Eyeworld

SUMMER 2025 | EYEWORLD | 77 P that approximately 75% of people who quit a job indicate that their boss is part or all of the reason why." In addition, 65% of the workforce in the U.S. cites dealing with their boss as the most stressful part of their job and says that this person has as much impact on an employee's mental health as their partner or spouse. There are three things that make a boss great: trust, coaching, and advocacy. Trust needs to be both granted and earned among the boss and the employee as a two-way street. Coaching involves, instead of telling employees things, asking them things. "What options do you see? What does your gut tell you? What do you remember about the meeting? Where could you go to find that information? What would you do if I wasn't here?" That's coaching, Mr. Mull said. The third dimension is advocacy. Being someone's advocate means you're operating in their best interests. "You know something about and care about who they are as a person. You care about the ways in which their life is impacted outside of work by their work. You're also advocating for them at work," Mr. Mull said. Three are three conditions that create a destination workplace. Ideal job The ideal job is about what the employee gets in exchange for what they do. This includes compensation (benefits and wages), workload, and flexibility. "On a continuum between ade- quate and generous, do we lean more toward generous than adequate?" Mr. Mull questioned of employer compensation packages. As for workload, is the employee drowning in a sea of too much to do or are they able to operate at a reasonable capacity? "Social science tells us that a sweet spot seems to be about 80% of our capacity, 80% of the time," he said. With these percentages, if something tricky comes up, we have the capaci- ty to deal with it temporarily. Flexibility is the number one most request- ed workplace benefit in the world, Mr. Mull said. It includes when, where, and how people work. "It turns out that when you give people influence over some aspect of when, where, and how they work, commitment goes up, retention goes up. When I am in my ideal job, that job fits into my life, like a puzzle piece snapping into place," Mr. Mull said. Meaningful work Meaningful work is about what I do, what I spend my time doing, and who I'm doing it with, Mr. Mull said. Meaningful work in- cludes purpose (believing one's work matters), strengths (the work uses a person's talents, gifts, skills), and belonging (a feeling of acceptance and being a celebrated member of the team). "This is why you see organizations spending more time teaching leaders how to be better storytellers, getting better at recognition, and connecting the dots between even the most mundane tasks and duties of someone's job and the difference it makes in the lives of others," Mr. Mull said. Great boss An employee's direct supervisor is the single most influential factor in the employee expe- rience, Mr. Mull said. "We have a boatload of data that tells us that that's true. We know continued on page 78 Mr. Mull gives his three conditions to create a destination workplace: ideal job, meaningful work, great boss. Source: ASCRS

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