If you had told me 30 years ago that organizations would create a new C-suite position to ensure business leaders could effectively incorporate the science of wellbeing and psychology into the development and execution of their business strategy, I would have been surprised. Today, I am not surprised at all, as the problem of “employee engagement” continues to be a significant internal risk for many organizations. This is supported through recent data from Society for Human Resource Management and Gallup:
The 2026 SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) State of the Workforce study shows that 32% of workers rated employee experience, defined as a holistic approach to enhancing engagement and satisfaction, as the most critical area for HR departments to prioritize in 2026.
Gallup reports that employee engagement data has been steadily declining since 2020, with only 31% of employees actively engaged in 2025.
These employee engagement data suggest that more organizations will be adding this new C-suite position to their senior executive team to solve this challenge.
A CWO’s responsibility is to ensure workforce readiness, resilience and wellbeing to achieve the organization’s goals to achieve peak performance. In short, the CWO serves as every leader’s ally, ensuring leaders have data insights, guidance, and solutions to empower employees to perform at their best physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Responsible for identifying organizational actions and levers that can drive organizational performance and risk, the CWO identifies the organizational processes, systems, policies, environments, and behaviors that impact performance levels. In other words, the CWO is held accountable to ensure the organization effectively safeguards and optimizes workforce well-being to drive individual and organizational performance.
The job is uniquely different from other C-Suite members as the CWO’s area of focus is human performance, talent development, and risk mitigation to ensure workforce readiness, resilience and wellbeing. In most organizations, there is a tremendous opportunity for the CWO to enhance the efforts of a Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) because of the CWO’s focus on prevention and human performance. Serving as a partner to the CHRO and CMO, the CWO enables both the CHRO and CMO to capitalize on workforce wellbeing to ensure successful HR strategy execution and prevent workforce health risks.
Today’s environment is challenging business leaders to think differently, act differently, and solve differently. As an organizational psychologist who was honored to design and execute the workforce wellbeing strategy for the CIA workforce while serving as their inaugural Chief Wellbeing Officer, I can confidently say that when leaders integrate the science of wellbeing into business strategies the result is improved employee engagement, enhanced workplace culture and higher performance levels. It’s a win-win for everyone and one of the greatest opportunities for C-suites in 2026.
Did this post resonate with you? If so, please comment, like or repost this article to IGNITE this conversation.