Four years ago this week, Thrive Global launched with the mission to end the stress and burnout epidemic, along with the collective delusion that burnout is the price we must pay for success. Our fourth year has been a time of amazing growth for the company — and the challenges of 2020 have been a potent reminder of the relevance and urgency of our mission.
Since 2016, Thrive Global has helped over 100 organizations in over 40 countries build resilience, improve well-being and increase productivity. We’ve created a world-class behavior change platform that takes a whole-human approach, backed by cutting-edge science, storytelling, ancient wisdom and new role models of success. Our expansive library of Microsteps — small, science-backed actions that are too small to fail — has helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world from all walks of life make immediate and lasting changes in their lives. And these changes have been reflected in the business outcomes of the companies we’re working with.
Of course, this year has also brought unprecedented challenges. The mental health crisis that preceded the pandemic has intensified, with over 50% of Americans saying the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health. “Permawork” has become a reality for millions, with the line between work and home blurring even more since they became the same place for many of us. Frontline and essential workers are at risk not just of infection, but of burnout, as the pandemic accelerates even as vaccinations are finally arriving. Some are reeling from financial losses or layoffs. Others are grieving the death of loved ones or have been sick themselves.
Our programs such as Thriving Mind, developed with Stanford Medicine, and Thriving Across Our Differences provide tools to strengthen mental health and create more inclusive workplaces that work for everyone. Our Working Families experience helps people create a healthier work-life integration at a time when our homes have become our most important organization — and when too many women are being forced to choose between being successful in their jobs or successful in their roles at home. Through our partnership with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the CAA Foundation, we created First Responders First, which provides essential equipment and resources like child care, accommodations and food to those on the front lines. With Thrive ZP, we’ve helped thousands of associates at Walmart improve their lives with the 21-day Thrive ZP Challenge.
The pandemic has put a focus on issues — like burnout and resilience — that we’ve been creating solutions for since our founding. And only four years in, we find ourselves at the center of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset how we work and live. We’ve responded by doubling down on building the platform and products that will launch us into 2021 with new ways to realize our mission and have a bigger impact than ever before.
So thank you for joining us on this journey. I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together next year. At Thrive, our motto is “Onward, upward and inward.” And in helping us navigate the challenges of 2020, it has proven to be more relevant than ever — and it will no doubt be just as relevant as we step forward to meet the challenges and opportunities of 2021.
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