Expert view: Aligning health, risk, and ROI for a resilient multinational workforce
I am eagerly anticipating REBA’s Future of Health & Protection Summit in March and the opportunity it will bring to discuss how health and benefits choices can align leadership and employee priorities for a more resilient workforce and business.
In every organisation, workforce health and wellbeing are crucial for sustaining performance and maintaining a healthy company.
Investing in health and wellbeing for productivity requires wise choices, especially within the crowded field of wellbeing products and services.
In my experience, wellbeing choices often fail to meet expectations for budget holders and employees alike because at least one of the key components is missing:
- Evidence of effectiveness: Does the intervention actually work? Implementing offers that do not work erodes trust in leadership.
- Relevance to key stakeholders: Is this intervention what we need here and now for our people? Just because it worked doesn’t mean it’s relevant.
- Compelling narrative: Why should finite corporate resources be prioritised for this intervention? There are always competing priorities for attention.
Despite record levels of investment, workplace mental health issues are increasing globally, as seen in this Harvard Business Review paper.
A strategic approach to investment, embracing the above three key components, is critical to increase the likelihood of a return on value for a company and its employees.
Take flexible working arrangements, for example. How many employers have robustly challenged the evidence underpinning their approaches to working hours and locations?
How many have looked at the data for their own workforce to understand the relationship between improved employee control (over how, where and when they work), wellbeing trends, and key business outcomes such as attrition? We did just this.
These are relevant questions that demand an evidence-based review of HR analytics data, often already available to the employer.
Consider interventions promising to improve resilience and sleep quality. Without a universal definition of resilience, how do we know what works?
In high-paced, competitive environments, many factors that wear us down are organisational and require suitable responses, such as better role clarity and communication.
We also know there are many personal reasons why people have trouble sleeping.
In a busy legal department of over 500 employees, where staff reported worrying about remote workers, leaders wanted to help them come to work rested and focused.
This was clearly an area relevant for intervention.
Our research, published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, considered whether training to improve cognitive flexibility could help them "switch off."
Initially, we did not know if this would work, so we evaluated the evidence.
Working with an independent academic for validity, we kept leaders and teams apprised of the results.
Following training, we saw sustained, significant improvements in sleep quality and the ability to switch off.
This gave us the compelling narrative needed to extend the programme.
When leaders genuinely care about the health and wellbeing of their staff, support research into what works, and listen to their employees about relevant health needs, health and wellbeing leaders can make the compelling case needed for investment that delivers a return for everyone.
Richard Heron, chief medical officer and expert advisor work and health to the World Economic Forum, is the keynote speaker at REBA's Health and Protection Summit 2025. Find out more and register your interest.
