There is a silent epidemic bubbling away under the professional veneer of corporate life, and it is called “fragile thriving”.
Studies show that it might be the most destructive workplace trend we’ve seen yet; leading to burnout and reduced productivity. While 94 per cent of CEOs feel they do enough to manage employees’ mental wellbeing, only 67 per cent of employees agree––leaving thousands of workers falling between the gaps.
Recent research from MindGym shows that there are six core wellbeing states for employees in the workplace. Those are defined as in crisis, boring out, struggling, fragile thriving, coping and flourishing.
For a team to excel in its function, each individual should get what they need to reach a state of flourishing alongside the five psychological drivers that have the greatest impact on wellbeing: certainty, competence, autonomy, purpose and belonging.
This matters, because burnout costs UK business £45 billion each year, yet investing in employee wellbeing offers a 1:5 return on reduced absenteeism and quiet quitting alongside an increase in productivity and innovation.
What is a fragile thriver?
Accounting for 15 per cent of the workforce, fragile thrivers are often highly career-driven, highly focused and able to push past barriers to ensure professional success, often at the expense of their own personal life and health.
If you’re the person on your team who is the boss’s go to in times of stress and tight deadlines, has a never ending to-do list, and never turns down additional work or responsibility because you want to do well in work, then you may well be fragile thriving.
Fragile thrivers are described as being highly aware of their levels of wellbeing, but less so about toxicity in the office. This means that they try to do things to counteract their personal stress levels in an effort to remain conscientious and successful, but often in a way that’s counterproductive as they remain plugged into a company culture that promotes illbeing.
MindGym’s research shows that fragile thrivers don’t need to be shamed for their approach to work or have their responsibilities reduced. Instead, fragile thrivers respond best when given longer deadlines for projects and additional support, either in the form of an expanded team or inter departmental collaboration.
Left alone without support, fragile thrivers quickly become quiet quitters, joining 59 per cent of workers and costing the global economy almost $9 trillion annually.
The solution is a surprisingly simple one: with 60 per cent of workers, and 75 per cent of C-suite admitting they are open to quitting a job if they found another one that took better care of their emotional wellbeing, admitting that you need to find a more supportive workplace is not a sign of weakness.
The London Economic Job Board is full of opportunities with companies which pride themselves on managing employee wellbeing. Three exciting roles are highlighted below, but there are dozens more on the job board to discover.
Head of Sales Enablement EU, SumUp, London
The Head of Sales Enablement will be responsible for implementing a cohesive and consistent training and ongoing coaching guide for pre-sales and sales teams within EU SME teams. Training will be based on role responsibilities and provide insights into this competitive landscape, objection handling and value propositions of products, with coaching ongoing to focus on improving areas of weakness of individual representatives and increasing the performance metrics. The ideal candidate will have five years’ of SDR/BDR and AE/Sales experience and at least two years’ experience in the sales enablement space, working as sales trainer or coach and developing and executing successful sales enablement and effective strategies and programs. Find more information here.
Finance Manager, Liberty Global, Bradford
Sitting in the Liberty Shared Services Central Financial Accounts team, the Finance Manager will support and work closely with teams across the wider business, to perform various components and tasks related to Investments and external reporting within the overall structure and workstreams of the larger LSS Operations teams, with a focus on automation and digitisation. If you have at least three years in a similar role and exposure to complex accounting along with experience of working within large corporate structures, then this role is for you. Apply for this role today.
Senior Data Engineer, ITV Jobs, London
As a Senior Data Engineer, you will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and optimising ITV’s data pipeline infrastructure using its proprietary central data platform, which is based on Databricks. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and implement scalable data solutions, ensuring efficient data ingestion, transformation, storage, and analysis. You will be comfortable working independently as well as within a team, and will lead development initiatives by providing solution designs accompanied with reliable work estimations. If this sounds like you, explore all the requirements now.
Explore The London Economic Job Board to find your next role