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Leading in Turbulent Times
Well-being
The promise and pitfalls of employee well-being initiatives
IMD Dean of Research, Anand Narasimhan, shares his insights on fostering a resilient, empowered, and engaged workforce....
Creating meaningful well-being benefits for employees requires effective interventions, thoughtful conversations, and accurate impact tracking, says IMD Dean of Research Anand Narasimhan, who shares his insights on fostering a resilient, empowered, and engaged workforce.
Soul-washing, when companies engage in well-being initiatives without really believing in them, is a good reason to be skeptical when it comes to these interventions. You have to negotiate for yourself where the boundary is between you personally and the organization you work for.
When was the last time you were asked about your well-being at work? And more importantly, when was the last time you felt your well-being was considered as an important contribution to your work?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, employee burnout is something we are increasingly seeing in companies, particularly as the culture of an organization changes. How jobs are designed, and the kind of leadership that plays out, has a bearing on whether employees are flourishing or languishing.
The World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion working days are lost globally to depression and anxiety at the cost of $1tn per year in lost productivity. To offset this, companies are offering a glittering array of well-being support schemes like gym memberships, laundry services, free fruit at the office, or one-off mindfulness and breathing workshops. Yet these initiatives could do little to reduce your stress. So, why bother? And how can organizations structure well-being into something more tangible that has a deep and meaningful impact on their employees, without virtue-signaling?
In our initial research here at IMD, we developed a framework that we call the four I’s: initiatives, implementation, impact, and informed skepticism. These four key areas are what leaders should focus on when considering whether their well-being interventions are having a meaningful impact.
Initiatives
First, companies should think about the type of initiatives on offer. While certain well-being programs may seem like great ideas, as Eivind Slaeen, Senior Vice President of HR at Hilti Corporation, points out, “Some companies have an impressive list of initiatives, but when you ask about usage, only 1-3% of employees are engaging, which suggests the culture doesn’t support them.”
Initiatives like running clubs or sleep pods might appear to be valuable perks, but if participation is low, it indicates a flaw in how these programs are being introduced or integrated into the organization.
What is more critical is to ensure that well-being initiatives align with your company’s purpose and strategy. This is often overlooked, but leaders should start by aligning the people strategy with a defined purpose before designing programs to support those goals.
In other cases, companies outsource to specialists like well-being benefits platform Juno or Thanks Ben.
Implementation
How you deliver well-being initiatives can also vary. We are in an era where there are many different solutions on offer from in-house specialists, consultants, and outsourcing. In the past, companies have even appointed Chief Wellbeing Officers. One notable example is Jen Fisher, who held the post at Deloitte for eight years.
In other cases, companies outsource to specialists like well-being benefits platform Juno or Thanks Ben. These platforms can also help companies with benchmarking benefits and figuring out the impact on your organization.
But there is also a risk. Andre Spicer, Dean of Bayes Business School, noted, “Most of the time, a well-being officer is essentially an outsourced call center where you can ring someone up, and maybe if you’re lucky (be pointed to) some online videos.”
What is important to note is that implementation can be extremely unsystematic, irregular, or not really thought through. This is one of the pitfalls of well-being interventions. What companies do need to consider is the most effective means of delivering well-being programs to their employees in the most thought-through, joined-up way possible.
Impact
When planning well-being initiatives, leaders should consider how to track the impact of these programs on employee well-being by identifying what works, what doesn’t, and where efforts can make the greatest difference.
A recent King’s College London report on workplace mental health interventions highlights the varied effects of different approaches, such as physical activity programs, mindfulness, resilience training, cognitive behavioral therapy, and stigma reduction.
The study found that outcomes often depend on the mode of delivery – whether the intervention is face-to-face or virtual, its duration, and whether it is targeted to a specific group or offered organization-wide.
For example, manufacturing workers, who often rank in the lowest 10% in mental health metrics, can benefit substantially from targeted well-being programs. By focusing on these segments, companies can maximize the impact of those initiatives. The key takeaway: monitor and evaluate efforts to refine what truly makes a difference.
Likewise, mindfulness expert and Professor of Management Ron Purser argues that stress often originates in the workplace itself, not in the employees' inability to manage it.
Informed skepticism
It’s important to note that a healthy dose of skepticism is needed when it comes to workplace well-being programs. As an employer, you need to be sensitive to ethical concerns that could be raised as well as being skeptical of any overblown claims of impact.
For instance, if you look at the wheel of well-being, clearly one element of that is spiritual. Especially with contemplative-type interventions, you have to ask: where is the boundary between what is organizational and what is personal?
In her book Work Pray Code, Caroline Chen explores the contemplative practices offered to Silicon Valley employees – highly skilled, educated professionals who often seek a sense of spiritual belonging – and suggests that workplace interventions can blur the line between organizational objectives and personal fulfillment.
When we have strong work cultures that have some of these assumptions about spiritual beliefs embedded in them, the boundary between what is personal and what is organizational becomes problematic, especially because as employees, we are dispensable to organizations. So, when people leave an organization, they also leave a large part of their identity that somehow gets violated in the process of separation.
Likewise, mindfulness expert and Professor of Management Ron Purser argues that stress often originates in the workplace itself, not in the employees’ inability to manage it. As an employer, if you cause less stress to your employees, these well-being services will not be needed.
In some ways, rather than religion, well-being is now the opium of the masses. A term that we came across while we were doing this research, is ‘soul washing’: like greenwashing or whitewashing, the term describes companies that engage in well-being initiatives without really believing in them. This alone is a good reason to be skeptical, as you have to negotiate for yourself where the boundary is between you personally and the organization you work for.
The initial course was a huge success, generating high demand across SAP.
When it works
So, how can companies ensure their initiatives incorporate the four elements – initiatives, implementation, impact, and informed skepticism – discussed above?
One example of how to create meaningful well-being benefits for employees is the story of Peter Bostelmann. Originally an engineer, Bostelmann had observed positive effects from mindfulness practices his partner had introduced, prompting him to explore how mindfulness could support well-being at SAP.
Working with executives, including SAP’s Chief Medical Officer Natalie Lotzmann and later HR head Wolfgang Fassnacht, he introduced a two-day mindfulness workshop originally developed by Google called Search Inside Yourself.
The initial course was a huge success, generating high demand across SAP. Recognizing its value, SAP started training internal leaders to facilitate mindfulness sessions, making it part of their official roles. By 2015, the program expanded, allowing leaders to dedicate 20% of their time to teaching mindfulness.
Bostelmann, with his engineering background, closely tracked program outcomes. Surveys of 650 participants showed increases in happiness, job satisfaction, mental clarity, focus, and creativity, along with reductions in stress and feelings of being overwhelmed. Six months after the course, the results showed participants had moved from “languishing” to “flourishing.”
On a broader scale, SAP linked the program to employee engagement metrics, finding a measurable rise in engagement and a decrease in sick leave among participants. With a calculated return on investment of around 200%, the program proved beneficial not only for employee well-being but also for the organization’s bottom line.
Thoughtfully designed and implemented
Well-being initiatives can significantly impact both employee health and organizational success, but only if they are thoughtfully designed and effectively implemented.
Companies need to move beyond superficial benefits and focus on aligning well-being programs with their overall purpose and people strategy. Moreover, it is essential to monitor the effectiveness of these initiatives and remain skeptical of overblown claims.
Meaningful programs show that when well-being is truly embedded into a company’s culture, it can drive long-term positive outcomes for both employees and the business. By prioritizing employee well-being in a tangible, thoughtful way, companies can create a healthier, more engaged workforce.
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