This is the seventh blog in our Bite-Sized But Impactful Data series. We collect a lot of powerful data at YMCA WorkWell and we believe that data is only meaningful if it's shared. While our Workplace Well-Being Reports dive deep into our data, this blog series shares bite-sized and data-driven stories throughout the year. We want these stories to be short, quick reads that pique your interest more than answer all of your questions, so if you would ever like to go deeper and learn more about what we are seeing in our data, please contact us. We're always open to talk data with anyone and everyone.
I'm going start with a personal belief: I believe most leaders genuinely care about their people.
They want their team to feel supported, valued, and seen as real people with real needs - not just employees. So often, the problem isn't about intent - it's about structure.
In busy, high-pressure environments, care often gets lost in the shuffle. It gets squeezed out by meetings, deadlines, and the many competing priorities that leaders face. Appreciation slips, and fun and personable check-ins get turned into task updates.
I know I'm guilty of this (I'm sorry, Tessa!)
When care isn't protected, it's usually the first thing to disappear when things get busy. Not because leaders don't value it - but because it isn't structurally protected. In other words, that time to simply connect needs to be protected in calendars - at all costs.
And I get it. It's 2026. A time where AI and tech-driven solutions are all the rage - and it's tempting to feel like big, complex initiatives are what's needed to build a healthy culture.
But I'm a big believer that some of the most impactful things an organization can do to build a healthy culture come from simple, intentional behaviours that put people first - and then protecting those moments long enough for trust to grow.
Now, let's back that up with data. I have a great case study from our own YMCA of Three Rivers I'd like to highlight.
In 2021, our YMCA of Three Rivers was not in a good place.
I'm not sure if you remember what 2021 was like, but we were 18 months into a global pandemic and it spared no one. Like many community-focused organizations, we had been running on a mix of adrenaline and goodwill. If you collected employee data during that period, you probably saw one of two patterns: Either burnout hit fast in 2020, or organizations held things together by the skin of their teeth until they simply couldn't anymore and burnout hit even harder in 2021.
We fell into that second camp.
That September, our Employee Insights Survey told a clear story. Our Employee Net Promoter Score dropped 30 points - into the negatives for the first time ever. Forty-five percent of employees reported feeling burnt out "often" or "extremely often" - nearly 1 in 2.
The data told a clear story: Employee well-being was under significant pressure and we had to do something about it.
One of the initiatives we focused on wasn't big, complex, or expensive. It was intentionally simple and person-centric.
We introduced well-being check-ins: Short, 15-minute conversations between an employee and their leader. These were explicitly not performance conversations. They were not about deliverables, professional feedback, or goals or KPIs.
The sole purpose was to create protected one-on-one time between a leader and an employee to ask:"How are you doing - really - and how can I support you?"
The ask was straightforward. Every employee should have at least two check-ins with their leader each year. Just two. We provided leaders with the resources they'd need: Training, a conversation guide, a simple framework and continuum, and coaching drop-in sessions if needed.
Beneath it all, we were trying to shift a belief. Away from the idea that well-being is an individual responsibility, and toward something we called "Collective Caring" — where leaders are expected to check in on the humans they work with, not just the outputs they produce.
We tracked a number of metrics in the years following the introduction of well-being check-ins and two clear lessons emerged.
Anyone who tells you that employee well-being can be fixed overnight is selling you something.
In reality, it takes time. Change tends to start with the most engaged and trusting leaders - the early adopters. But an initiative doesn’t become part of the culture until trust builds more broadly. That takes time: time for leaders to get comfortable, time for employees to believe it’s not a “flash in the pan,” and time to see that leadership genuinely cares. It also takes time for leaders to become comfortable with the process and know how to engage with it in a way that suits them best.
Our process was no different.
In the first year, 2022, 57% of employees had received two or more well-being check-ins (Figure 1). Adoption wasn't universal - but we also had clear evidence that they were working. Eighty percent of employees who had received two or more believed that they were having a positive impact on their well-being.
That was the datapoint we needed to keep going.
From there, adoption increased steadily each year. By 2023, 66% of employees had received two or more. That rose to 72% by 2024 and 78% by 2025.
Impact increased too. Eighty-nine percent reported a positive impact by 2023, 92% by 2024, and 95% by 2025.
Well-being initiatives take time. But the right ones can create real change if you trust and support the process.
This is also where collecting the right data matters. We didn't just track whether check-ins were happening - we tracked whether they were working too. Early adoption was imperfect, but the impact was clear. That made it worth continuing to invest the time and energy to boost adoption. If impact had been low, we would have hit pause and reassessed.
Alternatively, it's possible for a well-being initiative to have widespread adoption but low impact; that's also a good sign to reassess. Invest your time and energy into the initiatives that are changing things for the better - otherwise, what's the point?
The premise that simple, everyday behaviours can be some of the most powerful levers for improving the employee experience is not new.
One of the most common comments we hear in our Insights data - not just at our Y, but across all organizations - is some version of: "I don't want another X, I just want to feel like my leader cares about me."
Well-being check-ins were built on that premise. What happens when leaders are asked - and supported - to create intentional space to pause on goals and performance and focus solely on the person in front of them?
The data highlighted just how much that type of 1:1 time with your leader matters.
Employees who had received two or more check-ins in 2025 scored significantly higher on just about every metric on our Employee Insights Survey: metrics like Overall Well-Being, Overall Satisfaction, Feeling Valued, Recognition, and Trust (Figure 2) .
They also reported burnout rates less than half of those who had not received regular check-ins, and their predicted turnover was 2.5x lower.
That is a real, tangible impact.
Now, as a researcher - I know that correlation is not causation. I know that strong leaders are more likely to do check-ins well, and many factors influence these outcomes. But the qualitative data matters too, and we regularly hear how meaningful these conversations are to employees.
We designed this initiative to structurally protect connection and to give all leaders a framework to work from to execute a simple idea well.
And our data suggests it's done just that.
Most leaders care. Truly.
But you still need to protect the moments that matter.
In busy environments, things like recognition, appreciation, and human connection are rarely structurally protected - and that's why they are the first to disappear when things get stressful.
I know it can feel a little gross to put structure around connection - structure often feels like the opposite of care. But when leaders are in the weeds, simple mechanisms like well-being check-ins protect space that would otherwise disappear. They give leaders both the permission and the expectation to slow down and be present with their people.
And the main takeaway here is broader than just "well-being check-ins".
The main takeaway is that you don't always need a complex system to improve your employee experience. Sometimes, the most effective thing you can do is create a simple, protected moment where your people can connect - without an agenda. Just time to come together and be people.
Want to learn more about how our Insights Reports can help you find those opportunities for protected connection?
Check out our Insights Page and always feel free to reach me at dave.whiteside@ytr.ymca.ca if you'd like to learn more. We're always happy to help you turn Insights into Action.