Commentary: The December question every leader should anticipate

As the year winds down, our calendars fill with two things: out-of-office replies and existential dread. December has a funny way of putting a mirror in front of us. In the quiet between deadlines and family gatherings, a perennial set of questions shows up:

What am I doing with my life?

Do I still want to be doing this work?

Am I moving forward — or just moving?

These aren’t wellness journal prompts. They’re career-defining questions. And like clockwork, millions of workers will ask them over the next few weeks. According to Pew, 56 percent of U.S. employees say the end of the year is when they evaluate whether their job aligns with their long-term goals. At the same time, Gallup finds that feeling a sense of purpose at work increases performance by up to 49 percent and cuts turnover intention by nearly half.

This is the season of purpose. And as a leader, you ignore that at your peril.

Your people are having these conversations — with or without you

At dinner tables, on long drives to visit family, during the quiet moments before the New Year’s countdown, your employees will wonder: What does 2026 hold for me? Do I matter? Should I stay or should I go?

You can’t stop that reflection, but you can shape it.

Leaders often think purpose is something people need to “find.” But most of the time, purpose just needs to be reminded. Reinforced. Spoken out loud by someone who sees what they bring to the organization.

Now is when your people need to hear:

• Why their work matters.
• How their effort connects to the mission.
• What strengths they bring that no one else does.
• Where they can grow in 2026.

In other words, give them a reason to stay and a reason to strive.

The small gesture with outsized ROI

Recognition is not soft. Recognition is strategy.

Companies in the top quartile for employee appreciation win the turnover battle. Research shows that a single act of meaningful recognition improves engagement for up to a month. That’s an ROI most marketing budgets would kill for.

My own ritual: Every year I write a personalized note to every team member — often handwritten, mailed, old-school. It’s not performative. It’s gratitude. These people could work anywhere. They chose to lend their talent, intelligence, and energy to this organization. That’s not nothing.

Recognition does three things at once:

1. Anchors purpose (“This is why your work matters.”)
2. Signals worth (“I see you.”)
3. Builds loyalty (“You matter here.”)

Simple, human, wildly effective.

Your December job as a leader

As you close out 2025, you have one job more important than budgets, strategic plans, or final pushes:

Give your people back their sense of purpose.

Not through slogans — through specificity. Through gratitude. Through a conversation that reminds them they matter — to the work, to the mission, and to you.

If you can’t remember the last time you did that, December is your moment.

Here’s hoping you end 2025 with clarity — and begin 2026 with momentum, purpose, and a team that knows exactly why they’re here.

Jaime Raul Zepeda is the executive vice president and principal consultant at Best Companies Group, which helps organizations build high-performing and highly engaged employees. Best Companies Group has helped over 10,000 companies understand and improve their workplace using data-driven strategies. Contact him at [email protected].