This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s grounded in hard, bottom-line realities.

BY FAST COMPANY

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Throughout 2025, we’ve watched companies treat employees with a stunning disregard: rolling layoffs (with thousands let go at a time), unchecked workloads, turning a blind eye to burnout—with 76% of U.S. workers reporting at least one health condition today—and a near-gleeful rush to replace people with AI.

Over 200,000 American women quit their jobs this year, many citing inflexible policies and lack of support for balancing work and life. Relentless rounds of cuts have destabilized employee trust and left employees uncertain and questioning leadership at every level. Across industries, leaders have routinely prioritized short-term efficiency over human impacts, sending a clear signal that employee well-being is treated as irrelevant to how most CEOs define organizational success.

Despite a year in which many companies acted as if they were actively anti employee well-being, there’s clear evidence that 2026 will be the year everything changes. This isn’t wishful thinking or naivete. It’s grounded in hard business realities that CEOs can no longer afford to ignore.

First, investors—the same ones who have historically applauded employee layoffs—are beginning to reward companies that prioritize employee flourishing because multiple years of research show that firms with high well-being scores consistently outperform peers in stock performance,........

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