In brief
Leader well-being has declined since 2019. Leaders are under pressure from many sides. It is time to treat leaders’ well-being as a strategic priority, not an afterthought.
In this article, you will find answers to:
– why leaders’ well-being is under pressure despite positive employee evaluations.
– what puts pressure on leaders beyond their workload.
– what you can do in practice to make leaders’ well-being a priority in your workplace.
Key takeaway:
Leaders’ well-being is under pressure. They are often seen in their role rather than as people, and as a result, their well-being is overlooked.
At GAIS, we gain insight into the work environment and well-being of many organisations. And one pattern often stands out: Leaders are engaged, responsible and loyal. They keep organisations together – both from a people and a business perspective.
But they are also under pressure.
Leaders are under constant pressure from all sides. From above come demands, goals and direction. From below come needs, expectations and requests for support and availability. In the middle, leaders are trying to succeed in both directions at the same time. Often, leaders respond by pushing themselves a little further. A little more often. A little more. This is not necessarily visible in everyday work. But the data point in the same direction: Leader well-being is under pressure.
Danish leaders are highly valued – but their well-being is declining
Danish leaders have never received more positive evaluations from their employees. 70% consider their leader to be “fairly competent” or “very competent”.*
But at the same time, leader well-being has declined since 2019. Just over half of all leaders say they are happy in their jobs.* Among new leaders, the figure is only 4 in 10. This underlines the point. If we want healthy organisations, we also need to take leaders’ well-being seriously.
*Source: Ballisagers kandidatanalyse, 2026
Danish leaders have never received more positive evaluations from their employees
70% consider their leader to be “fairly competent” or “very competent”.
Leaders’ well-being has declined since 2019.
52% of the leaders answer “Yes, to a great extent” to the question, “Are you happy in your job?” In 2019, the figure was 58%.
Motivation to become a leader is declining among younger people
36% of 18–34 year-olds answer “Yes” when asked whether they are interested in becoming a leader during their career. In 2025, the figure was 49%.
Source: Ballisagers Kandidatanalyse 2026
Leaders are seen in their role rather than as people
Leadership quality is crucial – both for employee well-being and engagement, and for the organisation’s ability to function as a business and as a whole. Leaders’ well-being is not a luxury.
But who takes care of leaders while they take care of employees and the organisation’s interests?
In the book “Who takes care of the boss?“*, Lill Palmblad and Louise Dinesen argue that there is a lack of language for talking about leaders’ well-being – both among leaders themselves and across the organisation as a whole. Leaders risk disappearing as people because they are seen first and foremost in their leadership role.
We must remember that leaders are people too. Leaders navigate power, greater responsibility, competing demands, and other people’s opportunities to live a good life. This is a significant responsibility, and it requires the right conditions to navigate well.
Leaders’ well-being is about more than the absence of stress
Leaders’ well-being is about leaders’ experience of managing and thriving in their leadership role. It is not just about avoiding stress, but about experiencing e.g. motivation, meaning, influence and support from fellow leaders, employees and their own leader. It is not only the workload that places a strain on leaders – responsibility, loyalty conflicts and emotional demands also affect their well-being.
Palmblad and Dinesen point out that leadership involves human aspects that often receive too little attention. We do not talk very often about the existential and emotional aspects of leadership.
The existential aspects of leadership
The existential aspects are about creating meaning in who you are as a leader – both to yourself and to others. It concerns legitimacy, adequacy, values, responsibility and loyalty.
Leaders, too, can experience imposter syndrome – a feeling of not quite deserving their position or of having somehow “bluffed” their way into the role. Even when they appear competent and well-functioning on the outside, they may internally be marked by doubts about their own abilities and a fear of one day being exposed as inadequate.
Leaders may experience existential loneliness in their role – especially if they do not feel supported by their own leader or fellow leaders. Good leadership colleagues are essential to leaders’ psychological work environment. This is where leaders find shared commitment, knowledge sharing, a willingness to help one another, and openness to talking about mistakes and difficult issues.
*Source: Palmblad & Dinesen, Hvem passer på chefen? Bogen om ledertrivsel, Dansk Psykologisk Forlag, 2024
The leader as an emotional duffel bag
The emotional side of leadership is about both holding and managing your own emotions, reactions and experiences while also dealing with employees’ needs, demands, expectations and life challenges. There are high emotional demands to demonstrate tolerance, emotional resilience and commitment, even in the face of challenges.
Leaders often go to great lengths to create a positive atmosphere, show understanding and make space for what matters to their employees.
According to Palmblad and Dinesen, it is often the emotional costs of the leadership role that drain leaders’ mental resources and put their well-being under pressure. The caring and emotional labour involved in leadership are often both invisible and underestimated.
Leaders’ well-being is a strategic initiative
It is time for well-being initiatives to focus on leaders as well. Strategically preventing poor well-being among leaders is just as important as it is for employees.
We cannot expect leaders to cope with everything. We cannot take their loyalty for granted. Losing capable leaders comes at a high cost – both human and organisational.
It is often an eye-opener for the organisations we work with when they see leaders’ results in well-being surveys. When they read the comments from the people behind the leadership titles.
Measuring leaders’ well-being is a good place to start. It provides a foundation for understanding leaders’ working conditions, identifying sources of strain and creating a more informed dialogue about what leaders need to succeed and thrive in their role.
Measure leaders' well-being with GAIS
There are several ways to use the GAIS platform for leader well-being.
- Include leaders in the organisation’s overall well-being survey. Then generate a report based on the leaders’ results. This can be done for all leadership levels defined in the platform setup.
- Conduct a survey specifically for leaders. Use one of the GAIS survey frameworks and add your own questions that fit the organisation.
