At McKinsey, we’ve long believed that leadership isn’t reserved for the C-suite. It’s a daily practice—one that takes root within each individual and across teams, roles, and regions. But developing high-performing leaders doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens when people are invested in resilience and holistic health and—ultimately—when they are well.
Performance and wellness aren’t trade-offs; they’re mutually reinforcing. When our colleagues are healthy and well, they bring clarity, creativity, and energy to their work. And when they’re stretched to lead or to take on particularly challenging demands, they are better equipped to adapt, reset, and grow if they are operating with a full tank.
Beyond individual impact, we know that well-being investments can generate financial returns for organizations and society as well. Our McKinsey Health Institute research, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, suggests that investments in employee health and well-being could generate nearly $12 trillion in global economic returns.
We have recently been awarded the Business Group on Health’s 2025 Best Employers Award: Excellence in Health & Well-being for our work supporting colleagues on these topics. We’re sharing five key practices we’ve embedded into our firm that others may want to explore, adapt, or reflect on in their own organizations.
1. Treat well-being as an imperative, not a benefit
As employers, we invest in the well-being of our people. Investing in them is not only good for business, but also an embodiment of our values. Starting with a solid foundation of quality care, we’ve layered on the right support at the right time.
For example, we don’t just deliver equitable and competitive pay to support present day needs—we provide access to financial education and counseling services to help colleagues make smart decisions for their future. Our medical plan delivers care for multiple stages of life, across the spectrum of preventative and critical care. And we provide additional support where we see a prevalent need, like mental health, including fully-covered access to therapy and coaching for all colleagues and their family members.
Creating an unrivaled environment for exceptional people requires working with external partners who are willing to help colleagues connect the dots within a complex ecosystem. We provide globally consistent, locally relevant benefits and programs to help colleagues navigate various needs. And in some markets, where needs and availability of services are greater, we adjust accordingly, such as offering private retirement plans in locations where social systems provide less support.
Considerations for your organization:
- Look at your values and determine which ones you can invest in through your benefits and well-being programs (e.g., prevention, key moments)
- Provide a globally consistent foundation of care, and tailor delivery to be locally relevant
- Evaluate your relationships with external partners to make sure they act as an extension of your team by prioritizing coordinated care for your colleagues
2. Build support systems for the moments that matter
Rather than one-size-fits-all programming, we focus on timely, individualized support. We use a mix of weekly, monthly, and annual surveys to understand what our people need and when. Our global Well@Work platform, for example, is anchored around the critical moments we know matter most to colleagues’ well-being and satisfaction, and offers access to work-life resources, professional coaching, mental health supports, and communities of colleagues to create connection and belonging.
When colleagues face personal or professional challenges, it’s not just about having great resources—it’s about ensuring awareness and accessibility so they can be easily leveraged. That’s why we’ve embedded Well@Work in onboarding, team training, and firm-wide town halls and communications. In its first year, more than 1 in 5 colleagues engaged with the platform across more than 70 countries.
We also appreciate that, in addition to resource availability and ease of use, it can be valuable to have a knowledgeable thought partner to help you navigate critical moments. Our Ombuds Office, Mind Matters professionals, and People Function leaders are trained to provide this personalized support and care.
Considerations for your organization:
- Identify key life and career transition points where well-being might dip (e.g., onboarding, parental leave, promotions)
- Develop communication campaigns to surface the right resources at the right time
- Use engagement metrics and survey insights to shape and evolve your offerings
- Set-up clear paths for people to gain support either by consuming information or obtaining personalized guidance
3. Enable teams to own well-being together
Support for the well-being of our people isn’t just a responsibility of the Human Resources team; it happens on the job—in the team room, on projects, and at client sites. And it starts at the top. Leaders across our firm are held accountable for how they support others and role model resilience and care. We expect our leaders to demonstrate empathy, lead with calm and conviction, and create opportunities for growth and development. These markers are assessed through 360-degree feedback.
We further empower leaders by helping them build skills to be effective listeners and advocates for their own and their teams’ needs. And through live training, manager resources, and internal champions, we aim to normalize conversations around mental health, stress, and recovery. We continually adapt our approach based on feedback from different geographies, demographics, and functions.
We also use a streamlined team pulse survey—our Team Barometer—to prompt weekly conversations about collaboration, working norms, and well-being priorities. It empowers teams to identify what’s working, what’s not, and how to reset. Teams that are struggling are supported by a trained cadre of professionals, and our most senior leaders engage in the conversations to “right the ship,” as needed.
Considerations for your organization:
- Help leaders build well-being as a capability by embedding behaviors like empathy and mentorship in evaluations and coaching
- Provide team leads with tools to discuss working norms, stressors, and capacity
- Make team-level feedback loops fast, simple, and actionable
4. Normalize purposeful recovery
Well-being isn’t just about avoiding burnout—it’s about sustaining energy, connection, and clarity. We strive to help colleagues bring their best to our clients’ most complex challenges, and be resilient through the inevitable ups and downs of working on problems that matter and keeping full, demanding lives. For exceptional long-term performance, we know rest and recovery are crucial, and we help colleagues create space to recharge and refuel.
Our colleagues can opt to "take time,” above and beyond Paid Time Off (PTO), to pursue passions beyond work—travel, time with family, artistic endeavors, etc. In addition, our global reboarding program offers tailored support for colleagues returning from extended leaves, including access to coaching, and reintegration plans. This applies whether someone is returning from parental leave, medical leave, or other extended time away.
We also encourage collective recovery through experiences like Volunteer Time Off (VTO) and our annual Values Day—moments when teams can pause, reflect, and reconnect to a sense of purpose and meaning.
Considerations for your organization:
- Develop reboarding toolkits for people returning from extended leaves
- Include leaders in creating tailored plans for reintegration
- Schedule annual or quarterly “reset moments” to reflect on values and purpose
5. Elevate gratitude as a cultural practice
At its best, work provides human beings with a sense of meaning and purpose (also called “spiritual health”). Expressing gratitude for our colleagues’ impact, regularly and publicly, has become a hallmark of our firm’s culture. We make space each year for our global “Thank-a-Thon,” when colleagues across the firm share messages of appreciation for all to see and celebrate.
Our Wall of Gratitude now features more than 65,000 notes of appreciation from one colleague to another—celebrating mentorship, collaboration, resilience, and care. It’s an opportunity for expressions of gratitude, which is known to improve mental health and well-being, and it generates moments of pride, connection, and collective celebration.
Considerations for your organization:
- Create a recurring rhythm for peer-to-peer recognition
- Make appreciation easy to give and visible across the organization
- Tie recognition moments to your company’s values and cultural priorities
No single initiative creates a culture of well-being. But together, colleague-centric benefits and support structures, team operating norms, leadership engagement, and rituals for recovery and recognition can create a healthier and more productive workforce, and a more resilient world.