Employees need to trust leadership and take quick action in a crisis, but they also need to be empowered to bring problems to their supervisors. Leaders need to extend trust, know their employees and be willing to share bad news in order to establish this dynamic.

Thirty-nine percent of employees ages 18 to 49 say the shift toward workers staying longer in the workforce is negative, according to a poll by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Thirty percent of workers in the same age group say the shift will be bad for the US economy.

Many leaders who struggle to manage their teams say they do not have enough time to complete their work, writes Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking. Tulgan outlines seven fundamental management tasks that, if left undone, can affect the bottom line, including not delegating work properly and overlooking onboarding of new team members.

Employers are paying more attention to employee mental health, said Sonya Weiland of WeilandWorks Consulting, but while most do not have a specific mental health day, there is a trend for more generalized paid days off that could support mental health wellness. The Cleveland Clinic gives its physicians a wellness day off and Hyland Software offers paid time off that can be taken for any reason and additional flex days off.

A healthy work culture is more than open offices and lax dress codes, and these perks cannot address workplace harassment and a lack of diversity, says Trisha Degg of the Illinois Technology Association, referencing issues faced by technology companies in recent years. Employers need to address systemic issues, as "life is too short to hate your job," Degg adds.