Brian Elliott, leadership advisor, publisher, and CEO of Work Forward, discusses the missing piece to the future of work with Breakthru founder Melissa Painter: movement microbreaks. Eliott and Painter share stories from leaders who suffer burnout and musculoskeletal pain from back-to-back meetings and long hours sat at their desk. Movement microbreaks reduce time spent sitting, leading to a lower chance of an early death and health complications, as well as increased energy, boosted mood, and less stress. Microbreaks work on their own, but their effectiveness multiplies when leadership supports them through word-of-mouth and active participation. Real change happens when leaders normalize pause and movement as vital parts of the workday, not perks, but essentials.

We spoke to Melissa Painter, CEO and founder of Breakthru, an app that guides users through two-minute movement breaks, about the research on breaks and what her team has learned about taking better breaks from the Breakthru app’s two million monthly active users.

At Microsoft, we believe that even the smallest moments of pause can make a big difference. That’s why I’m so proud of our ongoing collaboration the team at Breakthru. Since launching Breakthru in 2020, we’ve seen over 11,000 of our employees across 68 countries embrace these two-minute resets. Whether it’s a stretch, a breath, or a moment of calm, these breaks are helping our people feel better and work better.

Breakthru and Concentrix leadership work together to enhance resilience and prevent burnout through movement and breathing microbreaks. With leadership actively supporting the launch, organic usage grew from 53 planned pilot users to nearly 3,000 users in 49 countries.