Just ticking the boxes? The rise of wellbeing washing.

In a time of tight recruitment markets, employee wellbeing has gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have.  However, research from Claro Wellbeing seems to show that not all employers are as committed to their programmes as they might not be - they are not  ‘putting their people first’ and instead are ‘wellbeing washing’.

Wellbeing washing is the practice of superficially promoting or claiming to support well-being without genuinely addressing the underlying issues or taking meaningful action - offering employees gym membership, fruit boxes and stand- up desks but then not worrying about unrealistic workloads which mean instead of exercising and eating healthily the same employees are slumped on a sofa at home with a takeaway! 

The Claro survey was taken from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults in May 2023 and it suggested that over a third of those surveyed thought their employer was wellbeing washing with one in six thinking that their employer had lost trust as a result of this behaviour. It also found that seven in ten workplaces celebrated mental health awareness days, but only a third of organisations had mental health support that was seen as good or outstanding by employees. So, in the eyes of employees, company rhetoric is not matched by the robust structures, schemes and mechanisms needed to support better wellbeing.

The disconnect seems to be between what employers offer and what employees feel they need. Many employers’ wellbeing initiatives are well-intentioned but lack a systemic approach and are based on a poor understanding of the true state of workforce wellbeing. Others though are focused on boosting their brand reputation, using social media to pump out their support, cynically paying lip service to mental health issues without considering the real needs within their own organisation.

Now more than ever employee wellbeing is something employers need to get right. It isn’t a perk. A free gym membership will do nothing if someone is too exhausted to exercise. The aim has to be the creation of a company culture that really cares about wellbeing, because getting this right is a win-win for employees and employers. There are commercial risks in not engaging properly with employees and if the negative aspects of wellbeing washing are to be avoided, businesses need to lead by example.