Transforming Workplace Wellbeing and the Power of Digging Deeper

Aug 29

In today’s world, companies are paying more attention than ever to employee morale, mental health, and overall wellbeing—and rightly so. With the increasing pressures of global and environmental challenges, and the demands of busy workday and personal lives, life can feel overwhelming at times. As a result, there is growing expectation on employers to genuinely support their employees’ wellbeing.

But here’s the conundrum: Many organisations claim to have stepped up their wellbeing offerings—but are they actually hitting the mark?

Enter wellbeing washing. This blog delves into what wellbeing washing is and how employers can avoid falling into this trap.

What is Wellbeing Washing?

Wellbeing washing occurs when organisations engage in performative actions that appear to prioritise employee wellbeing but lack genuine substance or support. These companies may project a positive image externally, yet internally, they fail to make meaningful changes to workplace culture, leadership or policies that truly benefit their employees.

Think of it as a band-aid for a gunshot wound! Examples may include asking already stretched and stressed employees to skip a lunch break to attend a sleep seminar or being offered free yoga classes at 5 pm. In a lot of cases, it puts the onus of wellbeing on the employee without acknowledging that it may be a shared responsibility.

As workforce consultant and strategist, Gillian Brookes, says on her website, "Giving people fruit bowls or paying for a gym membership are nice perks, but they’re misplaced if they’re considered important wellbeing initiatives. This is back to paternalism, giving people narrow access to what we think is good for them, when in reality it’s highly likely what they value most is personal and something entirely different."

In essence, wellbeing washing is when organisations focus on bolt-on wellness activities without addressing the root cause of what may be causing their employees to be losing sleep in the first place. It may also appear when organisations fail to engage with employees to understand their real needs and what can be done to make them thrive.

The HR Conundrum

HR departments are often tasked with creating initiatives to support employee wellbeing. However, without the necessary leadership support and resources, these initiatives can become mere box-ticking exercises. It’s not just about what looks good on paper but what genuinely addresses people’s wellbeing needs.

As HR practitioners, we must dig deeper. Are employees feeling overwhelmed and what is causing this? What are the primary drivers of engagement? What is the prevailing organisational culture? How connected do employees feel to the company’s purpose? How well have leaders been trained and developed?

For instance, if employees are consistently overwhelmed, offering free fruit or lunchtime yoga won’t cut it. It’s essential to identify the root cause of burnout. For example, HR may need to push for a workforce or workflow relook or request a budget for additional resources. Or the real solution may require a cultural shift—one that prioritises meaningful work, realistic expectations, leadership from the top and a sense of purpose in employees’ daily roles.

What looks good versus what’s genuinely needed are often two different things, and the token efforts made by organisations can usually be traced back to a lack of meaningful resources and support from leadership.

In working with our clients, they have proven that by digging deeper, purpose-driven wellbeing initiatives can genuinely impact and uplift the entire organisation.

So, How to Avoid Wellbeing Washing

Talk to Your People!
Engage with your employees to understand their needs by monitoring factors such as absenteeism, engagement, health, perceptions of work-life balance, satisfaction with workload and family life, mental distance from the job, and insecurities.
Then—and this is crucial—enact change based on their feedback! Try to implement initiatives that align with employees’ actual needs and their workloads.
Make Wellbeing an Integral Component of the Employee Benefits Package
All employees are different, so implement benefits that can better address employees’ individual needs across all domains of wellbeing: mental, physical, and social (and this means going beyond the usual perks and considering what truly supports your employees where they are now). For example a broad brush life insurance offering might suit your older workforce but a gen Z might appreciate a gym membership. Companies like HealthNow promote an individualistic approach to accessing wellbeing offerings at work. We know that when wellbeing is embedded in the employee benefits package, it becomes part of the organisational culture, rather than a token offering - it signals that you hold employee wellbeing in high regard.
Get Leadership on Board
As HR professionals, we have a responsibility to advocate for genuine, actionable support from our leadership teams. We must emphasise the importance of flexible schedules, reduced workloads, and personalised benefits over symbolic gestures like yoga classes.

A Final Note for HR People

We’re not saying don’t offer the free fruit and yoga classes, but ignoring systemic or root causes of stress in the workplace may see you being labelled as wellbeing washing. These wellbeing activities might create a positive image in the short term, but failing to address the underlying issues could affect morale and productivity in the long run.

True employee wellbeing requires ongoing commitment, genuine dialogue, and actionable support from leadership. By advocating for evidence-based change, we can help cultivate a culture where wellbeing is not just a checkbox, but a deeply embedded value.