What’s next for workforce wellbeing?
What’s next for workforce wellbeing?
Discover insights from Business in the Community and Hays on the future of workforce wellbeing and how employers can build thriving, healthy workplaces.
Kate Hinder, Business in the Community (BITC)’s Wellbeing Advisory Lead recently shared her expertise on workforce wellbeing at the launch of Hays Working Well: What’s next for Workplace Wellbeing Report in Glasgow alongside Stuart Jack, Director of Hays Glasgow in front of an audience of over 30 Scottish business representatives. Glasgow Chamber of Commerce were also event partners.
Hays is a leading provider of specialised recruitment and workforce solutions, who seek to create economic and social value by connecting businesses with skilled workers to meet talent needs.
The event brought together leaders in HR, occupational health and wellbeing to discover the latest data trends on workforce wellbeing. Stuart Jack presented key findings from the Hays report, while Kate Hinder provided insights into unlocking a thriving workforce and preventing poor employee wellbeing.
The current state of workplace wellbeing in the UK
Stuart and Kate set the scene by highlighting the growing urgency for employers to prioritise workforce wellbeing. Key national trends include:
Despite this, systemic and cultural barriers continue to limit effective support. Kate shared that, now more than ever, there is an increased expectation that employers address health disparities and provide holistic support for employee wellbeing.
What the Hays Working Well report reveals about employee wellbeing
Insights from their report show there is a clear demand for employee wellbeing support:
While the data creates a clear case for employer action, the report revealed only 71% of employers are planning on investing in wellbeing further this year.
Insight into action: next steps for workforce wellbeing
To reinstate the compelling case of the value of wellbeing, Kate introduced BITC’s Prioritise People: unlock the value of a thriving workforce report, which shows a potential £4,000-£12,000 return on investment in wellbeing per UK employee. This was accompanied by Kate’s overarching reminder: take care of your employees and they will take care of your organisation.
Organisations are facing barriers to effective implementation of wellbeing initiatives. For example, Hays’ findings reveal that:
In fact, when it came to measurement, Stuart shared that 68% of organisations do not measure the effectiveness of their wellbeing initiatives.
Barriers to implementation of effective, evidenced-based wellbeing metrics were discussed further by Kate, signposting to BITC’s Prioritise People: The Next Step Report to drive impact with feasible best practice in your organisation.
To further address this discrepancy in measurement, Kate explained that BITC has created a free Workwell Self-Assessment Tool, designed to help organisations baseline and benchmark their wellbeing strategies. The tool emphasises identification of the root causes of poor workforce wellbeing and engaging with lived experience of employees to drive change.
Recommendations from the Hays 2025 Working Well report
To answer the question ‘What is next for workplace wellbeing?’, the event concluded with recommendations from Hays’ report:
1. Understand your workforce’s need
It is important to capture data on your workforce’s current state of wellbeing, including any barriers or challenges they face. Having this data will allow you to formulate purposeful, targeted wellbeing initiatives.
2. Provide health and financial wellbeing expertise
Employees need a safe space where they can share wellbeing experiences and anonymously seek out expert advice should they need it.
3. Invest in flexible working and more bespoke support
Flexible working is shown to have a positive impact on employees’ wellbeing. It can help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance, alleviate stress and increase staff retention. Employers could also amplify flexible working options to demographics who would benefit from it the most.
4. Embed wellbeing throughout the hiring process
As there is an increased employee demand for good wellbeing support, there is an opportunity for employers to attract candidates through embedding wellbeing into their employee value proposition and hiring processes by clearly communicating wellbeing commitments in job adverts, careers pages and interviews.
How can BITC help transform your organisation’s approach to workforce wellbeing?
Within the event, BITC and Hays explored ideas about how organisations can work to implement a positive workplace culture, including commitments to workforce wellbeing through learning from case studies, increasing leadership accountability, and tackling stigma around mental health with an intersectional lens.
A clear takeaway was that wellbeing is never one-size-fits-all, and fostering a supportive, trusting and inclusive culture is key to driving better wellbeing.
Want to explore how your organisation can play a pivotal role in shaping the future of workplace health and wellbeing? BITC members are invited to register and join BITC’s exclusive Keep Britain Working Review Launch Discussion on 25 November.
