★ The research
Employee wellbeing isn't a perk. It's a line on the balance sheet.
Gallup has spent decades studying what actually predicts whether people thrive at work, and the findings are blunt: ignoring wellbeing costs real money, and fixing it is one of the highest-leverage moves a leader can make. Here's the data, and what it means for your organization.
★ The cost
What burnout is already costing you.
Gallup's research puts a real number on what most leaders already suspect: unmanaged burnout is not a morale problem, it's a financial one.
Lost opportunity per 10,000 employees tied to low wellbeing.
Lost globally each year to turnover and lost productivity linked to burnout.
Of U.S. employees say they experience burnout very often or always.
More likely to actively look for a different job if they're frequently burned out.
Frequently burned-out employees are also 63% more likely to take a sick day, whether or not they're actually sick. Source: Gallup, "The Importance of Employee Wellbeing."
★ The upside
What a thriving employee actually looks like, next to a struggling one.
Gallup classifies employees as thriving, struggling, or suffering based on how they rate their current and future lives. The gap between thriving and everyone else is where the return on wellbeing shows up.
Less likely to be watching for a new job, compared to struggling or suffering employees.
Less likely to report frequent burnout.
As likely to be genuinely engaged at work.
Engagement alone isn't the whole story, either. Employees who are engaged but not thriving are still 61% more likely to report frequent burnout, with 48% more daily stress and twice the daily sadness and anger. Effort and sustainability are two different things.
★ The leadership multiplier
The numbers move again when employees believe leadership actually means it.
Gallup measured what happens when employees say their organization genuinely cares about their wellbeing, not just claims to.
Less likely to be job hunting.
Less likely to report frequent burnout.
As likely to be engaged at work.
As likely to actively advocate for the organization.
That last number is worth sitting with: belief in a real wellbeing commitment predicts advocacy more strongly than almost anything else Gallup measures.
★ Gallup's framework
Wellbeing breaks into five parts. Four of them feed the fifth.
Here is where we think leaders should look next. Career wellbeing isn't built at work alone. It is built by the person showing up, and the other four elements are what that person is made of. When someone's relationships, finances, health, and sense of belonging are steady, they bring clarity, resilience, and purpose to their job. When those are shaky, the job absorbs the damage. Personal development is how professional development actually happens.
The four that lead to career
Social
Meaningful relationships, at work and outside it.
How it helps your career. People who feel known and supported ask for help sooner, handle conflict better, and lead with more steadiness.
How Forte builds it. A standing weekly Session with a trained Coach gives each person a trusted human outside their reporting line, and a place to work through the relationships weighing on them.
Financial
Managing your economic life in a way that reduces stress and increases security.
How it helps your career. Money stress follows people into every meeting. When it eases, attention and decision-making come back.
How Forte builds it. Coaching helps members name the fears and habits behind their money stress, and the Mental Fitness Scan shows where their energy is leaking, so they can act on it instead of carrying it.
Physical
Having the health and energy to get things done day to day.
How it helps your career. Energy is the raw material of focus. People who protect it recover faster from hard weeks and stay present longer.
How Forte builds it. Short daily exercises build steady routines for stress, rest, and recovery, and a weekly Coach helps members keep the ones that stick.
Community
Liking where you live and feeling engaged with the people around you.
How it helps your career. A sense of belonging and purpose beyond the job makes people more resilient inside it, and more likely to stay and advocate for it.
How Forte builds it. Coaching helps members get clear on their values and what they are building toward, then act on it in the communities they belong to.
Career
Liking what you do every day.
The transition. This is where the other four pay off. Clarity, resilience, and purpose built in a person's whole life show up in their decisions, their leadership, and how they handle pressure at work. Forte's daily training and weekly Coach build those at the personal level, so professional development has something real to stand on.
“What if the work of being human deserves the same serious training as the work of being a professional?”The question Forte was built on
★ Where Forte fits
Career wellbeing is the foundation. That's exactly what Forte trains.
Gallup's own data says engagement alone doesn't hold up without wellbeing underneath it, and career wellbeing carries more weight than any other element. That's the specific gap Forte is built to close: not a one-off perk, but daily training and a standing weekly Coach that builds the kind of durable clarity and resilience Gallup is describing.
Average Member Session rating across all cohorts
Member reviews of their Coaching experience
Members reported improved overall well-being as a result of Coaching
Members reported improved productivity at work as a result of Coaching
In a time when employee wellness is so important to a company's culture, Forte may be the most important resource an organization can provide for its team members today.
Founder Corporate Organization
★ Questions we get
Frequently asked.
What is employee wellbeing?
Employee wellbeing is how people experience their whole life, not just their job. Gallup breaks it into five elements: career, social, financial, physical, and community. Career wellbeing, meaning whether someone actually likes what they do each day, carries the most weight of the five.
How much does poor employee wellbeing actually cost employers?
Gallup estimates $20 million in lost opportunity per 10,000 employees tied to low wellbeing, and puts the global cost of burnout-related turnover and lost productivity at $322 billion a year. Separate research on voluntary turnover from burnout puts the number at 15 to 20% of total payroll.
What's the difference between employee engagement and employee wellbeing?
Engagement is about effort: whether someone is involved and enthusiastic about their work. Wellbeing is about whether that effort is sustainable. Gallup found that employees who are engaged but not thriving are still 61% more likely to report frequent burnout, with meaningfully higher daily stress, worry, and negative emotion than employees who are both engaged and thriving.
What are the five elements of wellbeing, according to Gallup?
Career, social, financial, physical, and community wellbeing. They're not weighted equally: the quality of someone's day-to-day work experience (career wellbeing) has 2.5 to 3 times more impact on overall wellbeing than the number of hours they work.
How do the other four elements of wellbeing affect career wellbeing?
Forte's view is that social, financial, physical, and community wellbeing all lead to career wellbeing. Steady relationships, financial security, energy, and a sense of belonging give a person the clarity, resilience, and purpose they bring to their work, which is how personal development turns into professional development. Gallup identifies career wellbeing as the most influential of the five elements.
How can employers actually improve employee wellbeing?
The research points away from one-off perks and toward sustained, structural support: something people return to regularly rather than use once. That's the model Forte runs on: short daily training plus a standing weekly session with a trained human Coach, aimed specifically at the career wellbeing element Gallup identifies as foundational.
★ Put the data to work
See what a wellbeing strategy that actually holds up looks like.
Book a meeting to see the platform and talk through fit. No pricing calculators, no forms to fill out first, just a conversation.