 |
|
|
|||||
Nearly all corporate workers face mental health challenges at work. And in 2025, unprecedented, lightning-fast developments in AI, unending widespread layoffs and broader political turmoil roiled workers emotional well-being. Many workers have been left burned out, anxious, and filled with dread. But its not all badin some corners of the workforce, each seismic disruption this year brought with it discourse around the problem, as well as some leaders and workers staying committed to safeguarding mental health in the face of constant change. Here are five ways workplace trends affected our mental health this year. Layoff dread and fatigue Perhaps the dominant headline in 2025 when it comes to the workforce was the story of layoffs. As we close out the year, over 1.1 million Americans have lost their jobs, though the actual number could be even much higher. The government and tech sectors were especially hit hardparticularly by cuts from Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and redundancies that (may or may not) be due to AI, respectively. But major industries across the board have been affected, as 2025 tallied the most layoffs since the pandemic in 2020. These seemingly unending, so-called forever layoffs have wrecked workers mental health: losing work is one of the most traumatic experiences someone can experience, and can even lead to physical illness. More than a third of leaders say they feel mentally unprepared to deal with leadership responsibilities in this environment. Plus, living amid constant uncertainty is bad for efficiency (and a companys bottom line) as it struggles to survive. In 2026, firms need to handle layoffs compassionately, leaders need to keep team morale up, and higher-ups need to ensure their workplaces are ones conducive to good mental health. Riding the AI wave In 2025, AI moved at breakneck speed from a vague abstraction to the typical worker to something very real, being used every day in 88% of businesses, according to McKinsey, fundamentally changing the way business is done. Workers have reported feeling overwhelmed and as though theyre already behind: a LinkedIn survey found that 40% of workers feel like they cant keep up with the pace of AI development, and public opinion polls uncover a quite negative, worrisome view of AI. But its not all bad. The meteoric rise of the game-changing technology has also seen a rise in curiosity in workers, as well as a willingness to learn and to adapt. AI has also started playing a prominent role in mental health support for many: a third of Gen Z says theyve confided in chatbots over humans, leading to growing concern among some commentators and experts. Emotional intelligence matters. A lot. But despite the rise of the proverbial robot overlord, a lot of workplace discussion in 2025 revolved around the importance of emotional intelligence. With so much economic and political upheaval around the world, workers bring that anxiety and distress into their professional lives, necessitating the importance of emotional intelligence (among leaders especially) in the workplace: it helps us manage triggers, sustain relationships, and develop coping strategies. Luckily, there are many ways to improve emotional intelligence: learning how to embrace and regulate your emotions, staying present and prioritizing experiences over things, and discovering ways to tap into your empathy and self-awareness. Itll improve your mental health (and the mental health of those around you, too). Workplaces remain toxic Despite increased interest in emotional intelligence, companies continue to lay people off en masse over Zoom or email, work-life balance at many places is worse than ever (with some firms pushing for 72-hour weeks), and narcissism thats baked into company structure runs rampant. Not to mention DEI safeguards continue to be stripped and tougher immigration policies in the US have led to more brain drain for companies and abrupt uncertainty for foreign workers lives and livelihoods. Eighty percent of workers said their workplace was toxic this yearan increase from 64% in 2024, according to Monster. While many of these issues are systemic and macro, intertwined with broader political and economic forces, there are still things individual workers cn try to do to remain emotionally and mentally safer in toxic workplaces in 2026 to address at least some of these problems. Psychologists say folks can get better at spotting a toxic person from a mile away, for example, and figuring out how to best engage HR if need be. But the onus is on leaders to set the tone and enact meaningful changeespecially as forces like AI just keep disrupting work culture more and more. Workers prioritizing their well-being above all But despite all the challenges, mental health awareness at work continues to rise, and progress has been made in some areas. New data shows that, while not perfect or always effective, most employers offer mental health care and benefits like therapy to their workers. A push for more neurodiversity-friendly workplaces has also gotten stronger and more visible, and inclusivity-minded leaders remain more committed to DEI than ever. Plus, more workers seem to prioritize their mental health over the rat race. More are rejecting rise-and-grind culture; Gen Z is especially turning to solopreneurship and side gigs over inflexible full-time work and opting out of the climb toward fancy titles. New data also showed that more workers are willing to quit if their bosses dont allow hybrid or remote work. In the end, prioritizing mindfulness and staying in the present, as well as relishing simple joys, remains a proven way to stay emotionally solid . . . especially when the world around you feels anything but.
Category:
E-Commerce
Every January, millions of people set ambitious New Years resolutions. They do this with genuine enthusiasm, hoping to transform their lives. Yet research indicates that by January 8th, just one week into the year, a quarter of these resolutions have already failed. By the end of the year, most individuals return to their familiar patterns, and the promises they made to themselves are often abandoned. My life doesn’t permit me the luxury of being part of that statistic. I operate at the intersection of three distinct and demanding identities: a PhD scholar at Oxford researching outer space financing, the founder of a career advancement platform called Network Capital, and a father to a one-year-old. This combination creates a specific set of constraints. I do not have the luxury of surplus time, nor do I have the capacity for wasted effort. New Year’s resolutions fail not because of a lack of intention or ambition. The problem is that behavioral change is tough when you are already maximizing your cognitive load. Standard resolutions set us up for failure by demanding too much, too fast, without a realistic road map for execution. Fortunately, there is a clearer path. By viewing personal change through the analytical lens of a founder and a researcher, I have shifted my focus away from resolutions entirely. Instead, I rely on operational protocols. The Resource Constraints of Willpower The first critical realization is that willpower is a finite resource. In the business world, we understand that a company cannot scale solely on the heroic efforts of a founder; it requires scalable systems. The same logic applies to personal performance. When I have been awake since the early morning hours with a child, my reserve of willpower is depleted by midday. If a resolution depends on my feeling motivated to write or exercise, I will likely fail. Consequently, I have adopted the concept of marginal gains. Popularized by James Clear in Atomic Habits, this approach rejects the requirement for massive, immediate overhauls. Instead of attempting to change everything simultaneously, the focus shifts to becoming just one percent better each day. Psychologist Amy Cuddy refers to this as “self-nudging,” which involves setting small, manageable goals rather than overwhelming ones. In the context of my PhD, I do not resolve to finish an entire chapter in a sitting. I commit to writing one clear paragraph per day. For my physical health, I do not commit to an hourlong workout. I commit to five minutes of movement. In my role as a father, I do not aim for perfection. I commit to an hour of undivided interaction with my daughter. These smaller commitments work because they are sustainable even during periods of high stress. They compound over time, creating a trajectory of success that relies on consistency rather than intensity. Engineering the Environment As a founder, I spend considerable time optimizing workflows to reduce friction. I realized I needed to apply this same logic to my daily life. Strategies that rely on memory or discipline are fragile; strategies that rely on environmental design are robust. Multitasking behavioral change is generally ineffective. To manage the conflicting demands of fatherhood, academic research, and business leadership, I must engineer my environment to force focus. The cost of context switching is high; it takes significant time to refocus after an interruption. When I am in a specific location on campus, I am a researcher. In that space, I do not check corporate communication channels. When I enter my home, I place my phone in a separate room. This simple environmental constraint ensures that I am present for my child. I make the correct choice, the default choice, by removing the option for distraction. The Data-Driven Review The final component of this approach is drawn from Tim Ferriss. Rather than looking forward with vague aspirations, I conduct a “Past Year Review.” This process is analytical and grounded in actual performance data. I create two columns labeled “Positive” and “Negative.” I then review my calendar from the previous year, week by week. I note the people, activities, and commitments that produced the strongest results in each category. As a student and founder, this audit provides necessary clarity. I often find that certain recurring meetings drain energy without adding value to the company. I find that specific research areas were intellectually interesting but irrelevant to my thesis. Conversely, I see that specific, consistent blocks of time with my family provided the highest return on emotional investment. Once the data is collected, I apply the 80/20 principle. I identify which 20% of activities in the positive column produced the most significant results. Then, I take immediate action. I schedule more of those experiences into the calendar for the upcoming year immediately. Simultaneously, I create a “Not-to-Do” list derived from the negative column. This acts as a filter. It allows me to remove obligations that do not serve my family, my degree, or my company. The Path Forward Whether you are balancing a portfolio of careers, raising a family, or pursuing a degree, the principle remains consistent. Sustainable change does not result from a burst of enthusiasm in January. It results from small, consistent actions aligned with your actual capacity and values. We often assume that to achieve significant goals, such as building a company or earning a doctorate, we need to be rigid with ourselves. We believe we need punishing resolutions. However, when you are already operating under pressure, rigidity leads to breaking points. This year, I am not making a resolution to be a better father, a smarter student, or a more successful founder. I am simply building a system that facilitates those outcomes. I am optimizing for the one micro-improvement a day. I am trusting the protocol. Progress creates the fuel we lack. We secure the future by optimizing the present moment. For the overcommitted, this protocol offers a necessary operating system. It changes the goal from overnight transformation to sustainable high performance.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty as part of a settlement to resolve allegations it violated child privacy laws, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. A federal court order in the case involving Disney Worldwide Services Inc and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC also bars Disney from operating on YouTube in a manner that violates the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act, the department said. The order requires Disney to create a program that will ensure it properly complies with the privacy law on YouTube in the future, it added. The law requires websites, apps, and other online services aimed at children under 13 to notify parents about what personal information they collect, and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting such information “The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their childrens information is collected and used, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. Disney could not immediately be reached for a comment. The order finalizes a settlement reached in September in a case referred to the DOJ by the Federal Trade Commission. Ryan Patrick Jones, Doina Chiacu, and Dawn Chmielewski, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||