Damien Stork and Jonathan Hook from CHX Performance return to discuss with FuturePlus CEO, Alex Smith, why workplace sickness has increased 60% since pre-COVID levels and what businesses are fundamentally missing about human sustainability.

In this conversation, we explore why feelings aren’t fluffy; they’re biological signals telling us how well resourced we are to meet demands. We discuss the rising culture of fear in UK workplaces, why 9.4 sick days per employee is now the norm, and how poor mental health stems primarily from dysregulated emotions that organisations actively encourage people to mask.

Damien and Jonathan explain the five core human needs (certainty, inclusion, autonomy, attachment, equity) that determine whether people thrive or leave, why diversity without understanding feelings will always fail, and the uncomfortable truth that poor wellbeing isn’t a pathological response to a great environment, it’s a normal response to a pathological environment.

We also discuss why capacity, not capability, is the real challenge for high performance, how leadership shadow biologically impacts teams, and what businesses can practically do to create sustainable environments where people actually want to work.

This isn’t about wellness programs as compensation for harm. It’s about fundamentally rethinking how we create workplace environments that allow people to perform.

Learn more:

CHX Performance: chxperformance.com