Mattering at Work: The Missing Leadership Skill Driving Engagement, Retention, and Burnout Recovery | Zach Mercurio

About this episode

Cait Donovan and Zach Mercurio discuss the importance of mattering in the workplace as a solution to burnout and employee engagement.

Belonging might get you on the team, but if burnout is a systems problem, then mattering is a systems solution. Cait sits down with Zach Mercurio, PhD, author of The Power of Mattering, to examine why engagement continues to decline even in organizations investing heavily in culture initiatives. If burnout is a systems problem, then addressing workplace burnout requires more than resilience training. It requires redesigning how leaders show up in everyday interactions. Zach breaks down the difference between belonging, inclusion, and mattering. Belonging is being welcomed. Inclusion is being invited to participate. Mattering is knowing you are significant and needed. That experience is built moment by moment when leaders notice, affirm, and show people how their contributions make a measurable difference. These small interactions directly influence organizational health and shape the employee experience. Cait brings a biological lens to the conversation, exploring how chronic workplace stress and cortisol are connected to feeling unseen or replaceable. Research shows that when people feel they matter, stress markers decrease and exhaustion drops. That insight reframes the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Cait, Cait Donovan

Guest: Zach Mercurio

Topics covered

• burnout
• leadership
• employee engagement
• workplace culture
• mattering

Keywords

• belonging
• inclusion
• organizational health
• chronic stress
• leadership behavior

Mentioned in this episode

Products: The Power of Mattering

Books & works: The Power of Mattering, The Power of Mattering at Work

Places: Gaza

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