waıos
The WAIOS™ Wellbeing Measure

See how your people are doing, and what it is doing to your results.

Most tools measure one of these and guess at the rest. The WAIOS™ Wellbeing Measure scores all three together, so you can see how they connect, which conditions are driving burnout on each team, and the effect on turnover, absence and goals.

01 · The framework

Five tiers. One Wellbeing Score.

The WAIOS™ Framework follows the path work takes into a person's life: from how engaged they are in the work itself, to whether it is burning them out, to the environment around them, to how work shapes their life, to how their life is going overall. Each tier has its own score, and together they produce one Wellbeing Score.

Tier 1

Work Engagement

Is this person emotionally connected to their work? Measured first, because if someone is in the wrong role, every other change is harder.

Emotional connection to the workPurpose in the workRole alignmentNatural strengthsValues alignmentBringing out their bestGrowth toward potentialEnjoyment of the daily workRole clarity
Tier 2

Burnout

Is the work sustainable? Measured through the six core drivers of burnout and the three dimensions that define it.

Six core drivers
WorkloadControlReward and recognitionCommunityFairnessValues
Three dimensions of burnout
ExhaustionCynicismReduced professional efficacy
Tier 3

Work Environment

Is the environment helping or holding this person back? Removing barriers prevents harm. Strengthening drivers helps people thrive.

Barriers
Work-life harmonyJob securityPredictable hoursFair payWorking conditions
Drivers
Relationship with managerCommitted colleaguesConnection to missionGrowthBelongingPsychological safetyVoiceCultural norms
Tier 4

Work Wellbeing

Is work making this person’s life better or worse? It shows where the organization strengthens wellbeing and where to invest next.

Overall
Influence on quality of lifeThe organization caresHope for the future here
By area of life
EmotionalPhysicalFinancialSocialPurpose
Tier 5

Overall Wellbeing

Setting work aside, how is this person’s life going? Strength here builds resilience at work. This is the ultimate measure.

Life evaluation (Cantril Ladder)Emotional healthPhysical healthMeaning and purposeFinancial securityCore relationshipsSocial connectednessInner strength
02 · What we ask

The questions your people have been waiting for someone to ask.

A sample from the measure. These are the conditions employees talk about with each other but rarely get asked about by their employer.

Work EngagementRole alignment
“The nature of my work aligns with my skills and interests.”
People in the wrong role struggle no matter how good the environment is.
BurnoutWorkload
“My workload feels manageable.”
An unmanageable workload is one of the core drivers of burnout.
BurnoutFairness
“Decisions that affect me are made transparently.”
People can accept hard decisions. Hidden ones erode trust.
Work EnvironmentWork-life harmony
“To what extent do you feel obligated to remain available and responsive to work-related communication (e.g., email, messaging platforms, calls) outside of your scheduled working hours?”
The always-on expectation rarely shows up in an engagement survey.
Work EnvironmentFair pay
“I feel that my compensation is fair for the work I do.”
Pay that feels unfair wears people down quietly.
Work EnvironmentPsychological safety
“I feel safe speaking up at work.”
Teams that cannot raise problems cannot fix them.
Work EnvironmentRelationship with manager
“My manager encourages me to prioritize my wellbeing.”
Managers give, or withhold, permission to recover.
Work WellbeingThe organization cares
“I believe my company genuinely cares about my wellbeing.”
Whether people feel cared for shapes everything else.
Overall WellbeingEmotional health
“Over the past two weeks, I have felt overwhelmed by stress or low mood.”
Life outside work shows up at work, in both directions.
Validated items are asked word for word. Answers are private, and no individual response is ever shared with an employer.
03 · Heat maps

Two teams. Same company. Very different results.

Wellbeing, engagement and burnout, tracked month by month for every team and linked to the performance numbers you already report. You see where it is slipping, why, and what it is costing, before it shows up in turnover.

SufferingStrugglingWatchHealthyThriving
Illustrative data

Sarah’s team

VP, Product Engineering
42 people · hybrid
Wellbeing Score
84Thriving
↑ 10 points since May
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Wellbeing
Engagement
Burnout risklower is better
Workloadsustainable pace
Recoverytime to recharge
Connectionsupport from peers
Recognitioneffort is seen
Hover or tap any square for the breakdown
Oct breakdown
Wellbeing
84Thriving
+3 vs last month +10 since May 39 responses
Where the team sits
78% doing well20% on watch2% at risk
What is behind the score
Energy 88
Mood 82
Life satisfaction 81
What it means: A dip during the July release, then a steady climb to the highest score in the company.
Tied to performance
4%
Voluntary turnover, annualized
Lowest in the company
−8%
Unplanned absence since May
Steady decline
108%
Of quarterly goals met
Up from 97%
What is working

The measure flagged a workload spike during the July release. Sarah moved two deadlines and protected focus time, and every score recovered within a month. We capture what her team does differently so other leaders can use it.

Mark’s team

Director, Customer Operations
38 people · 3 sites
Wellbeing Score
44Struggling
↓ 21 points since May
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Wellbeing
Engagement
Burnout risklower is better
Workloadsustainable pace
Recoverytime to recharge
Connectionsupport from peers
Recognitioneffort is seen
Hover or tap any square for the breakdown
Oct breakdown
Burnout risk
61%Suffering
+9 vs last month +35 since May 34 responses
Where the team sits
25% doing well14% on watch61% at risk
What is behind the score
Exhaustion 66%
Detachment from work 59%
Reduced effectiveness 57%
What it means: Exhaustion is the leading signal. Six in ten people on the team are now at risk.
Tied to performance
19%
Voluntary turnover, annualized
Up from 9% in May
+41%
Unplanned absence since May
Two people on leave
72%
Of quarterly goals met
Down from 91%
Where to start

Workload and recovery fell first, and engagement followed two months later. A WAIOS™ expert works with Mark on a workload reset and protected recovery time, then checks in every two weeks until the trend turns.

Scores run 0 to 100 and higher is healthier, except burnout risk, where lower is better. All data is aggregated: team results only appear once they meet the minimum reporting threshold, so no individual’s answers can ever be identified.

04 · How it works

From baseline score to a clear plan.

  1. Step 1
    Launch
    We set up the measure, your context questions and a communication plan for employees.
  2. Step 2
    Measure
    Employees complete it privately in less than 10 minutes. Every person sees their own results.
  3. Step 3
    Map
    You receive heat maps by team and department, with the drivers behind each score.
  4. Step 4
    Debrief and act
    Our founders walk your leaders through the results and build a focused action plan.
  5. Step 5
    Re-measure
    We measure again to show what changed and where to focus next.
Start with one team or the whole company

See your own heat map.

Talk to us and we will show you what the measure would reveal for your organization.

Request a heat map demo