International Self Care Day on July 24 highlights the importance of recognizing the significance of self-care not only for individuals but also within the workplace. The well-being of employees directly impacts their performance, and fostering a culture of care can transform a good workplace into a great one.
As Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work, notes, when employees feel genuinely cared for, they reciprocate with dedication and productivity. By aligning leadership behaviors with the principles of self-care, organizations can not only boost performance but also ensure their employees lead balanced, fulfilling lives.
Caring — one of the nine high-trust leadership behaviors — happens when leaders take time to learn about employees’ lives beyond the workplace and invest in their success.
When leaders demonstrate a high level of care, it unlocks employee performance. “People care about their work when they experience being cared for,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. “That shows up when you take time to understand and listen to people’s experiences, inside and outside of work.”
In the Great Place To Work® ASEAN and ANZ Regional Insights Report, three key themes around leadership behaviors consistently emerged as factors that correlated highly with a great employee experience. Genuine care and interest in building relationships is one of them.
Such leaders understood and consciously supported employees’ needs within and outside the workplace, cared for their well-being, and intentionally created a supportive and appreciative work environment. They were committed to applying different approaches, and implementing inclusive policies and programs that recognized employee efforts, fostering a culture of psychological safety to facilitate learning and growth, thus enabling employees to perform at their best.
Line leaders are also key to sustaining the desired culture. At AbbVie Singapore, all employees are assessed on the same set of behavioral attributes based on AbbVie’s Ways We Work. Managers are measured by an additional category of attributes centered around building diverse, high- performing teams, such as how they raise the bar, coach employees and reward performance.
Caring is one of the nine high-trust leadership behaviors, a signal to employees that leaders are invested in their lives and well-being, not just their performance on the job.
Leaders that demonstrate a high level of care for employees ask questions about workload and work-life balance. They are focused on creating inclusive and welcoming environments where everyone can have a sense they belong. They prioritize employee well-being and take the time to learn about each individual employee’s goals and needs.
Here’s how great workplaces strive to ensure employees have managers who lead with empathy and build inclusive environments where everyone can succeed:
1. Offer flexibility for employees navigating complex lives outside of work
Great Place To Work research has found that when employees can choose where they work, they are:
- Three times more likely to want to stay at the company
- 14 times less likely to “quit and stay”
That doesn’t mean that every workplace builds a better culture when employees can work from home. Instead, the data highlights the value employees put on flexibility.
There are many ways to offer flexibility to employees for example rotating weekend project schedules to allow workers to flex their time and participate in important family activities. Great workplaces also ensure that when life events occur, employees have the space they need.
Hilton, No. 1 on the 2024 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® List, has made investments in supporting caregivers. After estimating that 80% of its workforce is impacted by caregiving responsibilities, the hotel chain launched a resource hub to connect employees with information and tools. It also partnered with Wellthy, a service that allows team members to find care services for children and aging parents.
2. Break down barriers to ensure everyone can thrive
When leaders care about employees, they investigate the barriers that might be holding people back. They consider how equitable the workplace is — looking to see if everyone regardless of role or background has the opportunity to grow and the ability to thrive.
Leaders at Prospa, a leading fintech servicing Australian small businesses, demonstrate their commitment to fostering a fair and inclusive compensation and benefits structure by conducting annual salary benchmarking with a specialized remuneration consultant, which includes reviewing any gender-pay disparities. Prospa leadership also endorsed an upgraded leave policy that better supports return-to-work parents and those on a gender transition journey.
Coca-Cola Beverages Vietnam knows that psychological safety is achieved when employees are not afraid to make mistakes and know it’s okay to be imperfect. One of its leadership expectations is to “Be the Role Model”, and its leaders lead by example by encouraging everyone to speak up and take smart risks.
Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be vital tools for building belonging and trust in the workplace. What really unlocks their power is ensuring that affinity groups have clear business goals, rather than getting sidelined as a networking group.
To understand the barriers that are preventing some employees from having a great experience, start with your data. Even better, disaggregate your data to get the full picture of how different experiences and backgrounds can intersect to create inequality for your workforce.
“None of us are one thing,” Brian K. Reaves, chief belonging, equity, and impact officer at UKG shared at the For All Summit™ in 2024. “The multiple layers of who we are sometimes leads to different outcomes for certain people than others.”
3. Invest in employee well-being
When employees don’t experience well-being — either from burnout, loneliness, or other factors — they won’t feel that leaders care about them.
A commitment to well-being requires companies to invest in leadership training and development. Research from UKG found that managers have greater impact on employees’ mental health than their therapist or doctor.
Via Appia Philippines, Inc., also extends help to all employees regardless of their tenure. That’s why when a newly hired Via Appia Philippines employee discovered she had cancer, she discussed this with her supervisor, and the whole organization quickly came to her aid. Its leaders and employees worked together to raise almost a million pesos for her radiation and chemotherapy sessions.
Great workplaces ensure that employees build connections with colleagues and have a regular one-on-one with their manager.
Accenture Indonesia conducts listening sessions with employees to hear their feedback on what is working and what can be further improved in their day-to-day work environment. The HR and leadership team discuss follow-up action, and within three months, employees’ feedback is sought to ensure that actions implemented have made a positive difference. Its efforts to create touch points to connect with and listen to employees enables line leaders and senior management to keep a pulse on the workforce, and quickly follow-up on opportunity areas identified.
4. Consider your impact outside of the workplace
Great workplaces also think about their impact on the outside world. When companies truly care about employees, they also think about their families and the communities they live in.
Great workplaces don’t just care about employees when they are in an office or on a work site. Great workplaces care about the communities where employees live and are making investments to protect the planet. This often requires looking at the bigger picture.
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