We hear so much about productivity and the promise of AI making work easier. So you may be surprised that the biggest threat to workplace progress has nothing to do with technology.  It’s that people are stressed out and exhausted.

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 shows rising stress, slipping engagement, and declining wellbeing, which are signs that the workforce’s capacity for sustained performance is running low.  

Stress Is the New Baseline

About 40% of employees worldwide say they experienced feeling stressed for most of the previous day. In the U.S. and Canada, that number rises to 50%. Stress happens at work, but chronic, unrelieved stress can lead to shrinking capacity. 

People move from operating at their best to operating on fumes, impacting creativity, collaboration, and empathy. Without recovery, the energy that drives performance turns into depletion.

The Loneliness Equation

Work often helps to connect us, yet one in five employees say they felt lonely yesterday. Another 23% reported sadness. More than passing moods, loneliness undermines belonging, trust, and overall health. People can have full calendars and still feel empty if relationships lack depth or psychological safety.

Leaders sometimes treat these emotions as “personal” issues, but they’re also organizational ones.  Disconnection costs companies in turnover, lost innovation, and quiet disengagement that never shows up on a dashboard.

The Hidden Business Risk

When negative emotions take hold, they drain performance. Gallup links high daily stress and loneliness to lower productivity and higher absenteeism. The very behaviors often used to drive results, such as constant urgency and nonstop meetings, are the same behaviors amplifying stress and quietly depleting the capacity to be productive.

Pressure inevitably comes at work. But it can be better managed by creating balance that allows for recovery and reconnection. Stress itself isn’t the problem, but unrelieved stress does indeed negatively impact performance.

What Leaders Can Do

Leaders matter. Even small changes in the work environments to help acknowledge and manage emotions can help. That doesn’t mean leaders need to become therapists.  Instead, it starts with simple habits:

• Checking in with genuine curiosity instead of only about tasks.
• Making space for recovery, reflection, and gratitude.
• Encouraging connection across teams, keeping in mind remote or hybrid employees.
• Support conversations about mental health before people burnout.

Small signals of care add up. Those moments of connection are what rebuild capacity, providing the energy and focus that make performance sustainable.

👉 Want a Way to Get Started?

BetterYet helps teams turn connection, recognition, and emotional awareness into repeatable practices that reduce stress and strengthen belonging. Learn more

This is part three of our four-part look at Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 and what the data mean for leaders, wellbeing, and performance.