How are Employees Successfully Coping with Stress?
While languishing isn’t a term often heard when describing employee health, it was, in fact, measured by a recent survey, The Workplace Well-Being Report 2026: Confirming the Crisis and Identifying What Helps, from the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business.
The survey, which involved 2,000 workers, found that more than half of US employees, 61%, are languishing at work, which the survey defines as struggling with engagement, motivation, or fulfillment in their roles.
When compared with flourishing employees, those who are languishing reported higher burnout and distress. 38% of languishing employees said they feel burned out “very frequently” (as opposed to 29% of flourishers), and 34% of languishers indicated that they intend to look for new work in the next 12 months.
“Languishing isn’t just an abstract concern,” said Oscar Ybarra, professor of business administration and director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society (CPRBS), in a statement. “It manifests as real distress in people’s daily work lives. When nearly half of languishing employees report frequent burnout and consider leaving their jobs, organizations face both a human cost and a retention crisis. This should be a wake-up call for leaders.”
Ybarra and his team studied an action-oriented question: when workplace stress strikes, how do flourishing employees act differently from languishers?
In times of stress, flourishers:
1. Reframe (Cognitive Reappraisal): Flourishers are far more likely to look for a “silver lining” in difficult situations (55% vs. 38% of languishers) and seek out a change in perspective.
2. Reach Out (Social Connection): Flourishers are more likely to interact with others when work is stressful (68% vs. 50%) and seek comfort and perspective from people they trust.
3. Reset (Active Breaks and Movement): Flourishers are more likely to take breaks for rest and restoration, such as going outside to reset (43% vs. 34%) or use physical activity to manage stress (40% vs. 29%).
The report’s findings emphasize that these are learnable behaviors (not fixed and permanent traits), creating a pathway forward for both employees and organizations.
“What’s exciting about the 3 Rs is that they represent concrete, teachable skills,” said Ybarra. “Flourishing employees aren’t just lucky or naturally resilient; they deploy various strategies in responding to stress. That means other employees can learn these same strategies, especially when their work environment makes it safe and realistic to do so.”
What Leaders Can Do to Build Flourishing Workplaces
The report identified some actions employers can take.
1. Design for Flourishing: Empower teams (squads) to increase autonomy while strengthening support structures.
2. Strengthen the Ethical Climate: Clarify expectations and demonstrate values to keep accountability consistent.
3. Make Healthy Coping Realistic: Protect time for deep focus, normalize restorative breaks, and build the norms that make reaching out acceptable and encouraged.
“Designing for flourishing requires both individual skill-building and organizational redesign,” added Ybarra. “Employees can practice reframing and reaching out, but those behaviors become sustainable when organizations create empowered squads that make autonomy and support the norm rather than the exception. That’s where real transformation happens.”