Your people are overworked and tired.
You're hearing it in your one-on-ones with your team. You're hearing it in exit interviews, seeing it in survey results, and probably feeling it yourself. Our team at YMCA WorkWell collects data from tens of thousands of employees every year and that data tells a clear story: Workload has been one of the most persistent and painful challenges facing people leaders for years.
If you're leading people at any level, it's likely sitting at the top or near the top of your list of challenges.
And here's the hard truth: There's no quick fix.
This isn't a "two simple things to fix your workload problem" story, because that doesn't exist. Workload is complex with no simple solution. Real, sustainable relief requires significant change - headcount, funding, overhauling processes, redesigning organizational structures and roles, and ruthless prioritization. This work moves slowly and it takes time to get it right.
But your people are struggling now. So what can you do now?
There is an answer in the data that is simple: Recognition. Making your people feel seen and valued. Our Employees Insights data regularly shows that it is the best low cost, high impact way to improve the employee experience. But our data shows it has arguably its greatest impact when workload is at its worst.
In other words: You can't fix workload today. But you can do something today that meaningfully changes how your people experience it. And the difference it makes is bigger than most leaders realize.
Let's talk data.
In other words: more than two-thirds of employees who feel unable to manage their workload are burning out. It doesn't stop there. When we ask burnt out employees what they consider to be their most significant sources of stress at work, "keeping up with my workload" is the #1 source of stress they list - along with, wait for it, not feeling appropriately appreciated (we'll come back to that!).
Employees with unhealthy workload scores are 4.5x more likely to consider leaving their role than employees with healthy workload scores.
If you needed data to validate what you're already hearing - there it is.
Now here's where it gets interesting. We know we can't fix workload overnight. But what if there was something leaders could do right now that meaningfully changed how employees experience that overload? That's where recognition comes in - and the data is powerful.
Regardless of our role and our background, we all want to feel like we are a valued member of our organization. We want to feel included, we want to feel like our leader believes that we are an important member of their team, and we want to feel like our organization cares about our well-being.
And recognition becomes increasingly important as workload soars. People want to get back as much as they put into their role - and so when they are asked to do more with less, their expectations around how they want to be recognized grow too. And, rightfully so. They want to feel like the extra energy, time, and skills they devote to their role is being seen and valued.
To understand the impact of recognition on the overworked, we looked specifically at employees with unhealthy workload scores and broke them down by how healthy their recognition experience is at work.
Take Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) - a metric that measures how likely employees are to recommend their organization as a great place to work, scored from -100 to +100.
Overworked employees with healthy recognition scores average an eNPS of +4. To be clear: that's not a number to write home about, and it falls below our benchmark for a healthy culture. But the important comparison is where it lands without recognition. Overworked employees with unhealthy recognition score -69. That is a 72-point swing from recognition alone - within a group facing similar workload challenges.
We see the same story with turnover risk, where recognition gives a fighting chance to keep your overworked employees.
Among overworked employees with unhealthy recognition, 50% are considering leaving - one in two. Among overworked employees with healthy recognition, that drops to 20%. A 30-point difference, again within a group dealing with the same workload reality.
Here's what makes that number particularly striking: the turnover risk of employees with unhealthy workload but healthy recognition is nearly identical to employees with adequate workload scores and almost in line with the Canadian average.
Recognition isn't just softening the blow - it's effectively cancelling out a significant portion of the retention risk that comes with being overworked. That is the power of feeling valued.
Here's the thing about workload: it's structural. Headcount decisions, funding constraints, inefficient processes. These aren't problems a leader can solve with a conversation. Real and sustainable workload relief takes time, resources, and intentional organization effort.
Recognition, on the other hand, is available right now. It's free. It takes minutes. And if our data is telling us anything, it's that recognition is doing its most important work precisely when everything else is already hard.
This isn't an argument that recognition fixes burnout, or that a "thank you" substitutes for adequate staffing. It doesn't and it shouldn't. But the data is clear that employees who feel seen and valued are significantly more resilient when their workload is high. They are less likely to leave, and more likely to remain advocates for your organization even when conditions are tough.
The organizations that pull back on recognition when everyone is busy and overwhelmed - and it happens often, because leaders get overwhelmed too - are making exactly the wrong call at exactly the wrong moment.
So where can you start?
Build it into your routine. Leaders are busy and often dealing with our own capacity challenges. You won't catch every sliding door moment, which is why you need to create them too. Set a weekly calendar reminder to send a message of appreciation to someone on your team. Make shout-outs a standing part of your team meetings. The more deliberately you build these moments into your routine, the more naturally you'll start catching the ones that come to you.
If your team is stretched right now, you probably can't fix workload overnight. Recognition won't magically change that reality. But our data shows it goes a long way in making people feel valued - and that matters more than ever when they're running on empty.
The good news is you can start that today. You can send a message this afternoon. You can open your next team meeting with a specific, genuine shout-out to someone who's been showing up. You can check in with that employee you know is feeling tired.
None of that requires a budget, a program, or a business case.
What it requires is intention. And the willingness to turn toward your people - especially when they're struggling most.
Because that's when it matters most.
Want to know how recognition, workload, and burnout are showing up in your organization? Our WorkWell Insights Reports give people leaders and executives the data they need to turn insights into action.
Learn more on our Insights Page or reach me directly at dave.whiteside@ytr.ymca.ca. We'd love to help.