In our recently released State of Workplace Wellbeing Report 2026, we surfaced some striking proprietary data around energy. Only 25% of respondents said they consistently have enough energy to focus on their most important priorities. Which means 75% don’t.
So, if you imagine four people in your team working on something important, only one of them feels they has the energy to properly focus on it. That should give every organisation pause for thought.
When people do not have enough energy, everything else becomes harder. Concentration suffers. Decision-making suffers. Mood changes. Motivation drops. Connection becomes harder to maintain. And the ability to perform well under pressure becomes significantly more difficult.
In many workplaces, we talk a great deal about productivity, output, engagement and performance. But perhaps we need to ask a more fundamental question first:
How energised do your people actually feel?
Everything is downstream of energy
Energy sits at the heart of sustainable high performance. If you’ve heard me speak, you will no doubt have heard me say everything is downstream of energy, mood and motivation.
When people have enough energy, they are more likely to think clearly, communicate well, respond rather than react, and contribute meaningfully to the work in front of them. When energy is depleted, even simple tasks can feel heavier. Pressure becomes harder to absorb. Small frustrations become bigger. Recovery takes longer.
And yet, in many organisations, energy is not something that is actively monitored or perhaps even discussed.
And yet, in many organisations, energy is not something that is actively monitored, or perhaps even discussed.
This is where the gap between wellbeing intention and wellbeing execution becomes clear. While 67% of organisations that completed our scorecard report having a wellbeing strategy and 80% say wellbeing features in their strategic objectives, the systems that turn that intention into meaningful action are far less common.
In fact, none of the scorecard respondents said they currently measure energy or use early warning systems to identify when people may be becoming depleted.
We measure speed. We measure activity. We measure output. We measure deadlines, meetings, targets and response times.
But how often do we measure whether people have the energy required to meet those demands? And are we measuring output at the expense of productivity?
That is the gap we need to pay attention to.
Are we creating the conditions for energy?
If only a quarter of people feel they have enough energy to focus on the things that matter most, this is not simply an individual wellbeing issue. It is a cultural and organisational one.
We need to look at the environment people are working in. We need to look at the pace of work. We need to look at how much space people have to recover, reflect and reset. We need to look at whether our cultures are built around constant speed, or whether they also create room for connection, creativity, focus, collaboration and sustainable high-performance.
Personal energy is not created in isolation.
Of course, individuals have a role to play in managing their energy. But organisations also shape the conditions in which energy is either protected or depleted. How boundaries are maintained or blurred.
The number of meetings, the expectation to be constantly available, a lack of agency, the pressure to move faster, the absence of recovery, the quality of relationships at work, and how authentically people feel they can show up. All of these things draw on people’s energy.
When people keep pushing without enough energy, burnout becomes much more likely. A decline in productivity and creativity is also much more likely.
If we are not measuring energy, talking about energy, or noticing when energy is starting to drop, we are often only responding once the consequences have already appeared. Burnout. Disengagement. Absence. Reduced focus. Lower motivation. Poorer performance.
Energy needs to become part of the conversation
One of the simplest shifts leaders can make is to give people a shared and common language around energy, rest and recovery.
Because in many workplaces, people know how to talk about workload, deadlines and pressure, but they do not always know how to talk about depletion, recovery or the practical things that help them sustain their energy over time.
This is where small, everyday behaviours matter.
Micro-breaks or ‘slivers of recovery‘ as I call them, can make a meaningful difference. Scheduling 25 or 55-minute meetings to create a pause in between. Getting outside for a few minutes for some natural daylight and fresh air. Taking lunch away from the desk. Walking meetings, if that’s an option. Moving the body. Protecting time for focus. It’s about creating moments in the day where the nervous system has a chance to reset.
These things may sound small, but when done consistently, they are often the difference between people continually pushing through and people having enough energy to keep performing well.
Leaders also have an important role to play in role modelling the behaviours they want to see. If lunch breaks are encouraged but never taken by senior people, the message is clear. If micro breaks are talked about but calendars are packed back-to-back, the culture will default to pace over recovery. If boundaries are promoted but emails are sent late into the evening, people will notice.
These practical actions can help move wellbeing away from being a separate initiative, and into the way work is actually designed and delivered.
A simple analogy to help reframe energy
I often share the phone battery analogy because it seems to resonate with so many people.
Most of us wouldn’t leave the house in the morning with our phone battery on 10% without taking a charger, or at least knowing when and where we could recharge it so it lasts the day.
So why do we expect something different from our brains and bodies?
We have an expectation of ourselves to keep focusing, pushing, and delivering even when our energy is running low or without ever giving ourselves a chance to recharge
If we are careful about protecting the energy of our devices, we need to be far more intentional about protecting the energy of our people.
Energy as a competitive advantage
The organisations that take this seriously will have an advantage. Not because they are asking people to do less, but because they are creating the conditions for people to perform better, for longer.
When people are energised, motivated and supported, they are more likely to do their best work. They are more likely to collaborate, innovate and stay resilient under pressure. They are more likely to sustain high-performance.
That is where the opportunity lies.
If we can help people understand how to use their energy well, provide the resources that support recovery and resilience, and create cultures where energy is protected rather than constantly depleted, we can build healthier, higher-performing workplaces.
Energy is the foundation for focus, motivation, mood, resilience and performance.
If only one in four people currently feel they have enough of it, we need to start paying much closer attention.
You can download the full State of Workplace Wellbeing Report 2026 to explore more of the data and insights.
Are your people running on empty?
My Sustain keynote helps organisations understand why energy matters and explores how to build healthier high-performance cultures where recovery, resilience and wellbeing support sustainable performance. If this is a conversation your organisation needs to have, let’s talk.
