In the post-pandemic workplace, a profound shift has occurred. Employers are no longer evaluated solely on compensation, titles, or advancement opportunities.
Increasingly, candidates and current employees alike are assessing companies based on how well they support mental, emotional, and physical health. As a hiring manager, your ability to attract, engage, and retain top talent now hinges on more than just job offers. It hinges on how well your organization fosters well-being.
Employee well-being is no longer a “nice to have.” It is a strategic imperative that drives performance, engagement, loyalty, and bottom-line results.
This article explores how well-being impacts productivity and retention—and what you, as a hiring manager, can do to champion it within your organization.
What Is Employee Well-being?
Employee well-being is the holistic state of an individual’s health, happiness, and fulfillment at work and in life. It encompasses:
- Mental health: Psychological safety, stress levels, and emotional resilience.
- Physical health: Energy levels, physical activity, rest, and access to healthcare.
- Social well-being: Workplace relationships, sense of belonging, and connection to team and culture.
- Financial wellness: Stability and control over one’s financial future.
- Purpose and engagement: Feeling that work is meaningful and aligned with personal values.
When employees experience high levels of well-being, they are more likely to feel engaged, motivated, and loyal. When well-being suffers, performance and retention decline.
The Link Between Well-being and Productivity
There is overwhelming evidence that a well workforce is a productive workforce. Organizations with strong well-being cultures experience:
- Higher levels of employee engagement
- Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism
- Improved creativity and collaboration
- Faster problem-solving and decision-making
- Lower rates of burnout
A Gallup report shows that employees who strongly agree that their organization cares about their well-being are 69% less likely to search for a new job, 71% less likely to report burnout, and three times more likely to be engaged at work.
Let us break this down: productivity is not simply about getting people to work more—it is about creating the conditions for people to perform better.
Hiring managers must recognize that productivity is deeply human. You cannot maximize output if your team is mentally exhausted, emotionally disconnected, or physically unwell.
Well-being as a Retention Strategy
In a market where retention has become one of the biggest challenges facing employers, investing in employee well-being is a proven way to reduce turnover and build a stable, high-performing team.
According to NPAworldwide, one of the key shifts in the workforce over the past few years is that employees are choosing stability, purpose, and wellness over perks, pay bumps, or prestige. They are staying where they feel seen, safe, and supported.
Why does this matter? Because even in periods like “The Great Stay,” where fewer people are switching jobs, disengaged employees are still a flight risk. And replacing them is expensive—SHRM estimates the average cost to replace an employee is six to nine months of their salary.
Organizations that support employee wellness see higher retention because:
- Employees feel valued beyond their output.
- Stress and burnout are proactively addressed.
- Career development is integrated into well-being programs.
- Teams are less reactive and more resilient.
As a hiring manager, your retention strategy must go beyond compensation and career ladders. It must include consistent, visible support for the overall well-being of your people.
The High Cost of Ignoring Mental Health and Burnout
The World Health Organization reports that depression and anxiety cost the global economy an estimated $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. That number is expected to rise as workplace pressures increase and employees struggle to disconnect in always-on digital environments.
Burnout—a state of chronic stress that leads to emotional exhaustion and reduced personal efficacy—is now recognized as an occupational phenomenon.
Hiring managers are on the front lines of this crisis. You see the signs when employees:
- Miss deadlines or make uncharacteristic errors
- Struggle to engage in meetings or collaborate
- Experience declining morale or mood changes
- Withdraw socially or request frequent time off
Left unaddressed, burnout becomes a pipeline to turnover, disengagement, and long-term health issues. A culture that minimizes mental health concerns or treats burnout as a personal failing—not a systemic issue—will quickly lose its top performers.
What Effective Well-being Programs Look Like
Wellness programs are not just yoga classes and fruit bowls in the break room. To be truly effective, well-being initiatives must be strategic, inclusive, and woven into the fabric of the company’s culture.
Here is what world-class well-being support often includes:
1. A Supportive Culture of Psychological Safety
Leaders set the tone. Employees must feel safe to voice concerns, set boundaries, and admit when they are struggling—without fear of retribution.
What hiring managers can do: Model vulnerability. Share your own experiences with stress and coping strategies. Encourage your team to speak up. Support those who need help.
2. Flexible Work Arrangements
The post-pandemic workforce values flexibility as a core part of well-being. This includes hybrid work, adjusted hours, and asynchronous communication.
What hiring managers can do: Advocate for flexible schedules where possible. Set clear performance expectations based on outcomes—not hours logged.
3. Access to Mental Health Resources
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), counseling services, mental health days, and well-being stipends are now table stakes in modern organizations.
What hiring managers can do: Promote the availability of these resources regularly. Normalize their use. Partner with HR to expand offerings if usage is low or feedback is poor.
4. Regular Workload Reviews
Chronic overwork is one of the biggest threats to well-being. It erodes morale and encourages shortcuts.
What hiring managers can do: Periodically evaluate your team’s capacity. Reallocate tasks. Say “no” to non-essential projects when your team is stretched.
5. Career Growth and Purpose Alignment
Well-being is not just about health—it’s about fulfillment. Employees want to feel that their work matters.
What hiring managers can do: Connect individual roles to larger company missions. Offer stretch assignments. Talk about long-term career goals in regular check-ins.
Why Hiring Managers Must Champion Well-being
Well-being doesn’t belong solely in HR’s domain. Hiring managers are uniquely positioned to make well-being a daily reality for their teams.
You manage the people doing the work. You influence how they experience the workplace day-to-day. You are often the first to notice when someone is overwhelmed, disengaged, or heading toward burnout.
Here is how you can lead the charge:
Be Proactive: Don’t wait for your team to hit a breaking point. Build in regular check-ins where mental and emotional health are fair game.
- Be Visible: Use your own platform to talk about well-being. Share wins. Celebrate people who set healthy boundaries. Highlight the importance of rest and balance.
- Be Curious: Ask your team: “What would help you feel more supported right now?” Their answers may surprise you—and lead to practical, immediate improvements.
- Be Strategic: Partner with HR and leadership to make the case for greater investment in well-being. Use data—like engagement scores, retention metrics, and absenteeism rates—to connect wellness to performance.
Building a Culture of Well-being Starts with Hiring
The hiring process itself sends a message about your company’s priorities. Candidates today are asking:
- How does this company support work-life balance?
- What benefits are offered for mental and emotional health?
- How flexible is the work environment?
- What is the manager’s leadership style?
- Is this a place where I can thrive—not just survive?
If your answers are not clear, authentic, and backed by real programs and behaviors, top candidates may quietly walk away.
Tip for hiring managers: Talk about well-being during interviews. Highlight employee support programs. Share how you foster a healthy team culture. The best candidates will take note.
Well-being Is a Leadership Imperative
Productivity and retention are not just outputs—they are reflections of culture. And culture is defined, in large part, by how organizations treat their people.
Employee well-being is not a soft skill or a fringe benefit. It’s a strategic pillar of business success. For hiring managers, it’s an opportunity to be a force multiplier—to drive performance by supporting people, not pushing them to the edge.
When your team feels good, they do great work. So, ask yourself:
- Are my people thriving or surviving?
- Do I know what support they need right now?
- What can I change today to create a more resilient, healthy team?
Because in the end, happy employees don’t just stay longer.
They stay engaged.
They stay innovative.
And they help your organization stay ahead.
We invite you to find out more about our Veterinary recruiting services for employers and also learn more about our recruiting process and how we can help you hire more veterinarians in 2025.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.