Implementing a company-wide wellbeing strategy can significantly improve employee engagement and reduce issues related to stress and burnout. Research shows that enterprises which prioritise employee wellbeing experience up to a 21% increase in productivity: a compelling case for taking wellbeing seriously as a business strategy.
In today’s fast-paced and uncertain world, employee engagement, retention, and morale are directly linked to wellbeing. Fostering a healthy workplace is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’; it’s essential to building a resilient and high-performing organisation.
Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters
Recent research underscores the scale of the issue:
- 54% of UK workers say that a high or increasing workload has caused them stress or burnout in the past year.
- 45% cite regular unpaid overtime as a contributing factor.
- 65% identify workload as the biggest cause of workplace stress.
- 37% report management style as a key cause of stress (CIPD, 2024).
This illustrates a broader truth: burnout isn’t just about the individual; it reflects how work is structured, managed, and supported.
The Business Case
According to a 2021 Forbes report, 90% of jobseekers consider a company’s health and wellness benefits before accepting a role. Employers are also recognising the value, with over 60% reporting that a strong employee wellbeing strategy contributes directly to productivity and improved results.
When you embed wellbeing into your culture and leadership approach, the benefits are wide-ranging:
- Higher engagement and satisfaction: Employees who feel supported are more committed, motivated, and likely to go the extra mile.
- Lower absenteeism and turnover: A focus on wellbeing reduces stress-related absence and builds loyalty.
- Greater productivity and innovation: Healthy employees bring more energy, creativity, and focus to their work.
A Whole-system Approach to Wellbeing
Workplace wellbeing should address the physical, emotional, mental, and social needs of employees, but not through superficial perks. While gym memberships and mindfulness apps can help, true wellbeing requires a shift in how organisations operate.
Here are some actionable ways to embed wellbeing meaningfully across the workplace:
1. Train managers in mental health awareness
Managers play a pivotal role in shaping the employee experience. Equipping them to spot early signs of stress, respond appropriately, and hold supportive conversations can reduce harm and foster a psychologically safe culture.
Action: Invest in regular training on mental health awareness, active listening, and having wellbeing check-ins.
2. Redesign workloads and expectations
Chronic overwork and unrealistic targets are major drivers of burnout. Review job demands regularly and ensure employees have the autonomy, tools, and time to succeed.
Action: Monitor workloads across teams, involve employees in setting priorities, and be proactive in redistributing work when needed.
3. Normalise flexible and hybrid working
Flexibility helps employees manage personal and professional demands more sustainably. It’s also a key factor in retention, particularly for working parents or carers.
Action: Empower teams to co-design flexible arrangements, focusing on output rather than presenteeism.
4. Create space for recovery
Whether it’s encouraging real lunch breaks, building in no-meeting blocks, or supporting time off after busy periods, rest isn’t a luxury, it’s a productivity strategy.
Action: Model recovery at the leadership level and embed it in policies, such as email curfews or ‘digital detox’ days.
5. Strengthen peer support and connection
Social wellbeing is often overlooked but is essential for motivation and belonging. Informal networks, team bonding, and safe spaces to talk help create a more connected culture.
Action: Facilitate peer support groups, buddy systems, or wellbeing champions who can signpost and support others.
6. Ask and act on feedback
Surveys, listening sessions, and anonymous feedback tools can surface emerging wellbeing issues. But action must follow, or employees will stop engaging.
Action: Establish regular feedback loops and communicate transparently about changes being made.
Rethinking Leadership for Wellbeing
Leadership behaviour is consistently identified as a key factor in wellbeing, both positively and negatively. When leaders model vulnerability, promote balance, and treat wellbeing as a shared priority, it sets the tone across the organisation.
Future-fit Leaders:
- Speak openly about mental health and boundaries
- Challenge overwork culture
- Value empathy and psychological safety as leadership skills
- See wellbeing not as a ‘nice extra’, but as a performance imperative
Moving Forward
Organisations that centre wellbeing are not just reacting to crisis – they’re building capacity for long-term performance and sustainability. The most effective strategies are not bolted on but are woven into the fabric of how work gets done, how people are led, and how success is measured.
By taking a strategic and systemic approach, companies can move beyond reactive fixes and towards workplaces that thrive, where people are not only well, but able to do their best work and bring their best selves to work.
Liz has over 20 years of experience in the HR consulting world as a sales director and coach. She is passionate about coaching as a means to motivate individual performance and is committed to coaching people to have successful and fulfilling careers. Her aim is to help people deal with the various challenges they face in their working life and to develop strategies to effectively deal with them.
In 2012, Liz co-founded 10Eighty, a strengths-based HR consultancy to focus on leadership and management development, career management and outplacement. Liz trained as a career coach in 2008 and as an Executive Coach in 2020. During her career she has managed people, achieved promotion, returned after maternity leave and balanced work and family life.