Let's face it: most workplace well-being initiatives fail to bring the desired results.
Despite money being pumped into mindfulness apps, yoga passes and subsidized therapy, the main indicators of workplace well-being are not improving. Survey results systematically show that burnout rates are climbing, employee mental health is declining, people feel stressed and lonely at work. While a lot of these symptoms can be attributed to post-pandemic effects, the rise of AI tools and the increased information noise attached to it, workplace environments fail to address these issues in an effective way. This is a sad reality.
I do yoga, I practice mindfulness and I am a therapist. I am a fan and a believer in these practices but I also know very well that they are tools that can support mental health only in healthy environments. These practices on their own will not stop people from burning out, they will not help against workplace loneliness and constant fear of underperforming that a lot of employees are experiencing.
Facts, numbers and personal reports
Corporate spending programs are speculated to reach almost a 95 billion USD by 2026 globally and this market is systematically on the rise. Despite increase in spending, well-being indices are dropping. For example, only 34% of employees in the Netherlands are thriving at work, the rest has a troubled relationship with work.
Dutch research institute TNO estimates the cost of absenteeism is more than 3 billion Euros yearly. 35% of employees admit that work related stress is the cause of absenteeism. This percentage is probably higher.
A significant proportion of sick leave days are mental health or stress related. Absence from work tends to be longer when there is an underlying mental health challenge or work related stress. Some studies indicate that a quarter of these days is mental health related, others suggest higher rates. Employees fear admitting that mental health is the cause of a leave of absence, due to stigma (unfortunately, this is still the case). These numbers put together suggest that a lot of sick leave costs can be attributed to work-related stress and mental health. It's difficult to assess the exact percentage, but it is definitely far from marginal.
A single person burning out costs an average of 70 000 Euros a year (estimates from the Netherlands, around 20 000 Euros per 100 days of stress-related absence). This does not account for the full cost - ripple effect throughout the organisation, the need to pick up work from the burnt out employee by other team members (putting them in danger of burnout), the need to recruit, hire, onboard a new employee and re-integrate staff after a longer leave of absence. The cost of a single person burning out or remaining on a longer sick leave (reminder: those related to mental health are longer) is probably higher.
Employees suffering from work related issues perceive their employers' efforts as marginal and unrelated to work-stress. These efforts tend to overlook causes of workplace stress, they are too broad (imprecise) or poorly communicated. These perceptions are reported both in large surveys and in personal reports of therapy clients going through a burnout or a mental health challenge.
Money in, nothing out
Ineffective well-being initiatives do more harm than good because they teach decisionmakers and employees that the game is rigged and that investing in employee well-being is a lost cause.
To illustrate how this works, imagine you are trying to quit smoking without the proper support. You try a couple of times, you fail to quit and every such attempt teaches you that quitting smoking is difficult and that you have no agency or control over your habit. A similar thing can happen with well-being initiatives: if they are done incorrectly, people learn that their own (and their employees') mental health and well-being at work is subject to forces unknown. This is not a good direction, lack of faith makes people make bad, short-sighted and unreasonable decisions.
Enough with the complaints, what can be done?
There are a couple of key elements that a successful well-being initiative needs to include. First, it needs to include all levels of the organisation: mission statements need to honestly reflect efforts. Leaders, managers and entry level employees alike must be trained and educated in well-being issues. Making workplace well-being a priority requires a strategic cultural shift, requiring professional change management. Fixing the work environment will bring more sustainable results than aiming to 'fix' the employee only.
Second, additional efforts need to be devoted to training managers in well-being issues. Managers are strategically placed in the organisation, they have the most impact on workplace cultures and on the well-being of their team members. Managers need to be trained in well-being issues so that they can react to them without fear. Handling well-being issues is a skill that can be taught. Empowering managers with this skill can solve a lot of problems with mental health in the organisation. A lot of research data shows that managers have enormous impact on organisations and societies.
Third, well-being needs to be broken down into digestible sections. The term 'well-being' is too broad and vague for the majority of people. A vague issue is difficult to communicate, people feel confused and tend to avoid the topic. As a consequence, the conversation about well-being gets more confrontational and difficult simply because people do not know how to address their well-being issues. Teaching people about well-being in manageable chunks or sections helps foster smooth and effective communication.
Fourth, well-being programs need to feel adequate and personal. One of the best ways of reaching this goal is starting any program with an assessment or a survey. Most surveys however only assess surface level metrics such as general satisfaction or general well-being. These metrics point towards well-being outcomes. This is too broad - what needs to be measured instead are well-being predictors (causes). Assessing psychological causes of well-being at work is a great entry point for designing a well-being initiative. When people report on their psychological functioning at work and are then invited to participate in training that matches their reports, the training not only is objectively better matched, it also feels more personal. This translates into better training results.
Why should we even care?
Employee well-being initiatives are important not only for reasons of idealism, which - depending on the context - can be seen as naive. Yes, mental health is important. Burnout prevention is important. People should not need to pause their careers. However, there is a second set of arguments for investing money in effective well-being initiatives. The magic acronym: ROI (return on investment).
Happy people are more productive, more creative and they solve problems better. A recent series of articles by Forbes shows significant relationships between employee happiness and business success. This means not only that happy employees cost less - it means that happy employees generate more revenue. Stress eats up a large portion of mental energy that could otherwise be devoted to solving problems and effective work. High employee well-being also translates into better retention, less sick leave days, higher engagement and helping behaviours. This fosters cooperation and team work. This is good for business.
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