How managers can help make their workers happier in 2023

• In surveys, many workers have said they're unhappy with their job culture.
• Many people want leaders who cultivate strong workplace cultures and provide a sense of purpose.

The average American worker is tired, unfocused, and disengaged. There's a good chance she's quiet quitting, too.

That's according to two surveys from Gallup — a September poll of about 15,000 workers and a December canvass of more than 10,000 workers on their attitudes toward work.

Some of this is a reaction to the pandemic and how it forced people to prioritize their well-being. It's also because some workers are feeling more empowered to speak up about their misgivings. But there's something deeper going on as well.

Many workers don't think their leaders are creating positive workplace cultures or giving them a sense of purpose. This matters for companies, in part because more engaged workers are linked to things businesses want — things like productivity and profitability.

CEOs who address worker engagement by making them feel valued not only help limit quiet quitting and actual quitting but also see greater returns, according to multiple reports from leadership consultancies. They also help their workers' overall well-being. Employees who feel supported by their bosses are also more likely to feel happier and less likely to have chronic health conditions.

"People are tired," Jasmine Hill, the CEO of Radiant Slate Consulting, told Insider in September. "CEOs need to invest more time, energy, and resources into developing their culture, into developing their employees."

To support your workers' mental health, make work about more than work

Workers don't want to feel like they're just making a paycheck, Chris Howard, the chief of research at the management consultancy Gartner, wrote in a January blog post. They want to feel valued.

"People want purpose in their lives — and that includes work," Howard wrote. "The more an employer limits those things, the higher the employee's intent to leave."

Gallup's research found that employees who said their companies provided them with a sense of purpose and made them feel a part of something bigger were over seven times as likely to say that their job had an extremely positive influence on their mental health than those who didn't. The takeaway for managers is clear: Connect each employee's work to the company's larger purpose.

Empathy also plays a big role in making workers feel more engaged at work.

"Leaders don't have to be experts in mental health in order to demonstrate they care and are paying attention," Tracy Brower, a sociologist and author on happiness, wrote in Forbes. "It's enough to check in, ask questions and take cues from the employee about how much they want to share.

Barbara Corcoran, the founder of the Corcoran Group and an investor on the TV series "Shark Tank," told CNBC the most powerful way to build relationships with workers was to listen to them.

"Opening your ear to employees to find out what's going right and wrong is smart business," Corcoran said. "You avoid many plane crashes by regularly asking people, 'How's it going?' before really listening to their answer."

Business-leadership researchers at McKinsey & Co. said in a 2021 report that more managers needed to prioritize mental health.

"As a leader, the best thing you can do to encourage employees to consider their own mental well-being is to start the conversation of mental health yourself," Michelle Tenzyk, the CEO of East Tenth Group, a business consultancy, said.

"Leaders and their team should be encouraged to take mental-health days when needed, use up their vacation time, and set strict working hours to avoid endless days of overtime," Tenzyk said.