According to a 2024 Gallup survey, less than 25% of employees genuinely feel like their employers care about their well-being, the lowest percentage in the workforce in decades.
Despite overwhelming stats that indicate job dissatisfaction is off the charts, many employers use smoke and mirror tactics to convince employees they are prioritizing a healthy office with happy workers.
An academic article from 2022 defined this corporate deception as carewashing. Further defining the behavior as, “communication strategies designed to demonstrate how ‘caring’ a corporation is in ways that commonly obscure that corporation’s actual destructive social and environmental impacts.”
To put it simply, it’s when companies pretend to care for their employees or their mission statements without taking any actionable steps to provide support or further their altruistic beliefs. You might be subject to such behaviors without even realizing it.
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After work, social events sound like bonding experiences; however, if a company was truly invested in team building and networking, they’d make space for it during the workday rather than taking away personal time.
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Prioritizing the happiness of employees means respecting healthy boundaries, but scheduling mandatory events outside of working hours says we don’t care about your life outside the office, and we also don’t want to pay for entertainment during the workday.
Great leaders celebrate the small wins on their teams, ensuring that every member, from entry-level positions to CEOs, are celebrated for their contributions.
“We often focus so much on the big goals and milestones, but miss the small steps that get us there,” connection expert and leadership coach Rachel DeAlto on TikTok explained.
“Recognition is such an important element of leadership and managing a team,” she argued. Gen Z is changing the landscape of workplace appreciation — urging managers to take true steps towards acknowledgment with compensation and recognition that genuinely improves employee balance and stress.
From pizza parties to employee appreciation lunches, many workers are tired of being “rewarded” for their hard work with insignificant and insincere gifts. Toxic managers who tend towards “carewashing” will do anything but give employees a gift that truly makes a difference — more time off, bonuses, or even a raise.
Of course, not every win or completed project can mean extra compensation or a vacation day, but employers who are “carewashing” will try to convince employees that their Friday donuts in the breakroom are better than winning the lottery.
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Many “carewashing” employers will preach that they care about supporting their employees but continuously act in the direct opposite of those promises. From acknowledging toxic co-workers to completely disregarding serious harassment allegations, they’re continuously pushing things under the rug.
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By not addressing underlying issues of mistrust and toxicity at work, they only add to the poor atmosphere of the workplace — lowering team morale, hurting job satisfaction, and even hindering the productivity they’re so concerned about protecting.
While they might promote healthy work boundaries and bountiful vacation packages during an interview, trying to sell themselves to candidates, “carewashing” employers typically disregard that flexibility in practice.
If they’re promoting sick and vacation time for anyone, it’s always leadership who has the influence and recognition to manipulate expectations for themselves. Making employees feel guilty for taking time away or overstepping communication boundaries when they’re living their personal lives, they let their actions speak for themselves.
If you’re constantly getting emails from your boss on Saturday or texts asking for help from peers on vacation, chances are you’re not operating in a healthy workplace environment. Great leaders prioritize their employees’ personal time.
Don’t let managers make you feel guilty for separating your personal life from your work. You deserve to get the rest and relaxation you need to thrive, without nagging notifications lingering from your team.
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Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
