Are Employees Languishing or Flourishing at Work?
The Importance of Clearly Measuring this Central Element of Workplace Mental Health
Report Contents
Methodology
Key Findings
Introduction
Background
Results
Conclusions
Methodology
Please cite as: Ybarra, O., Keyes, C., & Kross, E. (2025). Languishing and mental health at work: Workplace contributors and effects on personal and work outcomes. Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society, University of Illinois, Gies College of Business.
The study was conducted from August 8-16, 2024. It is based on a sample of employed individuals in the United States obtained through Prolific®.
The survey of 2009 individuals was a stratified sample (based on gender and race/ethnicity). 1984 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria.
OCCUPATION EXAMPLES INCLUDED: 1
The age of respondents ranged from 18 to 77 years with a mean of 38.73.
OCCUPATION/EDUCATION
Employees had been in their current jobs from 1-6 years, and 44.1% had supervisory or managerial roles. Education levels varied, as did occupations. AGE
Measure of Languishing / Flourishing at Work and in Life
Emotional Well-being
Example: Feeling happy at work. 3 ITEMS
Psychological Well-being
6 ITEMS
Example: Had experiences with work that challenged you to grow and become a better person.
Social Well-being
6 ITEMS
Example: Had something important to contribute to your work organization.
Languishing/Flourishing was measured with regard to work, and a second time with regard to life more generally, including home and community life. The measure(s) consists of 14 items answered on a 6-point scale that runs from “0=Never” to “5=Every Day.”
The categorization of respondents into the languishing or flourishing categories is determined by the number of times they respond using certain scale points to a mix of questions from the different spheres (emotional, psychological, social) of mental well-being.
Principal and Co-investigators
Oscar Ybarra
Oscar Ybarra is a professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Illinois, Gies College of Business. He is also professor emeritus of psychology and management and organizations at the University of Michigan. Oscar serves as Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois, which supports and oversees this study. He is also director of the Adaptive Social Cognition Lab. Oscar has published in the top journals in his field, and his groundbreaking research on Facebook use and life satisfaction was cited in internal communications at Facebook Inc. His research has been widely cited in the media (e.g., The New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, BBC), and his research on aging and cognitive decline has been used in presentations before Congress.
Corey Keyes
Corey Keyes is professor emeritus of Sociology at Emory University where he held the Winship Distinguished Research Professorship. He was a member of the prestigious international MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and Aging. He has participated in several National Academies of Science initiatives - “The Future of Human Health span” and improving national statistics to measure recovery from mental illness. He organized and co-hosted the first Summit of Positive Psychology held in 1999 at the Gallup Organization. His research introduced the concepts of social well-being, flourishing, the two continua model of mental health and illness, and his work is being used to prevent mental illness via the promotion of positive (flourishing) mental health.
Ethan Kross
Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the Chair of the Social Psychology Area and Director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory. Ethan has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has been interviewed about his research on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR’s Morning Edition. His research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science.
Key Findings 2
Languishing/Flourishing at Work
1. More employees are languishing than flourishing at work.
2. Languishing/flourishing at work is distinct from languishing/flourishing in life.
3. A large proportion of employees are languishing both at work and in life, while others flourish in both spheres. One quarter flourish in life while languishing at work, and the smallest percentage flourish at work but languish in life.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work Among Different Groups
1. Rates of languishing at work are comparable for four of the five age groups. Languishing also occurs across levels of education, with all groups showing high rates of languishing at work.
2. Languishing at work shows a relative decline with increasing income, but all income groups show significant rates of languishing.
3. High rates of languishing at work are present across gender and all racial/ethnic groups, with respondents from Asian backgrounds showing the highest languishing rates, and Blacks/African Americans the lowest.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work Predicts Cognitive, Emotional, and Work Outcomes
1. Languishing at work predicts cognitive outcomes. It is associated with more mindlessness, and with greater difficulty concentrating on important work tasks.
2. Languishing employees experienced more psychological distress and emotional burnout.
3. Languishing employees displayed lower work engagement, lower job satisfaction, and greater turnover intentions.
Predictors of Languishing/Flourishing at Work
1. Languishing employees reported weaker ethical expectations at work than flourishing employees.
2. Languishing compared to flourishing employees were more likely to hold impressions of their supervisor as being less kind and helpful, and less competent and intelligent.
3. Flourishing employees were more likely than languishing employees to be part of a company/ organization that abided by a “Q4 Work Squad” group dynamic.
Introduction 3
This past October 10 marked World Mental Health Day, which is intended to focus attention and raise awareness on mental health around the world.
In this report, we present results highlighting a measure of well-being, considered a pillar of mental health assessment, but applied specifically to the workplace and distinguished from life outside of work. This matters because addressing mental health at work requires clearly defining and measuring it.
Safe and healthy working environments are essential to mental well-being.” 1 “
UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Background 4
Various developments in society create stressors that affect mental health, many which have been growing since before the pandemic, such as developments in technology, global competition, economic and environment-related shocks, and social and political events. Given the amount of time people spend at work, work experiences could provide a respite from these stressors or even serve to promote well-being. Unfortunately, many times work creates its own stressors that amplify risks to mental health. These stressors have been mounting so much that the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, the World Health Organization, and the American Psychological Association put out reports on the effects of poor working environments on people’s mental health. 2,3,4
Indeed, a recent survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness indicated that 52% of employees feel burned out because of their job, 37% feel overwhelmed, 36% indicated their mental health has suffered due to work, that their productivity has suffered because of their mental health (33%), and more than 1 in 4 are considering leaving their current jobs. 5
The Need to Better Define Mental Health at Work
The recognition of the role that work plays in mental health is critical, as it draws a connection between work conditions, specifically psycho-social factors, and employee mental health. Further, both the WHO and Surgeon General’s publications discuss the connection between mental health at work, ROI, and economic outcomes more broadly for organizations and society. The NAMI and APA surveys additionally suggest a greater willingness by employees and employers to consider mental health as an aspect of work that needs to be addressed.
These publications bring up various points relevant to this report. First, mental health at work matters for different reasons, so we should pay greater attention to it. At the same time, given the sweeping nature of the reviewed research (WHO and Surgeon General’s reports), and the general and interchangeable use of the terms “mental health” and “well-being” in the NAMI and APA surveys, it is unclear what aspect or aspects of mental health they are addressing. This is critical because mental health consists of two distinct dimensions.
The Dual Continua at Work
Mental Illness No Mental Illness
Absence of negative symptoms
Many people think of mental health as residing on a continuum like the one above, where mental illness takes the form of severe anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive thoughts, for example. The absence of these negative symptoms is something people strive for in their lives.
No Mental Well-being (Languishing) Mental Well-being
Absence of positive
But mental well-being represents a second dimension to mental health. The continuum here runs from the absence of well-being, or languishing, to the presence of positive mental well-being, or flourishing.
The two dimensions of mental health are distinct. This means, for example, that even though an individual may not have symptoms of mental illness, this is no guarantee that they are flourishing. 6,7
3 Aspects to Languishing/Flourishing at Work
Emotional Well-being
Psychological Well-being
Social Well-being
There are three components to mental well-being. The emotional aspect is how many of us think of mental well-being, as dealing with how happy and satisfied we are and what we can do to achieve and maintain such positive emotional states. The psychological and social well-being aspects deal with how a person is functioning in life at the individual and social levels, respectively. In this research, we created distinct measures of languishing/flourishing at work (and in life more generally) that take all three aspects of well-being into account to assess whether an individual is flourishing or languishing at work.
Languishing at Work, in Life, and Why it Matters
In general, whether one is languishing or flourishing matters long-term because chronic languishing is a risk factor for developing mental illness.6,8,9,10,11
One reason languishing can turn into mental illness is because it does not garner the necessary attention, as people downplay it as simply reflecting the “blahs that come with life.” But because flourishing serves as a resource when life’s stressors pile up, the lack of flourishing, or languishing, means greater vulnerability to mounting stressors.
The ability to clearly distinguish languishing/flourishing at work from languishing/flourishing in life matters for related reasons. Although a person could be flourishing in life outside of work, they could be languishing at work. This represents a vulnerability in response to psychosocial work stressors. Not having the emotional, psychological, and social resources to deal with these stressors will translate into negative work experiences and outcomes, which can then augment other stressors and experiences at home and in life.
Rates of Languishing at Work Compared to Life
Percentage of employees languishing at work compared to life.
Languishing Severely at Work
Languishing Mild to Moderately at Work
Languishing Severely in Life
Languishing Mild to Moderately in Life
Combined Languishing/Flourishing at Work and in Life
Percentage of employees languishing/flourishing at work and in life.
Flourish at Work but Languish in Life
Flourish at Work but Languish in Life
Languish at Work but Flourish in Life
Languish at Work but Flourish in Life
Flourish at Work and in Life
Flourish at Work and in Life
Languish at Work and in Life
Languish at Work and in Life
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Employee Age
Percentage of employees languishing/flourishing at work as a function of age.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Employee Education
Percentage of employees languishing/flourishing at work as a function of education level.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Employee Income
Percentage of employees languishing/flourishing at work as a function of income level.
Up to $35,000 (n=182)
$35,001-$75,000 (n=704)
$75,001-$150,000 (n=802)
$150,001 and above (n=293)
Gender and Languishing/Flourishing at Work
Percentage of men and women languishing/flourishing at work.
Men (n=967) Women (n=999)
Race & Ethnicity and Languishing/ Flourishing at Work
Percentage of employees languishing/flourishing at work as a function of racial/ethnic group.*
*The number of Native American, Middle Eastern, and “Other” category participants was small (total = 39), so analyses are not reported for these groups.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Mindlessness
Percentage of employees indicating “Almost never” and “Very Infrequently” on mindlessness questions.
Percentage of employees indicating “Very frequently” and “Almost always” on mindlessness questions. The scale used runs from 1=“Almost never” to 6=“Almost always.” 12
I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present. It seems I am “running on automatic,” without much awareness of what I’m doing. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them. I do jobs or tasks automatically without being aware of what I’m doing.
to stay focused on what’s happening in the present. “running on automatic,” without much awareness of what I’m doing. through activities without being really attentive to them. tasks automatically without being aware of what I'm doing.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Cognitive Focus at Work
Percentage of employees indicating “Always” on representative Deep-Work statements. The scale runs from 1=“Almost never” to 4=“Always.” Items are from measure created for this study.
devote much attention and concentration things that need to get done. enter my mind while working, it is easy for attention away from them. opportunities in my job to focus on priorities. Percentage of employees indicating “Always” on representative Deep-Work statements.
When distracting thoughts enter my mind while working, it is easy for me to shift my attention away from them. I have plenty of opportunities in my job to focus on priorities.
While doing my work I can devote much attention and concentration to the things that need to get done.
distracted while working, I can easily shift back to what I was doing before.
After being interrupted or distracted while working, I can easily shift my attention back to what I was doing before.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Psychological Distress
Percentage of employees indicating during the past 30 days, how much of the time they felt “Most” or “All of the time” in the ways described. The scale used runs from 0=“None of the time” to 4=“All of the time..” 13
Percentage of employees indicating during the past 30 days, how much of the time they felt ”Most” or “All of the time” in the ways described.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Emotional Burnout
Percentage of employees indicating “A few times a week” or ”Every day” to the following statements.
Percentage of employees indicating “A few times a week” or “Every day” to the following statements. The scale used runs from 0=“Never” to 6=“Every day.” 14
feel emotionally drained from your work. You feel burned out by your work. feel used up at the end of the workday.
You feel emotionally drained from your work. You feel burned out by your work. You feel used up at the end of the workday.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Loneliness
Percentage of respondents indicating “Often” to the question “How often do you feel...” The scale used runs from 1=“Hardly ever” to 3=“Often.” 15
Percentage of respondents indicating “Often” to the question “How often do you feel…”
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Job Satisfaction
employees indicating they “Strongly agree” with the following statements.
Percentage of employees indicating they “Strongly agree” with the following statements. The scale used runs from 1=“Strongly disagree” to 5=“Strongly agree..” 16
kind of work you do in this job.
You are generally satisfied with the kind of work you do in this job.
you are satisfied with your job.
In general, you are satisfied with your job.
In general, you like working at your job.
general, you like working at your job.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Work Engagement
Percentage of employees indicating “Always” to the following statements.
Percentage of employees indicating “Always” to the following statements. The scale used runs from 0=“Never” to 3=“Always (every day).” 17
At my work, I feel bursting with energy. At my job, I feel strong and vigorous.
When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work.
I get carried away when I am working.
get carried away when I am working. morning, I feel like going to work. work, I feel bursting with enenrgy. my job, I feel strong and vigorous.
Languishing/Flourishing at Work and Intentions to Quit
Percentage of employees indicating “Agree” or “Strongly agree” to the following statements.
Percentage of employees indicating “Agree” or “Strongly agree” to the following statements. The scale used runs from 1=“Strongly disagree” to 5=“Strongly agree.” 18
months, you will probably look for a new job outside youre current company.
During the next 12 months, you will probably look for a new job outside your current company.
You are seriously considering quitting your current job for another employer.
considering quitting your current job for another employer.
Ethical Expectations and Languishing/ Flourishing at Work
Percentage of employees indicating they “Strongly agree” with the statements starting with: “Employees are…”
Percentage of employees indicating they “Strongly agree” with the statements starting with: “Employees are...”
The scale used runs from 1=“Strongly disagree” to 6=“Strongly agree.” Some items adapted for current use. 19
expected to have a strong concern for ethical and moral values. expected to treat others with respect, regardless of who they are. expected to be ethical in their decisions and actions. expected to be honest and trusted to the tell the truth. expected to do what is fair and ethical even when it is not easy. held accountable for being ethical at work.
strong concern for ethical and moral values. others with respect, regardless of who they are. to be ethical in their decisions and actions. to be honest and trusted to the tell the truth. what is fair and ethical even when it is not easy. held accountable for being ethical at work …
Flourishing Languishing Mild to Moderately Languishing Severely
Judgments of Supervisor and Languishing/ Flourishing at Work
Percentage of employees indicating they “Strongly agree” with the statement: “Your boss/supervisor is...” The scale used runs from 1=“Strongly disagree” to 5=“Strongly agree.”
Languishing/Flourishing at Work as a Function of “Work Squad”
Conclusions
1. Languishing at work occurred at high rates. In the overall sample there were more employees languishing than flourishing at work.
2. Few group demarcations moderated the general findings. Languishing at work was apparent across gender, race/ethnicity, education and income levels, and age, with a couple of subgroups showing higher rates of languishing or slightly higher rates of flourishing.
3. Languishing/flourishing matters because it represents the second central element of mental health, and it is a strong predictor of (protectant against) mental illness.
4. Measuring languishing/flourishing at work, as done here, is critical because it is distinct from languishing/flourishing in life, and languishing at work predicts important work but also life outcomes.
5. An organization’s ethical climate, as well as the boss/supervisor’s social and competencerelated attributes, were important corollaries of languishing/flourishing at work.
6. An employee’s work squad, to the degree it allowed for a balance between having supportive connections and being self-directed, was associated with higher rates of flourishing.
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