Why Your Wellbeing Strategy Isn’t Working and What to Do About It

By Lyn Hatch, Head of Student Experience, Health Coaches Academy

We’ve reached a point where most organisations say the right things about health and wellbeing. Leaders talk about support, care and flexibility. Policies are in place. Benefits are listed on the intranet. And yet, wellbeing in most workplaces still doesn’t work.

In the UK, there are now nearly 800,000 more working-age adults economically inactive due to long-term health conditions than in 2019. That’s a 40% increase. Meanwhile, the cost of hidden sickness has risen to over £100 billion a year, driven by presenteeism, burnout and stress-related absence. Employees are unwell, but still working, until they can’t.

Health is directly tied to performance, retention and productivity. And right now, businesses are losing people they can’t afford to lose.

What’s getting in the way?

Despite good intentions, many organisations still struggle to turn wellbeing into something that truly works. The barriers are not just cultural, but structural and strategic.

First, the language needs to shift. The word “wellbeing” can feel vague or non-commercial. But when we talk instead about performance, energy, focus, and retention, we speak in terms that leaders understand and act on.

Cost can be another reason for hesitation. Benefits like gym memberships, health coaching, or digital wellbeing platforms are often seen as extras, but burnout, absenteeism, and staff turnover are far more expensive than proactive support.

This leads up to assessing ROI, which can be difficult when it comes to wellbeing and health measures. Even services with strong evidence behind them, like Employee Assistance Programmes, are questioned when uptake is low. If just five percent of your workforce uses the service, it is easy to assume it isn’t working. But the issue is often poor communication or lack of visibility, not the value of the service itself.

Then there is the tendency to take a scattered approach. Businesses sign up for generic wellness webinars or mindfulness apps and expect results, but people need support that is tailored, practical, and built into their day to day reality. Without that, engagement fades quickly.

In some organisations, the message and the culture don’t align. Leaders may promote healthy behaviours in theory, while rewarding long hours and presenteeism in practice. This creates distrust, and people switch off.

Too often, wellbeing is treated as an add-on, handed to HR, the Health & Safety Manager, Office Manager or tacked onto someone’s existing role without the time, budget or influence to drive real change. Responsibility should not sit with one person or one team. It needs to be owned across management, embedded into how leaders set expectations, design workloads, and show up for their teams day to day.

Finally, awareness and stigma still block progress. Many employees don’t understand when they need support, and when it comes to it, they’re not sure support exists, or they hesitate to use it because they don’t feel safe doing so. Until that changes, services will remain underused and undervalued.

Implementing better support

There’s no single answer to the challenge of employee health and wellbeing. But there are solutions, some of which are being underused or overlooked altogether.

For example, Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), when delivered well, can offer a safety net for those in crisis or needing quick access to mental health support. Flexible working and clear workload management play a big role in reducing daily pressure. So does giving managers the tools to lead with care, clarity and empathy.

What’s missing in many businesses is personalised, preventative support, the kind that helps employees stay well before they break down. Health coaching is one way to provide this.

A health coach is a trained professional who helps individuals take ownership of their physical and mental health. They work alongside people to create realistic, sustainable changes in areas like stress, sleep, nutrition, mindset and movement, especially when the demands of work, relationships, finance or life feel overwhelming.

Because many health coaches come from corporate backgrounds, like myself, they understand the pressures employees face, and what it takes to get them back to work feeling well, not just present.

This doesn’t mean health coaches should replace your existing EAPs or leadership training. Instead, they complement them by bridging the gap between reactive support and proactive wellbeing, and helping you cover more ground with lasting impact.

Coaching is often seen as something reserved for executives, but in reality, it’s increasingly accessible across teams through formats such as group programmes. When implemented well, it delivers strong ROI by driving behavioural change, improving resilience, and reducing burnout before it takes hold.

Call for systemic change

You’ve likely already invested in some form of wellbeing, but if people aren’t using it, or outcomes aren’t changing, the answer isn’t to do more of the same, but to try something else.

Businesses must shift from ad hoc offers to systemic support. That means embedding health into leadership, communication, job roles, and team expectations. It means choosing solutions that are personal, accessible, and proven to build long-term resilience.

Crucially, we need to shift our focus from crisis response to prevention. Support shouldn’t arrive only after someone is burnt out or at breaking point. The goal is to keep people well, not just help them recover once they’re not.