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The old adage the only thing constant is change seems to ring true in workplaces today. Workplaces are rife with challenges, from navigating economic uncertainty to rapidly adapting to technological change. Workplace mental health support plays a pivotal role in helping employees build resilience to navigate the stressors they face. When we discuss mental health in the workplace, we often think of a corporate office: a desk, a screen, and a Slack channel. In reality, the need for mental health support extends to all sectors and workers. From healthcare to hospitality, construction to retail, food service to utilities, workers in non-office jobs are just as in need of support as their desked peers. There is no such thing as a stress-free workplace. As a leader, what you do to address it can make all the difference. It’s a business imperative At Calm, weve seen this firsthand. Through our app, we support over 3,500 organizations, including 600 non-office industries. Across sectors and industries, employees come to Calm for stress, anxiety, mindfulness, and sleep support. Workers across the board might share similar challengesanxiety, burnout, family stressbut their experiences are unique to their role or environment. An office worker may fear being replaced by AI. A warehouse worker may worry more about the risk of injury or being replaced by automation. Each of those fears is valid, and each deserves bespoke support. Supporting workers isnt just the right thing to do; its a business imperative. According to yale researchers, the U.S. economy loses over $280 billion each year due to mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression. Gallup found that employees who report poor mental health take nearly five times as many sick days. Thats $47.6 billion in lost productivity. But more than that, its millions of people quietly struggling to get through the day. It doesn’t have to be this way and making mental health support a priority goes a long way. It begins with open and honest communication. Leaders must be willing to share their own experiences with stress, anxiety, or burnout to normalize these conversations. Ive publicly discussed my personal journey with my team, from experiencing panic attacks starting as a teenager to leading Calm, aiming to inspire others to prioritize their mental well-being. This transparency has helped break down the stigma associated with mental health challenges and encourages employees to seek help when they need it. Steps leaders can take Here are some other ways leaders can help incorporate employee mental well-being as a workplace priority: Talk about it. Leadership sets the tone and should model and share their own experiences balancing mental well-being while at work. Listen. Be present. Find ways to hear from your teams.Understand the stressors that exist across different types of work. For some, its emotional fatigure. For others, its physical strain or unpredictable hours. All of it matters. Meet people where they are. Whether its a digital platform, a flyer in the locker room, or a text-based check-in, delivery matters as much as the message. Tailor support. One-size-fits-all solutions fall flat. A call center agent and a construction worker have very different needs, and your approach should reflect that. Normalize mental health in company culture. Mental wellness shouldnt feel like an afterthought. At Calm, we begin every all-hands meeting with a short meditation. I try not to start my day by checking emails or texts. These arent big shifts, but theyre grounding. When mindfulness is integrated into the rhythm of work, it becomes an integral part of the culture, rather than just a checkbox. At Calm, weve learned that purpose and performance arent opposites. When employees feel supported, they show up stronger and better. Engagement goes up, turnover goes down, and business benefits. Stress isnt going away. However, we have an opportunity to transform how we support employees in handling it. Workplace mental health support isnt optional; it’s essential. It is crucial to create a supportive and sustainable workplace that enables leaders to take a holistic approach to caring for their people. After all, we cant build healthy companies without a thriving workforce across all teams in every sector of our economy. David Ko is CEO of Calm.
Category:
E-Commerce
In today’s workplace, everyone’s racing to a digital finish line. Organizations have embraced transformation, but in a rush to adopt new technologies, many leaders have prioritized speed over strategy without aligning teams, systems, and goals. The result? Disconnected ecosystems where information gets lost and workflows become increasingly disjointed. To accelerate effectively, teams need more than just tools. They need clarity. The data from Lucids recent acceleration equation survey highlights that when teams build from a common foundation with shared context, processes, and alignment, they save time and enhance agilityenabling everyone to move faster together. Identify the visibility gap Theres an increasing divide in confidence and clarity around how teams understand their work. Visibility isnt just about dashboards, its about a shared understanding of expectations, deliverables, and goals. And that understanding is where the gaps are widening. While 93% of executives in the survey said they feel confident in project expectations, only 74% of individual contributors feel the same. Without clarity on how tasks contribute to broader goals, even high-performing teams face friction, redundancy, and missed opportunities. This lack of shared visibility is compounded by the scattered information thats become all too common in todays workplace. The average employee toggles between multiple platforms just to get a full picture of a project. It’s no surprise that 40% of knowledge workers dont know where to find key project resources, leading to delays, duplication, and frustration. These visibility gaps and scattered systems dont just slow teams down, they trap them in inefficient cycles that waste time and sap momentum. Workers are stuck in a cycle of disconnect Even the most capable teams can falter when processes lack consistency and documentation. Without clear guidance, employees often spend more time deciphering workflows than executing them. Our recent survey asked workers how often they recreate processes or documentation simply because they cant find themand nearly a third of workers recreate processes multiple times a week. With that, 43% of executives struggle with managing change effectively. This is not due to resistance to structure but stems from insufficient documentation and communication. Ive seen this firsthand while scaling a company. As deadlines pile up and teams shift into execution mode, process and visibility often take a back seat. What feels like progress can quickly turn into misalignment when theres no connective tissue holding efforts together. This fragmentation leads to significant time losses, with a staggering 85% of workers spending up to two hours daily searching for information. Thats an entire workday lost each week. Disconnected tools and fragmented project context can leave teams in a loop of improvisation and inefficiency. And while meetings are meant to solve that, more than 60% of employees say they walk away without clear next steps, which only adds to the confusion. One in five workers believe standardized, updated process documentation would save them at least three hours daily. This highlights an incredible opportunity for massive time and cost savings. What Ive realized, and what our customers consistently tell us, is that teams dont need more systems; they need clearer, more centralized information that meets them where they already work and breaks the unproductive cycle consuming their time and energy. What’s really needed to accelerate work Todays workplace isnt suffering from a lack of toolsbut from too many disconnected ones. About 28% of employees surveyed say outdated or inadequate tools are slowing them down, while scattered information across platforms creates confusion instead of clarity. Teams often end up working in parallel rather than in sync, wasting valuable time and losing momentum as they struggle to find what they need. What truly accelerates work isnt more tools but better orchestration that connects existing solutions in a way that enables clear, confident teamwork. While most firms aren’t looking to overhaul their tech stacks, theyve recognized that the key to efficiency lies in clearer communication protocols and more effective collaboration. So now is the time to invest in the right areas: streamlined processes and integrated tools that foster cross-functional work. But the real magic happens when creating consistency. When teams share the same view and access information effortlessly, they don’t just move forwardthey accelerate with shared purpose. Our opportunity as leaders? Transform scattered effort into a unified force that powers genuine, breakthrough innovation. Dave Grow is CEO of Lucid Software.
Category:
E-Commerce
TikTok has boosted the careers of numerous musicians, thanks to their songsboth new and oldgoing viral. The latest example is Connie Franciss 1962 hit Pretty Little Baby, which is currently inescapable across For You pages. Now, TikTok is making it even easier for artists to capitalize on viral moments. The platform has rolled out its music insights tool globally, following a limited beta launch that was quietly tested with a select group of artists two months ago. TikTok for Artists offers musicians daily updates on how their songs are being used and which tracks are generating the most engagement. Metrics include the number of views, posts, and creator interactions per song, as well as insights into each posts performance. Artists also gain access to demographic data about their followers, such as age, language, and self-identified gender. All tiers of artists will gain insights on TikTok that they can use to take their careers to a whole new level, said Tracy Gardner, TikToks global head of music business development, in a statement. We built the platform to give artists transparent access to useful, actionable data about their music and their fans, to help them better engage with the TikTok community and supercharge their careers both on and off the platform. One early tester, Cyril Riley, said: My team and I rely on TikTok for Artists daily, sometimes even hourly. In such a rapidly evolving industry, it’s crucial for us to consistently monitor and review the analytics of my account.” Another musician, Jordan Adetunji, called it a game changer. Alongside the analytics tool, TikTok has launched a pre-release feature that lets artists promote upcoming music on the platform. Fans can pre-save unreleased albums directly to their Spotify or Apple Music libraries, making the music instantly available when it drops. Not everyone is enthusiastic, though. Some critics view this as TikTok following in Spotifys footsteps (Spotify launched Spotify for Artists back in 2016), fostering a culture of music made specifically to go viral. As The Faders Jordan Darville writes: A massively popular app creates artist services that steer the sound of music in directions more profitable for the platform, and simultaneously throttles royalties to make shareholders happy. Perhaps these new TikTok features will inspire more unexpected comebacks from pop icons of the 60sor maybe theyll just give us new options to soundtrack our TikTok carousels.
Category:
E-Commerce
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