The phrase “quiet cracking” may be HR’s latest buzzword—but, experts say, it’s definitely not a fleeting trend. Rather, the suggestion that employees are suffering immense stress and burnout—and doing so alone—points to systemic workplace problems, ones that they say HR needs to bring out of the shadows with strategic leadership.

New research from ResumeTemplates highlights the extent of the problem: Of the more than 1,100 U.S. workers surveyed, nearly 60% say they are experiencing quiet cracking, which the organization defines as workers feeling “drained and disengaged” yet striving to keep up appearances at work.

More than half say they’ve had those feelings for over three months, while about 20% report their quiet cracking started more than six months ago. The impacts to the business could be significant, the research found: More than 60% of those struggling with these feelings of pervasive stress say they’re likely to leave their job in the next months, while others cite impacts on attendance.

Gallup research recently quantified just how severe the crisis is: to the tune of $438 billion in lost productivity worldwide.

What’s driving quiet cracking?

Employee stress levels have soared in recent years, and the current quiet cracking trend appears to reflect both personal and professional aggravators. The ResumeTemplates research found the top two contributors to quiet cracking are excessive workloads and personal stress. Poor management and repetitive job tasks are also significant factors.

Several macro issues could be heightening the risk for the “quiet” aspect of the phenomenon, says Frank Giampietro, chief wellbeing officer at EY Americas.

The downturn in voluntary turnover over the last 18 months, he says, suggests fears of a recession, and more recently, fewer new opportunities have employees sticking with their companies—but at times just out of fear.

“People are staying longer at their current employers, but they aren’t thriving,” he says; instead, they may be struggling in silence.

“In many cases, they feel stuck where they are, without a choice,” he says. “They don’t want to raise attention to themselves and want to be seen as a valued employee.”

The “climate of layoffs,” adds Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist at ResumeTemplates, means that “employees don’t want to give managers or leaders a reason to let them go,” she says. So, she says, they are weathering changes and challenges—such as from AI transformation—without speaking up.

If there is “minimal or no trust with management,” she adds, “employees won’t voice their concerns because they don’t trust how that information could be used.”

It’s an issue of psychological safety, says Annie Rosencrans, people & culture director at people management software provider HiBob.

Without an underpinning of support, she says, employees don’t feel safe enough “to raise issues early, fearing they’ll be seen as underperforming or not resilient. Others believe their managers are just as overwhelmed, so they stay silent until the stress becomes unsustainable.”

3 strategies to reduce the risk of quiet cracking

Empower managers

Managers are the “first line of defense” against quiet cracking, says Rosencrans—yet, HR and business leaders often don’t prepare them for that duty.

Toothacre agrees, calling failed employee-manager relationships one of the most significant drivers of quiet cracking.

“Whether it’s a manager that hasn’t been properly trained or a hands-off manager that isn’t aware of their employees’ workloads,” she says, “those frontline manager relationships are the key to preventing stress.”

HR needs to reexamine manager training, ensuring it equips managers to recognize signs of stress—and early—as well as to understand how they can destigmatize talking about wellbeing and ensure workloads are appropriate “before things hit a breaking point,” says Rosencrans.

Given the current environment, manager training should also focus on change management capabilities, Toothacre adds—particularly around helping the workforce navigate significant disruptions like layoffs.

Set the right culture

Just as organizations need to empower their managers, employees should also feel empowered to make the moves they need to improve their situations, says Giampietro. Quiet cracking, he says, ultimately stems from the feeling that employees don’t have the resources or ability to effect change.

“The root of quiet cracking is people feeling stuck,” he says.

To counter that, HR needs to do the culture work that conveys to employees that the organization is investing in them. This should involve providing access to short- and long-term opportunities for career development, giving attention to personal growth and prioritizing wellbeing, Giampietro says.

Managers again, Rosencrans emphasizes, will play a pivotal role in setting the culture that alleviates the risk of quiet cracking.

Organizations need to shift “away from ‘hero culture,’ where burning out is seen as commitment, and toward sustainable goal-setting, clearer boundaries and coaching support,” she says. “The companies that succeed here will be the ones that treat manager enablement as a business-critical investment, not a nice-to-have.”

See also: 3 ways HR can take care of middle managers before they break

Leverage data

Traditionally, Rosencrans says, employee wellbeing initiatives are broad: from gym memberships to PTO policies. But these don’t truly get at the root of problems like quiet cracking—and contribute to HR realizing how severe employee stress is too late, such as when rates of turnover or disengagement are already rising.

What should inform wellbeing support instead, she says, is “proactive visibility” into areas like manager capacity, workloads and career development.

“The failure [to address quiet cracking early] isn’t a lack of care,” Rosencrans says, “it’s a lack of real-time insight into how people are coping with change, and a reliance on surface-level programs rather than systemic support.”

Giampietro says HR functions that rely on “static” sentiment surveys delivered two or three times a year need to pivot their approaches: Look at experiential data, such as how supported and valued employees feel, alongside operational data, including PTO utilization, hours worked and recognition experiences.

“Organizations have access to considerable amounts of data—both in how their people feel but also in the actions their people take,” Giampietro says. “They should put that to use to better support and anticipate the needs of their people.”

These data sources provide a “much more comprehensive picture of each individual’s experience—that allows for targeted and timely interventions to better support someone who might be struggling or experiencing less-than-optimal levels of wellbeing.”

How EY is reimagining data for wellbeing

Giampietro points to EY’s proprietary, AI-powered tool, known as the Vitality Index, as a model of data-driven employee wellbeing.

EY, a finalist in the employee engagement category of HR Executive‘s HR Icons awards—being presented next week in Las Vegas, designed the tool to provide insights on the state of employee wellbeing. It can alert employers to flags that predict spiking or falling wellbeing and expectations around “attrition, engagement and productivity.”

For instance, the Index has helped uncover that employees who take at least five vacation days each quarter have a higher likelihood of retention—and the best wellbeing scores. Organizations with the highest rates of employee wellbeing have the fastest revenue growth, the Index has found.

“HR leaders need meaningful, data-backed insights that directly link employee experience to key business metrics, such as retention, productivity and performance,” Giampietro says. “This allows HR to embed wellbeing into leaders’ business view and hold leaders accountable for improving their people’s experiences. After all, change starts at the top.”