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Wellness
Well-being initiatives aren’t working. Here’s how to drive real change
It takes more than an occasional yoga class to tackle the problems of burnout, financial stress, and poor mental and physical health. New research reveals which strategies can move the dial on employee well-being.
Companies are spending more than ever on employee well-being programs, so why are they yet to make a significant impact? A more targeted approach is needed, according to our research at the Corporate Research Forum (CRF), Sustaining Employee Well-being. We explored how organizations could meaningfully improve employee well-being and outlined the characteristics of effective strategies that create and sustain thriving workplaces.
Here, we summarize CRF’s findings and highlight the key enablers of a successful approach, drawing on our well-being model and recommendations. We address how organizations can take a more strategic, systemic, and evidence-driven approach to sustain well-being while unlocking tangible benefits such as improved productivity, talent retention, and organizational performance.
1. The state of employee well-being: a critical business priority
Employee well-being – how we feel at work and about work – has become a strategic priority for organizations globally. The CRF survey of member organizations found that 67% have increased their well-being spend since 2020, and 73% now have a formal well-being strategy. However, this increased investment has not reversed the downward trend in global employee well-being. Gallup’s 2024 Global Workforce Report revealed a decline in well-being across all regions, driven by factors such as burnout, financial stress, and physical health challenges. For instance, in the UK, 875,000 workers were reported to have experienced work-related stress, anxiety, or depression in 2023. In Deloitte’s global survey, only 44% of employees said their workplace supported social well-being, and financial stress remained a top driver of burnout.
The disconnect between investment and outcomes highlights a key issue: many organizations rely on superficial well-being initiatives, such as yoga classes, well-being apps, or one-off events, that fail to address systemic challenges like job design, organizational culture, and leadership behaviors. Research from the University of Oxford shows that individual interventions often lack impact because they fail to tackle the root causes. CRF research argues that to drive real change, organizations must embed well-being into their business strategy and take a more holistic and evidence-based approach.
Investing in well-being offers significant benefits, from higher productivity to improved talent retention and reduced absenteeism.
What’s at stake? The business impact of well-being
Investing in well-being offers significant benefits, from higher productivity to improved talent retention and reduced absenteeism. For example, Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve’s research shows that employees who report higher well-being scores tend to generate higher sales and perform better in roles requiring emotional intelligence and creativity. In addition, organizations with higher employee well-being have been shown to outperform peers in stock-market performance, with well-being showing the potential to act as a leading indicator of financial success.
However, the business case must also address the complexity of well-being. As CRF’s research points out, while there is clear evidence that well-being improves individual performance, linking it to overall organizational outcomes is harder and requires a strategic and tailored approach. By embedding well-being into the core of their culture and strategy, organizations can create environments where employees thrive and performance, engagement, and resilience are maximized.
2. Characteristics of effective well-being strategies
CRF’s Well-being Model (see below) identifies three essential characteristics of effective well-being strategies: strategic, systemic, and evidence-driven.
A strategic approach
A strategic approach to well-being aligns directly with an organization’s purpose, business objectives, and people strategy. For example, GSK aligns its Partnership for Prevention health screening and education program with its position as one of the world’s largest researchers and sellers of vaccines. Grocery retailer Tesco’s approach focuses on nutrition, lining up its internal campaigns with external customer marketing efforts.
Practical steps to taking a strategic approach:
- Link well-being to business objectives: Define how well-being contributes to key outcomes such as productivity, retention, or customer satisfaction. For instance, a high-growth business might focus on resilience-building, while a company undergoing restructuring could prioritize counseling and support.
- Tailor initiatives to workforce needs: Use employee data (e.g., health assessments, surveys, or focus groups) to segment your workforce and address specific challenges. Kraft Heinz dials up physiotherapy services for its manual workers, while global law firm Linklaters provides mental health support tailored to junior lawyers managing high-pressure workloads.
- Join up the well-being, DE&I, and talent strategies: Use the well-being strategy to support and enable other aspects of the people strategy. For example, increasing the representation of women at senior management level might mean providing fertility or menopause support to improve retention for mid-career women.
Every employer can benefit from seeing their organization as a system of interconnected parts – including culture, leadership, and work design – that work together to promote or undermine well-being.
A systemic approach
Being systemic means viewing well-being programs as a whole, recognizing that outcomes are complex and interconnected and actions in one area will affect other parts of the system. For example, people who are struggling financially are also more likely to suffer from poor mental health. Every employer can benefit from seeing their organization as a system of interconnected parts – including culture, leadership, and work design – that work together to promote or undermine well-being.
CRF recommends building a comprehensive multidimensional well-being offering around key pillars, such as:
- Mental health: While mental ill health is often not caused by work, it can be exacerbated or improved by work. Actions such as access to therapy at work, resilience training, and awareness campaigns to destigmatize mental health conversations can help people develop the tools to manage their mental health.
- Physical health: While incidences of mental ill health are rising, musculoskeletal conditions, obesity, smoking, inactivity, and poor nutrition all continue to be major causes of ill health. Health screenings, private GP access, or exercise programs to encourage healthier lifestyles can help avoid or delay the onset of chronic conditions and reduce the costs of absenteeism.
- Financial well-being: This has become a bigger concern for employers, particularly given the impact of cost-of-living pressures. Increasingly, employers are offering education on budgeting, debt management, and pensions, as well as crisis support funds.
- Social well-being: Social connections and other qualitative factors, such as providing meaningful work, significantly impact well-being. Building belonging is particularly important in hybrid or remote environments. We recommend including social as a distinct element in your well-being strategy.
Balancing prevention and support
Well-being programs need to provide effective support for people when they are ill or in crisis. Reactive support – such as having in place effective pathways for conditions such as cancer or depression – can ensure employees receive timely help and are able to return to work more quickly or avoid long-term absence. Meanwhile, preventative interventions, such as health education and screening programs, yield high returns. Deloitte research shows an ROI of nearly $6 for every $1 spent on screening programs. The most effective strategies balance both.
Being evidence-driven
Despite the rise in well-being investments, only 15% of organizations consistently evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives. CRF advocates for an evidence-based HR (EBHR) approach, which uses internal and external data and scientific research to design, implement, and measure well-being strategies.
Practical actions for an evidence-driven approach:
- Start with the business issue: Ask yourself what issues – such as reduced productivity, increased health claims, or higher absence – you are seeing.
- Gather robust data across multiple sources and types of evidence: To understand what issues are presenting, who is affected, and the impact on the business, use multiple sources to identify the interventions most likely to lead to improvements in your key areas of concern.
- Set clear metrics: Define success measures for your well-being initiatives, such as reduced absenteeism or improved employee engagement scores.
- Challenge vendors to justify the effectiveness of their offerings: Avoid solutions without a clear evidence base. Our research highlights that interventions like mental health first-aiders may not deliver measurable impact unless linked to broader systemic change.
Organizations can also educate leaders on the link between well-being and performance.
3. Five key enablers of well-being
CRF’s research highlights five critical enablers that organizations must address to achieve successful outcomes from their well-being strategies:
Enabler 1: A culture of health
A supportive organizational culture is essential for sustaining well-being. Toxic workplace behaviors –such as excessive demands, lack of psychological safety, or poor interpersonal relationships – can undermine even the most comprehensive well-being initiatives.
Actions to build a culture of health:
- Normalize well-being conversations: Provide managers and teams with toolkits for discussing well-being. Bupa’s Personal Energy program uses facilitated conversations to help teams identify and address energy drains.
- Measure psychological safety: Include questions on bullying, presenteeism, or trust in employee surveys. Teach managers how to build safety in their teams.
- Embed well-being into business decisions: Ensure that restructuring, acquisitions, or policy changes factor in the impact on employee well-being.
Enabler 2: Leadership role modeling
When senior leaders visibly support well-being initiatives, they set the tone for the organization. Leaders who share personal stories – such as a CEO who openly discussed the impact of a family member’s suicide on their well-being – help normalize discussions around mental health.
Organizations can also educate leaders on the link between well-being and performance. Creating KPIs or reporting mechanisms for leadership teams can encourage accountability and harness the natural competitiveness of leaders to get them to commit to action.
Enabler 3: Work design
Well-designed jobs that promote autonomy, purpose, and manageable workloads contribute to well-being at work. Conversely, poorly designed roles can lead to stress and burnout.
Steps for good work design:
- Use psychosocial hazard frameworks to assess and address risks such as excessive demands or role ambiguity.
- Involve employees in job redesign to identify stressors. For example, Bupa used workshops with care home managers to streamline job roles and improve clarity.
- Leverage technology like AI to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up employees for more meaningful work.
Enabler 4: Line manager capability
Line managers are often the “make or break” factor in employee well-being. However, CRF’s research found that six in 10 organizations see line managers as a barrier due to insufficient capability and lack of training.
Manager development priorities:
- Provide targeted training on spotting early signs of poor well-being, having supportive conversations, and signposting resources. Consider integrating well-being into existing line manager development programs or making well-being training mandatory.
- Set well-being-related performance metrics, such as absenteeism rates, in manager reviews.
Enabler 5: Communication
Without effective communication, even the best-designed well-being strategies can fail. Clear messaging ensures employees are aware of resources, encouraged to participate, and empowered to make healthier choices.
Communication good practices:
Target hard-to-access groups: Use managers, champions, trade union representatives, or employee networks to engage frontline employees who may lack access to apps or platforms.
Tell stories: Personal, relatable stories resonate more than generic messages.
Create a well-being brand: Create a distinct, recognizable identity for your program, such as Bupa’s Viva or Kone’s Elevate Your Health initiatives.
CRF’s research makes clear that sustaining employee well-being requires more than offering perks or supporting individuals when they are unwell.
Building a resilient, thriving workforce
CRF’s research makes clear that sustaining employee well-being requires more than offering perks or supporting individuals when they are unwell. Organizations must adopt holistic, evidence-based strategies that address systemic issues like work design and culture while empowering leaders and managers to drive meaningful change.
By embedding well-being into the fabric of their business strategy, organizations can create environments where employees feel supported, valued, and empowered to thrive. This, in turn, strengthens resilience, engagement, and overall performance – making well-being not just a moral imperative but a key driver of long-term organizational success.
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