Multiple studies have shown that employee well-being is declining, with one recent report revealing that over 80% of employees are at risk of burnout in 2024.

Although employee well-being is primarily a human priority, it’s equally important for businesses. In addition to burnout, low employee well-being can lead to decreased productivity, engagement and even turnover.

In this episode of The Business of Learning, we spoke with Kyile Stair, chief people officer at Litmos, to learn more about how learning and development (L&D) leaders can champion well-being — and even improve their own.

Listen now for insights on:

• The manager’s role in supporting employee well-being.
• The importance of mental health awareness training.
• How to make time and space for wellness and self-care as a busy learning leader.

Listen Now:

Additional Resources:

• Magazine Article: Incorporate Wellness Into Training 
• Article: Training Manager Burnout — 3 Causes and Possible Solutions
• Article: 3 Ways to Support Employee Wellness in a Remote Environment

The transcript for this episode follows: 

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Sarah Gallo: Hi! Welcome back to The Business of Learning. I’m Sarah Gallo, senior editor at training industry.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: And I’m Michelle Eggleston Schwartz, editor in chief. Multiple studies, have shown that employee well-being is declining with one recent study showing that over 80% of employees are at risk of burnout in 2024. Of course, employee well-being is 1st and foremost a human issue, but it’s also a business, one that can impact productivity and engagement. Today, we’re excited to speak with kylie stare. Chief people officer at Litmos to learn more about how learning and development can support employee wellness and well-being. Kylie. Thanks for speaking with us today.

Kyile Stair: Absolutely. It is a pleasure to be here.

Sarah Gallo: Yes, welcome. Well, before we dive deeper, can you start by sharing a little bit more about the current state of employee wellbeing.

Kyile Stair: Yeah, I’d be happy to and let me start off by saying that. Well, being is a very personal and important topic for me. It’s not just something that I think about when it comes to. You know, the employee population and the role that I have at the company that I’m in. But I think about it for myself as well, you know. Well, being is something that I’ve had to personally work at over the last couple of years and many years in in my career as well. And you know, in this world where we are constantly connected. And there’s so much information coming at us. It can really be hard to take time to recharge whether that’s mentally or physically. You know, when we think about the current state of well-being, I you can look at studies and statistics that are out there around the topic. And I think it’s important to share some of those with this audience as well. And I do love stats. And so, I will quote a couple of stats, too just so we can lay the groundwork, I think, for the conversation. But, you know, according to a report by Jim, pass their state of work. Life wellness 2024 93% of workers consider their well-being to be equally critical as their salary. And according to Forbes, 87% employees would consider resigning from an organization that is not emphasizing or prioritizing. Well, being with this workforce and 96% of people who are looking for roles. So, our job seekers would only consider employment at companies that are also emphasizing well-being. You know, when we think about the workforce, and we think about healthy employees who are mentally, physically feeling at their best. You know, they are more productive. They have less sick days. They’re showing up, engaged. They’re excited about what they’re doing. They want to contribute to the organization and drive the success of the company, too. Ultimately, when I think about well-being, I absolutely align it to the bottom-line of the business.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: Definitely. Thank you so much for sharing and breaking all that down for us. So we know that burnout can happen for a lot of reasons. And so I think it would be helpful if you could share some of the more common reasons for burnout in today’s work environment.

Kyile Stair: Yeah, you know, I think. We did see a pretty strong peak of burnout around 2022 with just everything going on [in] the world at that point in time, you know, but I think it really comes as no surprise. And in my own personal experience that there’s this mentality of doing more with less out there. And specifically, in the tech space, which is kind of where I have spent a lot of my career in. You’re seeing a lot in the news around companies restructuring and you know, reorganizing their workforce and letting people go. And there’s what some of this result is. They’re not only doing that, but they also need to stay innovative, and they need to stay ahead of the curve or ahead of the competition, or at least staying in line with the competition when it comes to innovation and the products and stuff that they’re building and creating and getting out there. And you know, I think it comes [back to] again, like when we think about what’s leading to this burnout is [an] increased workload. You have less people, maybe, who are still trying to do the same outputs and get the same sort of workload completed. And then there’s this increased pressure to continue to meet deadlines, to work quick to get something out the door, to continue to move this company forward, and you align that also with just mental health. And what’s going on with constantly being connected, and not just at work, but constantly connected in your personal life with everything else that’s coming at you. And those are kind of, you know, highlighted as three big topics around driving burnout increased workload mental health challenges. And you know this pressure to meet these deadlines.

Sarah Gallo: Yeah, all important factors to consider. And you know, I’m sure we’ll see more challenges ahead in the future as things evolve for sure, so kind of with those factors in mind. I’d love if you could kind of break down how learning and development leaders specifically can really support employee well-being and mitigate burnout.

Kyile Stair: Yeah, you know, from what I’ve seen of conversations with employees. They are looking for resources and programs. To support their wellbeing again, whether it’s from maybe the benefit side of the house, or maybe it’s you know, some formal training. But this is a really great topic in in my mind for L&D professionals to step into. You know, when we think about … you can think about formal training topics around. And we. And we can talk about maybe some of the things that we’ve done at lit most. But you know, formal training around awareness of mental health and stress in the workplace and what it means to maybe work in a remote environment. If you are, you know. Ha! Or have moved to that now. But it doesn’t have to come in the form of formal training. Right, L&D professionals, I think, play a really key part in in employees. Experience at work when it comes to experiential learning. What sort of peer-to-peer learning opportunities have we created for our employee base or for our manager base for that, for that matter, what sort of mentorship programs have we built for our organization or support for organization along maybe coaching programs like, there’s this whole experiential side of the house that L&D, I think, can tap into when it comes to learning from others, sharing with others in a setting that’s not just taking information in from a formal training, right? And I do think there’s benefit in that as well. And there are some things that we’ve done most from that regard, too. But I think there are a couple of different ways that L&D professionals can come at it.

Sarah Gallo: Yeah, I love that I’d love if you could also maybe share some kind of real-world examples of those peer-to-peer programs or coaching programs. Any other sort of wellness, training, and well-being programs that you found to be really successful?

Kyile Stair: Yeah, I mean, I think we can talk like high level around, just maybe programs in general. And then maybe some things that we’ve done as well around topics that live most. But you know. And I think again, wellness is a broad topic, and it can encompass mental, physical, financial wellness, social well-being. Right there. It’s very, very broad. I think that we can, you know, continue to understand where we build in some of these topics into our onboarding programs. Let’s say, when you join an organization, I think it’s really important right up front that you kind of come out as a company with this focus on well-being during onboarding. What’s a great time to ensure that your employees know that you’re committed to their success? Through the onboarding program. And so, are you sharing awareness around? Maybe the resources you have for an employee assistance program. So are you sharing information, maybe about what it’s like, again, to work in a remote environment. Or, our managers going through a track specifically about mental health and maybe signs to look out for in in their employee population, right? And those are actually very real examples of what we do at lip most in our onboarding program. But I think there’s a place to always lean in there. I think other resources that we can think about from an L&D perspective is leaning into with our benefits team. You know, there are so many great benefits that some of these companies could offer, but people might not know much about them. So how can we partner with maybe some of these teams as well to host and what we do at Litmos is hosting, like a 401K [offering] or pension saving sessions in partnership with the benefits team or other types of webinars around resources out there that that we kind of get out on a regular cadence. We also, and I’m a personal proponent of meditation and well-being applications, and so, for example, Calm and Headspace, that’s something that we offer our employee population as well, and something that we can think about taking advantage of, or companies can think about taking advantage of other types of resources out there, too, that maybe they don’t have to build or create themselves. The other thing is again, leaning in with this manager population. I am a very, very big advocate of manager enablement [and] manager training, I mean, your experience at your company can be defined by your manager, right? And your manager could have been your peer a couple of months ago, and now they’re your manager, or they could have come, you know, from outside your company. And now they’re in such an impactful role that these people play in people’s lives. And it’s important that they have the right resources and information to understand how to manage people as people as well. Not just the outputs of a business, right? Maybe I’ll pause there for a minute.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: Definitely, I’d love to dig in a little more on that manager piece there, because we do know managers play a key role in shaping the employee experience. And so kind of looking at specifically around like mental health awareness, training. How can that help managers better support employees who may have mental health concerns and also help mitigate the stigma around mental health in the workplace?

Kyile Stair: Yeah, I think again, I think it starts with awareness, if you’re not talking about it, you’re, not giving the information out how are people supposed to know what to look out for, or to, or to understand? Right? A lot of times, too, when we see a dip in performance it maybe a first time. Managers [are] just like, “Oh, they’re just not performing well in the end, like, let’s do something about it and put them on a performance improvement plan.” And it’s like, why don’t we pause and take a step back? Is there a reason why, maybe, personally or something else going on why, maybe their performance has dipped? Have we have we asked the question, “why?” right, or are we just jumping to conclusions as well? Because a lot of times when you may see performance, that there’s likely something else going on in that person’s life. And so again, I mentioned I think earlier that we provide managers with through the onboarding process, information and training around how to recognize potential signs of mental health issues. One, this just helps them stay aware and also aligned with work in a remote environment. So let most is fully remote, can be a lot harder to get a feel for maybe what’s going on as well when you’re not necessarily in person and getting to see someone in in feel or energy and kind of what they’re bringing to the table right? And so we provide resourcing around remote managing in a in a remote environment. Also, and really, I think this helps empower people to hopefully provide a supportive environment for our employees. Giving them the information like I mentioned earlier about, they should know about the benefits and programs. We have the employee assistance programs. Right? They should know about those topics, or know who to contact about those topics like if maybe I don’t know the answer, at least maybe the HR benefits team will know the answer. What the outlet resource is for them to go to, but helping to give them that information so they can properly [offer] support. What’s the next step? Maybe for an employee as well. The more we talk about it, the more it reduces the stigma, the more information we share, the more that we have conversations about it. People can speak up. They can if they need support, they can, you know, hopefully get that support as well.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: Definitely thanks for sharing that awareness piece is so important and really kind of sets the foundation for focusing on employee well-being. With that, do you have any other insights around like how we can better train managers to champion well-being.

Kyile Stair: Yeah, you know, one of the things we do at lit. Most. Again, because I’m a huge proponent of manager awareness and enablement. We host these monthly manager sessions, and what we do in these conversations is we open a dialogue and have small breakout sessions for our managers to come together in this peer-to-peer setting, again where they share what’s going on. Well, what struggles are they facing, especially when we’re rolling out certain programs or communication or information in the organization. You know, we have people highlight if they have taken action on something. Share your experience. What actually did it feel like when you went through that process? We’ve done feedback. You know, dialogues and practice sessions in these calls with our managers. So, what we’re doing is this, you know, peer-to-peer experiential learning with this group around on the regular cadence, breaking down those silos. Making it okay to ask questions, to get to know each other. And so we always spend time breaking out and getting to meet someone. Maybe you haven’t met yet. You spend some time getting to know them, and it helps to just again connect people as humans and open up kind of that feeling for them to say, well, I have a question about XYZ. Has anyone experienced this before, or I have a great idea around XXY, whatever it is. And so that’s one thing that’s worked really well for us is kind of that that sort of environment that we’re creating in that channel we’re creating for our manager population. I also think, we have to hold our managers accountable to set the right example for people, you know, people will emulate and essentially, they will take the example from their manager and do the same behaviors. Right? So, if I’m a manager and I’m taking time away and I’m answering every single email while I’m on “vacation” quote unquote, that’s not setting a really strong example for your team to take time away and be actually disconnected. So how are we holding one setting the example ourselves as managers, talking about what’s the important thing to do? I’m a big lover of this “My hours might not be your work hours” statement, right? That you can put into your emails and not just saying that, but actually committing to it, you know, like I don’t need a response right away. Please respond. During your working hours. And committing to those. And when people are taking time away, commit to not asking them questions unless it’s an emergency right? Like you have to, as a manager, set the right example on the tone for your employees. Otherwise, they’re never going to feel like they can disconnect as well.

Sarah Gallo: That leading by example, and that commitment and really, consistency is definitely key here. We’ll be right back after a brief message from our sponsor.

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Sarah Gallo: I’d like to switch gears for a moment to consider some of the business challenges here. I know, as Michelle opened up with this really is a human issue. But it does also have implications for businesses. So, Kyile, with that, can you talk a little bit about what challenges companies may face if they really don’t prioritize employee well-being?

Kyile Stair: Yeah, I mean, I think I kind of opened with this statement around productivity and the impact to the bottom line. You know. And again, just to kind of go back to some research and statistics here. So I think really reinforce this point. According to SHRM, workers who are burned out are nearly 3 times more likely to be actively searching for another job. And workers who are also feel burned out are significantly less likely to go above and beyond what’s expected of them, you know, only 40% versus 56%. So not only are you having employees not show up with our best foot forward and actively contributing and actively wanting to be part of the solution. You have people here who are probably, one, not going above and beyond just maybe the minimum work possible. Well, probably on the side looking for another job, right? And when we think about in organizations today, where every role can count and we’re expected to do more with less. It can have a significant impact on productivity in your organization, especially when it comes to specific roles. When we, when you talk about revenue generation roles, those who are outselling, who are, you know, kind of bringing the money into the organization? You know, or customer retention roles those who are maintaining and retaining your customers. However, you make money as a company into understanding. You know the direct impact that productivity can have on the bottom line in those roles. It’s really important that you are recognizing again how much well-being and employees showing up with their best foot forward, can drive the business forward as well.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: We’ve covered a whole lot of ground today. I’ve been enjoying this conversation a lot, but before we wrap up, I think it’s important to remember that our listeners are busy learning leaders who may struggle to prioritize their own mental and physical well-being. What are some easy ways they can incorporate self-care and wellness into their daily routines?

Kyile Stair: Great question, and I recognize that everyone recharges differently. But maybe I can share a couple of actions that I personally take, and I’ve tried to try to take over the past couple of years. I think again, I mentioned at the beginning that I myself am on a journey around this this topic and care about it personally. So some things that come top of mind for me: schedule in breaks, I mean, I personally live by my calendar, and so scheduling in a five minute break to stand up, to stretch, to go outside and get some fresh air, or end your call, schedule it for 25 minutes instead of 30 minutes. You know, and stick to that, I think, is really important. It can really just help you refocus on the task at hand and kind of get back to it right? I also schedule in time to actually complete work tasks. I don’t know about you know those out there, but my calendar gets packed with meetings and back-to-back meetings, and if I don’t schedule in time to do actual work sometimes. You don’t know when you find the time to do that right, and so I will block out 30 minutes to go through my checklist and get some stuff done. And that’s really important to me. And sometimes people are like, “You look really, really booked.” I’m like, “I am,” because I’m also doing other work. You know, yes, I’m available for maybe a quick conversation or whatever. But I really am busy doing things from my calendar. Right? I also don’t … speaking of that, I do not just accept any meeting that comes onto my calendar. I think it’s really important. We always think about with the meetings that are coming our way. Is there an agenda? Is there a very specific reason why we need this meeting? We should be asking those questions and not just having meetings for the sake of having a meeting. Really understand what value or benefit am I or the company or others getting out of this meeting? And if it’s not you know, maybe important right now, or there isn’t a real, you know, reason for leaving this meeting and having an action item. Then maybe, you know, doesn’t make sense that you accept that. Or you need to talk about another mode or a channel of how to move that topic forward like email or something else. I have tried very hard to take walks while I’m on calls, and this is really important again for me to one get outside but also I don’t know about anyone else, but I do my best thinking while I’m walking. And so, you know, it’s kind of a twofold. You’re getting work done, and you’re getting some exercise in some fresh air, hopefully depending on. You know what time of year it is, and how hot it is outside, or whatever, but doing something different away from the desk. And lastly, I’d say for me personally, I really try and eat lunch away from my desk, and I will again block in time, 20 minutes for lunch. Step away from my desk, and I read a book … and just read a chapter of a book. And I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to completely get out of work mode.” And I have 20 minutes to eat. Anyway, I’m not going to do it in front of my computer if I can. It’s not every day that this can happen. But I really try a couple of times a week and again. It just really helps me reset and feel re-energized to get back at it. So those are some things that work for me. I’m sure there’s a lot of great ideas and examples out there from other people. But a couple of tips that I’ve picked up along the way.

Sarah Gallo: I love that, such great takeaways and tips we can all really try to implement more into our own daily routines. So thanks for that Kyile. It’s been a pleasure having you on the podcast today and on that note, how can our listeners get in touch with you if they’d like to reach out?

Kyile Stair: Oh, yeah, I am. I’d love to get connected with people you can always reach out on LinkedIn. Happy to get connected there. I also would recommend you know, following the Litmos LinkedIn [page] as well. You know the teams really great at sharing resources for learning professionals out there on LinkedIn. There’s a lot of great information, so you know, feel free to follow Litmos or connect with me directly as well.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz: For more resources on L&D’s role in supporting employee well-being and on similar topics visit the show notes for this episode at TrainingIndustry.com/Podcast.

Sarah Gallo: If you enjoyed this episode, let us know rate or review us wherever you listen to your podcasts until next time.