Wellbeing Insights Report
Qualitative Themes from Conversations with HR Professionals, and People/Talent Development Leads
Introduction
In 2024, a series of conversations were conducted with twelve HR professionals and people development leads across a diverse mix of industries and organisation sizes. These included global corporates and UK-based SMEs, representing sectors such as recruitment, technology, media, legal, engineering, manufacturing, retail and education.
The purpose was to explore the current challenges, priorities, and practices surrounding workplace mental health and employee wellbeing. While the sample size was small, the diversity of roles and sectors provided valuable, qualitative insights into the reality of implementing and sustaining wellbeing strategies.
This is what you told me:
Even with a small group, a number of powerful themes emerged across diverse industries:
Wellbeing Culture: There's a strong desire to build open, inclusive cultures supported by ‘allyship’, leadership, lived experience, and education. However, a “just get on with it” mentality and the stigma around mental health still persist.
Leadership & Buy-In: Securing senior leadership support remains a key challenge especially in traditional or male-dominated leadership teams, where wellbeing can still be undervalued or misunderstood. While the language is improving, it now needs to be matched by meaningful action.
Manager Capability and Confidence: A consistent barrier is the fear and discomfort managers have in initiating wellbeing conversations. Training and confidence-building are needed to help them spot the signs and act supportively to support employee engagement.
Mental Health & Burnout: Despite strong business performance in some cases, there’s a hidden cost—burnout, long hours, double-jobbing, and ‘leavism’ are widespread. Managers often lack the confidence or training to proactively support their teams.
Some workplaces report low absenteeism but suspect high levels of presenteeism and quiet suffering.
Inclusion & Diversity: Challenges around inclusion are broad, ranging from engaging men in wellbeing, integrating temporary staff, and managing multigenerational teams to supporting neurodiverse employees. There’s uncertainty around what “reasonable adjustments” look like in practice.
Supporting neurodiverse employees is seen as a key growth area—but most managers lack the education and confidence to engage well.
Culture vs. Reality: Many spoke about a gap between company values and daily experiences—particularly in global organisations, where cultural norms around mental health vary and can limit meaningful action.
Remote and Hybrid working: Hybrid models, generational differences (especially among Gen Z), and remote-first structures are leading to feelings of disconnection and reduced psychological safety.
Employees report feeling isolated, excluded, or siloed, with difficulties maintaining social bonds and psychological safety.
Strategy Without Substance: Many organisations have policies, EAPs, and wellbeing initiatives—but these often lack cohesion, visibility, or accountability.
There is a disconnect between wellbeing on paper and the lived experience of employees.
Time, Budget, and Capacity Constraints: Time, workload, and organisational pressure are significant blockers, both for those needing support and for those tasked with delivering it. In some cases, people only feel “allowed” to speak up and seek support when in crisis.
HR teams are stretched. Many wellbeing initiatives rely on discretionary effort, rather than dedicated roles, budget, or time.
Despite some having generous wellbeing budgets, impact and uptake remain unclear.
There is a strong desire to normalise conversations around mental health so it’s seen as a proactive, everyday topic and not a last resort.
Measurement and ROI: Most organisations rely on anecdotal evidence, engagement surveys, and qualitative feedback.
There is a growing appetite to make wellbeing outcomes more tangible and linking to absenteeism, retention, and performance.
These are examples of initiatives in place:
Mental Health First Aiders and peer networks actively promoted.
Inclusion and neurodiversity webinars.
Dedicated wellbeing champions or committees.
Specific education i.e. for men’s health, menopause education, and grief support etc.
Flexible benefits (e.g., EAPs, wellbeing days, private healthcare, subsidised fitness).
Senior leader role-modelling i.e. sharing personal stories to encourage others to open up.
Individual Wellness Action Plans.
Global Employee Surveys & Focus Groups.
Wellbeing initiatives i.e. lunchtime walks, fitness challenges, ‘no meetings on Friday’ and social activities.
Dedicated inclusion and equality lead.
Manager & leadership development including mental health awareness.
Conclusion
While each organisation is on a unique journey, this brief research reveals a strong shared intent: to create cultures where people feel safe, supported, and able to thrive. The challenge lies in moving from ideas to action, from compliance to culture, and from isolated initiatives to strategic, embedded wellbeing practices.
These insights can act as a mirror, a motivator, and a map for any organisation looking to move their wellbeing agenda forward.
Prepared by: Cathy Lawson
Executive Wellbeing Coach & Trainer | Mental Health First Aid Instructor
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