The modern workplace is showing clear signs of distress: Employee burnout rates have soared 44% since February 2020, with burned-out employees three times more likely to be looking for a new job. Trends like the Great Detachment indicate a workforce that's increasingly disconnected and disengaged, sending urgent signals to employers that fundamental changes are needed to retain and attract talent.

Yet despite widespread recognition of these challenges, many organizations struggle to implement effective solutions. The landscape of workplace wellbeing has become a maze of competing theories and approaches, with enough myths and misconceptions to make even seasoned HR and people leaders' heads spin.

These persistent myths in the sustainable employee performance and wellbeing discussion are not simply benign. They are, at least partially, responsible for the current rates of employee burnout and mental health concerns.

It is important to draw awareness to these myths because they are often unconscious and implied aspects of workplace culture. We are not aware of what we are not aware of. By exposing these common myths about workplace wellbeing, we can begin to reshape our organizational culture with more informed perspectives.
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Myth No. 1: Workplace flexibility can only be accomplished by instituting fewer working days.

We have found that many leaders are stuck in outdated ideas about how to implement flexibility in their workplaces. There is a persistent belief that the only way to accomplish this is through reducing working times like with a four-day workweek, for example. Although many companies have explored this type of flexibility, it is not the only way to approach this vital concept of flexibility and autonomy as significant human motivators.

Exos challenged and studied this concept through a combination of both, finding that adding flexibility and autonomy led to increased employee retention and reduced burnout. Through implementing “You Do You Days,” employees had flexibility on how they used that day, whether that be a complete detachment from work, or a heads-down day to get deep work done. The gift was in the autonomy and flexibility to choose, which as it turns out, are massive human motivators. So get creative with how you think and strategize about flexibility in the workplace. Even in “always-on” industries, such as restaurants, hospitality, and newsrooms, flexibility can look like staggering shifts to incorporate proper recovery time and ultimately boost performance.
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Myth No. 2: Mandating longer hours equals higher productivity

This myth is rooted in that “hustle culture” belief that hours in the trenches equal increased performance when in reality, it doesn’t. You might get more output in the short run, but long term, that is costly fuel to run your organization on. Forcing your people to work longer hours does not mean the output will be excellent. It only means people are spinning their wheels at all costs to keep pace. This approach to high performance lacks strategy and leads directly to burnout and disengagement.

Employers can consider implementing “focus” time into daily and weekly schedules to allow for more thoughtful and deep work to be accomplished during regular work hours. This calendaring “hack” needs to be modeled by leadership in order for these types of initiatives to take root and yield organizational and cultural changes in an ecosystem. A simple formula for sustainable high performance is work + rest = success. Balancing dedicated deep work periods with time for strategic recovery is proven to lead to increased employee efficiency while maintaining (and even improving) business success. During Exos’ pilot study in partnership with the Wharton School of Business' Adam Grant and doctoral candidate Marissa Shandell, the findings showed that employees didn’t receive lower performance ratings from managers after flexibility tactics were implemented, proving it’s possible to rethink how we work without compromising performance.
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Myth No. 3: Changing established workplace norms and traditions is too disruptive and risky

As a leader, you might think it is too daunting to make global shifts in the culture of high performance inside your teams and organization. That’s understandable, but it’s equally risky to stick to the status quo.

To evoke true change in workplace norms and culture, C-suites must model the type of behavior they want to see inside of their organization. Leadership must change the mindset from the top down, demonstrating through their own actions the behavior they wish to see in employees. For instance, if your organization establishes focus hours during the first two hours of each day where no meetings can be scheduled, the CEO must hold themselves accountable to this guideline to ensure it is modeled throughout the company. Another way for a leader to model this type of cultural commitment to changing norms is to consider making your calendar public to promote transparency, allowing others to see that you’re prioritizing practices that keep you sane, centered, and focused - like meditation, exercise, quality time with loved ones, and more.

Consider establishing dedicated meeting days, with other days geared towards individual work. Grouping the type of work to specific days as a company helps employees avoid task switching to make every day impactful.

These are small but powerful changes that provide implicit and explicit expectations to your team that it is okay to do these things for ourselves. It starts with you, as the leader.
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Myth No. 4: Top performers don’t take breaks

This myth defies the reality of how the human vessel works. Without adequate rest, the human body will decompensate. Professional athletes have proven that training and performing non-stop without enough rest, recovery, and intentional breaks don’t work for long-term sustainable performance. Overtrained athletes are akin to burnt-out employees. Teams that perform the best over a sustained time understand that periods of exertion, focus, and intense productivity must be balanced by adequate episodes of recovery and rest.

There are simple and effective ways to build recovery into your sustainable high-performance strategy. For starters, shortening meeting lengths by 5-10 minutes gives time back to employees where they can weave recovery practices into their current workday. Honor those stop times and give your colleagues that time back for recovery-based practices (like a walk outside, meditation, or time to do nothing for a few minutes). This is no small achievement when you consider the research out of Microsoft Human Factors Lab on the power of micro-breaks. The data from this research amplifies the role that recovery plays in increased productivity and feelings of wellbeing. That’s a win-win for the organizations and individual employees.

Debunking these common myths about workplace performance, productivity, and employee wellbeing is essential to helping co-author our way out of the current workplace crises. By incorporating flexibility, leveraging autonomy, emphasizing deep work, and recognizing the importance of recovery, organizations can foster environments where people can feel and perform their best. It’s time for leaders to reassess and update their cultural belief system around workplace norms to foster environments that promote sustainable high-performance principles.

Sarah Sarkis is senior director of Performance Psychology at Exos.

See also:

• How personal insurance brokers foster financial wellness
• Gen Z in the workplace: Shift mindsets to embrace maximizing potential
• Are employers offering too many mental health benefits?
• Maximizing Gen Z's workplace potential