What If Tiny "Kind Company" Habits Could Yield Big Profit?
- Yelena Ogan
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 7
Dear CEO,
Right now, your people are disengaged. That's not an opinion; it's a fact. According to Gallup, U.S. employee engagement fell to a 10-year low in 2024, costing the global economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity. In this environment, the idea of "workplace happiness" can sound like fluff—a vague, cute theory without a clear return to the bottom line.
But what if we stopped thinking of it as a binary state of "happy" or "unhappy" and started seeing it as a measurable spectrum? A spectrum where you can pull specific levers to move your unique workforce from a costly, potentially disengaged state to a place of sustainable, high-performing growth.
This is where the latest research from a 2024 Oxford study changes the conversation. It moves beyond simple correlation to prove a causal link: investing in employee well-being doesn't just make people feel better; it drives higher profitability and firm value. It is then up to you to pull the right levers in your organization that connect an increase in well-being to drive profitability.
The "Neutral" State: The Cost of Inaction
My brilliant mentor, Sheri, proposed a framework to me that perfectly captures this idea: accretive, depletive, and neutral. This framework helps us see where a lack of well-being becomes an expensive problem.
In depletive state, she suggests, is where well-being is so negative that productivity is lost, actively harming company results.
To truly appreciate the ROI of well-being, leaders must first understand the high cost of its absence. Think of it through the lens of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Without a foundation of physiological and safety needs being met—like fair pay, a reasonable workload, and psychological safety—employees are stuck (especially in the current job hugging economy). The costs are tangible: absenteeism, high turnover, and lower productivity. When 61% of employees report being sick from workplace stress, and job stress costs U.S. employers over $300 billion annually (Dying for a Paycheck, 2018), this isn't a soft HR issue; it's a direct threat to the bottom line. This state of emotional and mental disengagement is the direct result of an organization failing to meet foundational human needs, leaving employees to simply "exist" below the threshold.
Contrast this with the neutral state, where employees are just meeting minimum viable performance, providing no differentiated value. The goal, of course, is the accretive state—where discretionary effort yields increased productivity and tangible, positive outcomes for the company.
Your Path to Profit: Incremental Well-Being Goals
So, what is a CEO to do? It's about a strategic, incremental approach to pull the right levers that move you from depletive or neutral to the accretive state.
As a business psychologist, my work is to identify and deploy those unique levers that are specific to your organization. The goal isn't a massive, one-time overhaul, but rather a series of incremental habits that build momentum and provide a clear return.
For example, I have worked with organizations to pull levers such as:
Improving manager capability at a tech company: By focusing on developing targeted manager skills (levers) like coaching and delegation, we saw significant improvements in productivity and retention (because let’s face it - people run from bad managers). This resulted in a 46% improvement in leadership bench strength—a direct example of accretive effort leading to tangible results.
Focusing on targeted culture levers: recognition (companies with a “recognition-rich culture” vastly outperform others), team effectiveness and coaching work during a period of high turnover and restructure, which resulted in increase in engagement by over 20%.
Ultimately, well-being isn't just about feeling good. It's about operating at a sustainable, high-performing level. It's no longer a line item on the expense report; it's the new currency of a resilient and profitable organization. It’s about building a culture where kindness is both a an attractive value and a profit driver.
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