Does Your Company Take Care of You — Or Are You Doing It Alone?
We’ve taken a deep dive into the current state of workplace wellbeing and what meaningful employer support looks like
In the UK and around the world, conversations about workplace wellbeing have shifted dramatically in the last decade. What used to be an optional “perk” has evolved into a strategic business priority. Not just for employees’ health, but for organisational performance, retention and resilience. Yet, despite progress in many sectors, a persistent gap persists between what employers say they offer and what employees actually feel supported with especially when it comes to proactive health, recovery and long-term wellbeing.
This article explores why many people are still investing in their health privately, how wellbeing benefits have evolved, what leading research bodies like the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) say about effective workplace wellness, and what more organisations could do to support their people.
The New Reality: Wellbeing as Strategic Business Priority
Historically, employee wellbeing was framed as a “nice-to-have” benefit — gym discounts here, a mindfulness session there. But over the last decade, the narrative has shifted. Wellbeing is increasingly recognised as a core element of organisational health, influencing everything from engagement and productivity to retention and cost management.
According to CIPD, wellbeing should not be an afterthought, seasonal initiative or add-on. It should be
“a core element of any HR strategy and central to the way an organisation operates.”
Wellbeing programmes are most effective when they are integrated into organisational policies and respond to employee needs, not just generic assumptions about what employees want.
This approach aligns wellbeing with broader organisational goals — reducing sickness absence, improving work–life balance, supporting inclusion, and fostering a culture where people better cope with stress and life’s demands. These outcomes are not merely “nice”; they have measurable impact on business performance.
What Employers Are Doing And What Employees Actually Experience
There is both progress and gaps in workplace wellbeing provision:
Increasing Strategic Attention Yet Uneven Implementation
CIPD’s most recent health and wellbeing reports show a steady increase in organisations taking a strategic approach to wellbeing. The proportion of employers with a stand-alone wellbeing strategy has grown in recent years, and more senior leaders are prioritising wellbeing at executive levels.
Yet, the lived experience of employees doesn’t always match. Studies show that uptake of wellbeing benefits is often lower than expected, even when programmes exist. In one survey, over half of HR leaders admitted that wellbeing benefits were underused — suggesting a disconnect between provision and awareness or relevance.
The Wellbeing Gap
Many companies will point to a range of offerings from discounted gym memberships and counselling support to flexible working and health insurance. But research indicates that tick-box wellness perks do not always translate into tangible improvements in health outcomes or employee experience.
In one large study cited in The Guardian, researchers found that many traditional workplace wellness interventions, like fitness challenges, mindfulness classes or nutrition talks, often have little measurable impact on actual employee wellbeing. What matters more are the structural aspects of work itself: job design, workload, autonomy, management quality and work–life balance.
This aligns with CIPD’s broader wellbeing framework, which emphasises that true wellbeing is multi-dimensional spanning physical, emotional, financial and work environment domains and requires more than single activities or one-off perks.
Why Many Employees Fund Health Alone
Given the rise in strategic wellbeing initiatives, why do many people still pay for their own health support?
Lack of Awareness of Available Benefits
Even when employers offer health-related benefits, employees often don’t know about them or how to access them. Poor internal communication can mean significant wellness resources go unused, even though they’re valued when employees learn about them.
For example, private medical insurance, employee assistance programmes (EAPs), or flexible benefits budgets may be available, but often employees either don’t understand the scope of these offerings or how to make use of them, especially for preventative and recovery-focused care.
Traditional Limits of Employer Benefits
Many workplace health benefits are reactive rather than proactive, designed to support employees once they fall ill, rather than helping them maintain long-term health or recover fully. Sick pay, EAPs, or basic insurance may cover acute problems, but they rarely invest in ongoing recovery, part of what research indicates employees need to perform optimally and sustainably.
This gap often leads individuals to pursue their own solutions, private healthcare, specialist testing, physical therapy, recovery protocols, and wellness memberships, outside the workplace. The result: employees shoulder both the emotional and financial burden, even when their health challenges are linked to work demands like stress or disruption.
The Cost of Poor Wellbeing Isn’t Just Individual
The Cost of Poor Wellbeing Isn’t Just Individual
Poor wellbeing at work affects organisations too. CIPD notes that employees with low wellbeing are almost twice as likely to report sickness absence, while excessive workload and stress also drive presenteeism (employees being physically present but not fully productive.)
Beyond absence and productivity, wellbeing influences retention. Organisations with robust wellbeing policies can see significant improvements in employee loyalty and retention rates. It’s estimated that sound wellbeing support can reduce turnover and the costs associated with recruiting and training new staff.
What Effective Workplace Wellness Looks Like
To close the gap between provision and impact, employers are increasingly adopting evidence-based approaches to employee wellbeing — grounded in organisational strategy and employee experience.
Integrated Wellbeing Frameworks
Rather than isolated perks, the most effective programmes have structure and intention. According to CIPD, integrated wellbeing strategies are strongly linked to improved employee engagement and organisational success.
Such strategies typically include:
Physical health support (screenings, access to care)
Mental health resources (EAPs, counselling)
Work redesign to reduce stress and workload
Flexible work arrangements
Financial and personal development support
Flexibility and Choice
One emerging trend is wellbeing allowances and flexible benefits budgets — where employees can choose the support that works best for them, whether that’s gym membership, health coaching, specialist screening, recovery services, or wellness apps. This reflects the diversity of employee needs and the reality that one size does not fit all.
Preventative and Recovery-Focused Support
Forward-thinking organisations are beginning to shift from reactive care (treatment after illness) to preventative and recovery-focused support. This can include health assessments, personalised health plans, nutritional support, stress resilience training, and recovery therapies, all aimed at maintaining health rather than merely responding to time off.
In some sectors, this even extends to structured return-to-work support after burnout, long-term sickness or life events, recognising that simple attendance policies are not enough to ensure sustained wellbeing.
Incentives and Participation: Making Wellbeing Work
Offering benefits is one thing, driving engagement is another. Research shows incentives and thoughtful programme design can significantly increase participation and outcomes.
For example, wellness incentive programmes can include:
Financial contributions towards wellbeing activities
Recognition or rewards for participation in health checks
Time-off allowances for health appointments
Structured challenges with meaningful goals
Effective incentives align with real employee needs and are communicated clearly. They should never feel like an extra task on an already full to-do list, otherwise uptake will remain low.
The Competitive Edge: Wellbeing as Employer Value Proposition
The benefits of good wellbeing support go beyond workforce health:
Attraction and retention: In competitive labour markets, strong wellbeing packages can sway candidates, especially as flexible working and health support rise on employee priority lists.
Brand reputation: Organisations known for genuinely caring about employee wellbeing often enjoy stronger employer brand perception. Research from CIPD in Ireland shows companies investing deeply in wellbeing were four times more profitable and more positively viewed than those that don’t.
Productivity and engagement: Wellbeing initiatives that truly address employee needs, including mental, physical and financial health, are linked to higher engagement, lower turnover and better performance overall.
Bridging the Gap: What Employees Can Do
While the onus should not be on individuals alone to fund their health, employees can take proactive steps:
Check your benefits: Many UK employers offer wellbeing benefits such as health insurance, flexible spending budgets, EAPs or discounted services — but they often go underutilised due to lack of awareness.
Ask about allowances: If your employer doesn’t currently offer flexible wellbeing budgets, raise the conversation. HR professionals are increasingly open to co-designing benefits with employee input.
Know your rights: Employers in the UK have obligations to reduce work-related stress and uphold health standards and more robust frameworks are being discussed in national reviews of workplace health support.
Shared Responsibility,
Shared Reward
Workplace wellbeing is no longer optional. The evidence from HR leaders and bodies like CIPD is clear: wellbeing matters to people and to organisations. But despite progress, there is still a gulf between intention and impact. Many employees remain unaware of support that exists, or find themselves funding their own health and recovery because employer offerings are too narrow, reactive or poorly communicated.
Organisations that close this gap offering meaningful, flexible, strategic wellbeing support will not only help their people feel healthier and more resilient, but also strengthen engagement, retention and long-term performance.
After all, when employers and employees share responsibility for wellbeing, everyone benefits.