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Abstract: In today's fast-paced work environment, employees are increasingly facing challenges related to a lack of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. While burnout has long been recognized as an issue, a new concept known as "languishing" is emerging, highlighting the importance of thriving, not just surviving, at work. This article explores the concept of languishing and its implications for organizational leadership, aiming to raise awareness and provide actionable guidance on cultivating greater well-being, meaning, and engagement throughout an organization. The article delves into recent research on thriving, well-being, and meaning at work, and defines the signs of languishing. It then presents strategies for leaders to address languishing, including fostering autonomy and competency, promoting purpose and meaning, cultivating supportive relationships, assessing engagement and well-being routinely, and providing well-being resources and training for managers. The article concludes by emphasizing the critical role leaders play in shaping cultures where employees are empowered to thrive, not just avoid ill-being.
In today's fast-paced world of work, employees are increasingly facing challenges related to lack of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. While burnout has long been recognized as an issue for employees and organizations, a new concept known as "languishing" is emerging as we learn more about the importance of thriving, not just surviving, at work. As leaders seek to cultivate an engaged and high-performing workforce, recognizing the signs of languishing and taking steps to foster greater well-being and meaning is critical.
Today we will explore the concept of languishing and its implications for organizational leadership. The overall goal is to raise awareness of languishing among practitioners and provide actionable guidance on cultivating greater thriving, meaning and engagement throughout one's organization.
Recent Research on Thriving, Well-Being and Meaning at Work
A significant body of research in recent years has focused on understanding what truly enables employees to thrive, rather than just survive, in their work. Key findings include:
Psychological well-being consists of more than just an absence of distress. Researchers Core Self-Evaluation Theory define well-being as encompassing positive feelings (e.g. happiness), optimal functioning (e.g. confidence), and meaning or purpose (Ryff & Keyes, 1995).
Factors like perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness are crucial for basic psychological needs fulfillment and subsequent well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000). When these needs are satisfied, people naturally grow, develop and function optimally.
Having a sense of purpose - feeling that one's life activities are worthwhile and meaningful - is fundamentally important for well-being and motivation (Baumeister, 1991; Steger et al., 2009). Purpose provides a sense of direction and significance.
Thriving involves not just feeling fulfilled, but also continually developing one's skills and abilities (Porath et al., 2012). Thriving involves ongoing growth and learning as well as hedonic well-being.
This research lays the groundwork for understanding the importance of meaning, fulfillment and development, not just an absence of distress, for truly optimal well-being and performance. It also suggests focusing on factors like autonomy, competence, relatedness and purpose can enable thriving at work.
Defining and Identifying Languishing
While burnout represents an extreme state often precipitated by prolonged and unmanaged stress, thriving exist at the opposite end of the well-being spectrum. In between lies a more moderate but still problematic state - languishing. Languishing involves a lack of well-being rather than a presence of ill-being (Keyes, 2002; Freudenberger, 1974). Specific signs that an employee or team may be languishing include:
Feeling a lack of meaning and purpose in one's work - Being uncertain about the significance or value of their daily activities.
Disengagement from work tasks and responsibilities - Going through the motions but with little enthusiasm or care about outcomes.
Declining or stagnant performance - Productivity, quality of work, creativity beginning to suffer due to lack of motivation.
Increased forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating - Trouble staying focused on tasks or remembering details.
Avoiding social interactions with colleagues - Withdrawing from usual connections and team involvement.
Complaints of boredom or emptiness - Expressing dissatisfaction but unable to identify a specific issue causing distress.
Appearing lethargic or depressed - Lacking energy or enthusiasm, but not meeting full criteria for a mood disorder.
While individual signs could be transient, the persistence of several signs suggests an employee or team may be languishing and in need of interventions to foster greater well-being, engagement and thriving.
Strategies for Leaders to Address Languishing
Recognizing the signs of languishing is just the first step - leaders must then take concrete action to prevent and remedy languishing in their organizations. Some effective strategies include:
1. Foster autonomy and competency through job design
Allow for more autonomy over scheduling, tasks and workflow where possible
Provide ongoing learning, development and skill-building opportunities
Ensure roles utilize individuals' strengths and allow space for growth
2. Promote purpose and meaning through mission and values
Communicate how daily work connects to organization's meaningful mission
Embed core values into decision-making, policies and recognition programs
Engage staff in community initiatives expressing organization's purpose
3. Cultivate supportive relationships and camaraderie
Foster regular team-building and social connections
Encourage mentoring relationships across roles and experience levels
Be approachable and emphasize open communication is valued
4. Assess engagement and well-being routinely
Use brief pulse surveys periodically to monitor morale and issues
Conduct stay/exit interviews to gather candid feedback regularly
Be proactive - don't wait for extreme burnout or performance issues
5. Provide well-being resources and train managers
Offer mental health benefits, vacation time used as intended
Train leaders to support employee wellness, address issues sensitively
Lead by example with work-life balance, self-care stressed as important
Now let's look at some specific industry examples of these strategies in action:
Educational Industry Example
A nonprofit charter school network found teachers were struggling with high workload and paperwork without opportunities for autonomy. To address potential languishing, leaders:
Reduced administrative duties and allowed flexibility in lesson planning
Established peer mentoring programs for ongoing support and learning
Highlighted how their work directly impacted students' lives through biannual community events
Implemented stay interviews to proactively solve issues
Morale improved as teachers felt more competent and connected to the meaningful mission. Performance metrics like student achievement also rebounded after implementing these strategies focused on thriving, not just surviving.
Technology Industry Example
An AI startup surveyed engineers and found many felt a lack of purpose in repetitive coding tasks. Management responded by:
Giving engineers autonomy to take on special projects of interest twice per quarter
Hosting monthly speaker series connecting work to societal impacts
Launching wellness challenges and stress management workshops
Encouraging managers to have candid career development conversations
By reframing work as an opportunity for growth and connecting it to positive change, employees regained enthusiasm and the quarterly churn rate dropped significantly as languishing engineers felt newly energized.
Conclusion
In today's world, where blended work has become the norm, leaders must proactively cultivate thriving, not just allowing employees to merely survive. Recognizing languishing as a barrier to engagement and performance is a crucial first step. With targeted efforts to foster autonomy, competence, relatedness, purpose and well-being on an ongoing basis, organizations can help prevent and remedy languishing. Prioritizing work conditions that support meaning, fulfillment and development yields significant benefits to both individual and organizational outcomes. Overall, leaders play an important role in shaping cultures where employees are empowered to not just avoid ill-being, but truly thrive in their work.
References
Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Meanings of life. Guilford Press.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
Freudenberger, H. J. (1974). Staff burn‐out. Journal of social issues, 30(1), 159-165.
Keyes, C. L. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of health and social behavior, 43(2), 207-222.
Porath, C., Spreitzer, G., Gibson, C., & Garnett, F. G. (2012). Thriving at work: Toward its measurement, construct validation, and theoretical refinement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(2), 250-275.
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(4), 719.
Steger, M. F., Kawabata, Y., Shimai, S., & Otake, K. (2008). The meaningful life in Japan and the United States: Levels and correlates of meaning in life. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(3), 660-678.
Additional Reading
Westover, J. H. (2024). Optimizing Organizations: Reinvention through People, Adapted Mindsets, and the Dynamics of Change. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.3
Westover, J. H. (2024). Reinventing Leadership: People-Centered Strategies for Empowering Organizational Change. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.4
Westover, J. H. (2024). Cultivating Engagement: Mastering Inclusive Leadership, Culture Change, and Data-Informed Decision Making. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.5
Westover, J. H. (2024). Energizing Innovation: Inspiring Peak Performance through Talent, Culture, and Growth. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.6
Westover, J. H. (2024). Championing Performance: Aligning Organizational and Employee Trust, Purpose, and Well-Being. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.7
Citation: Westover, J. H. (2024). Workforce Evolution: Strategies for Adapting to Changing Human Capital Needs. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.8
Westover, J. H. (2024). Navigating Change: Keys to Organizational Agility, Innovation, and Impact. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.11
Westover, J. H. (2024). Inspiring Purpose: Leading People and Unlocking Human Capacity in the Workplace. HCI Academic Press. doi.org/10.70175/hclpress.2024.12
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2025). Beyond Burnout: Recognizing and Remedying Languishing at Work. Human Capital Leadership Review, 17(1). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.17.1.1
