your best talent quietly burns out.”
So what can people leaders do with this?
1. Take the day-to-day experience seriously
Wellbeing policies matter but they're not enough on their own. What shapes how people feel is the everyday reality of working there: how they're managed, how they're communicated with, whether they feel heard. That's where the focus needs to be.
2. Invest in managers
Managers are the single biggest lever an organisation has when it comes to employee experience. Investing in them - as communicators, as coaches, as people who know how to create psychological safety - is one of the highest-return investments a people team can make.
3. Create the conditions for honest conversation
The gap in this research exists, in part, because people don't always feel safe saying how they really feel. Closing it requires building the kind of culture where honest feedback is welcomed. That starts with creating the space for it.
Why this goes beyond wellbeing
It would be easy to read this research as a wellbeing story. But it's really an employee experience story — and a performance one.
How people experience work has a direct impact on their health, their home life and how well they're able to do their job. When that experience is a positive one, the effects ripple outwards. When it isn't, they do too.
Organisations that take this seriously — that treat the experience of their people as a strategic priority rather than a support function — are the ones building cultures that are genuinely sustainable. Not just for the business, but for the people inside it.
A question worth bringing to your next leadership conversation
If you asked the people in your organisation to rate the impact of working there on their mental health — what do you think they'd say?
And how confident are you that you'd know if the answer had changed?
Understanding how people actually experience work — not how we think they do — is the starting point for everything. The research, the listening, the honest insight. That's where meaningful change begins.
