Nearly all employees who reported high levels of well-being and a high level of organizational support as high say they expected to be working for the same employer in a year, while those who reported less support and low well-being were significantly more likely to anticipate leaving.

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Surprisingly, perhaps, the percentage of those in the latter group who expected to remain in jobs despite reporting very little support and low well-being is high — 79 percent. Similarly, 65 percent of the same group said that they would recommend their current organization to others as a good place to work.

But whether employers are losing out through less-engaged workers or higher turnover, they need to do more to make their employees feel supported.

Limeade argues that support from supervisors, particularly mid-level managers who interact most regularly with employees, is more important in driving a sense of worker well-being than other popular targets of engagement initiatives, such as the physical work environment and social media.

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Although many wellness programs were originally developed as a way to get employees to become healthier and therefore reduce employer health costs, there is very little evidence that they have succeeded in that regard. As a result, wellness vendors and employers have increasingly shifted their attention to employee engagement, arguing that helping workers become healthier will make them happier and more productive.