What keeps your team motivated and resilient?

Are your employees’ emotional needs being met for better mental health?

Just like all living things, human beings require certain essentials to thrive.Beyond physical needs, emotional needs play a crucial role in wellbeing, resilience, and overall performance—both personally and professionally.

The Human Givens Institute, an international psychotherapy organisation (www.hgi.org.uk), identifies nine emotional needs that all people share. Ensuring these needs are met in balance supports both mental and physical wellbeing, which in turn influences engagement, productivity, and workplace culture.

Nine emotional needs for mental health

These emotional needs are: security, control, attention, status, community, privacy, emotional connection, achievement, and meaning & purpose. In future posts, we’ll explore some of these in more depth, but here’s a brief overview and how they relate to professional life.

Mental health survey

If you want to explore which emotional needs you're meeting, or not, take our short anonymous survey to find out. Emotional Needs Survey.

Security

Security isn’t about eliminating all risk—life and business always involve some level of uncertainty. It’s about ensuring employees feel safe in enough areas—physical, emotional, financial, and in the workplace—to operate confidently and take calculated risks that drive growth and innovation.

Control

Control isn’t about micromanaging every detail; it’s about providing employees with choice and autonomy where it matters. When people can influence their work while knowing what is beyond their control, stress decreases, and engagement rises.

Attention

Attention is about recognition and being genuinely heard. Employees who receive consistent, non-judgemental feedback and acknowledgment feel valued and supported. Without it, people may settle for negative attention or disengage, impacting morale and performance.

Status

Status is about respect and appreciation rather than hierarchy. Celebrating contributions, recognising effort, and showing respect for employees’ skills and ideas strengthens engagement and loyalty.

Community

Belonging matters. Healthy workplace communities encourage collaboration, innovation, and employee satisfaction. Encouraging employees to connect across teams, departments, or interest groups helps meet this need while reducing reliance on less supportive networks.

Privacy

Privacy is essential for reflection, focus, and mental recharge. Employees need space—quiet moments, flexible schedules, or the ability to step back from constant demands—to think, process, and maintain wellbeing.

Emotional connection

Emotional connection is about trusted relationships at work—mentors, managers, or peers with whom employees can share challenges openly. Even one or two authentic connections can significantly improve workplace engagement and loyalty.

Achievement

Achievement fuels motivation. People need opportunities to progress, develop new skills, and experience measurable wins. These don’t have to be monumental; even small, consistent successes contribute to engagement and satisfaction.

Meaning and purpose

Meaning and purpose come from understanding why work matters. Employees who see the impact of their efforts—whether in their team, organisation, or community—feel more fulfilled, motivated, and resilient.

Our mental health doesn't need to be perfect

It’s not about meeting every need perfectly. Excess or neglect of any need can be counterproductive. These needs overlap, and the balance shifts as circumstances change.

When needs are unmet, employees may experience stress, disengagement, or conflict, which can further disrupt performance. Recognising and addressing these needs is the first step toward building a workplace where people feel valued, supported, and capable of thriving.

Take a moment to reflect: how well are your teams’ emotional needs being met? Even small interventions—feedback, recognition, or opportunities for connection—can create meaningful improvements in engagement, wellbeing, and overall business performance.

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