Culture, heal thyself

Is your employee wellness program failing to get results? It might be your work environment that’s unhealthy. 

Back in the early 2010s, a friend of mine described an incentive he’d been given at work: If he banked 10,000 steps on his company-provided pedometer each day over a month period, he’d receive £100. 

With Christmas on the horizon, my friend was motivated. The first month, he did his 10K steps a day, and was rewarded with cash as promised. Ironically, however, the effort came at a significant cost to his well-being. 

Saddled with ever-more aggressive sales targets at work, an insecure and demanding boss, and a siloed and disengaged team, he’d had to fit his walks around increasingly long hours and sleepless nights. At the end of the month, he was more stressed and exhausted than when he started. Three days later, his GP signed him off work. 

Back then, his story taught me that no matter how well-intentioned a corporate health and wellness initiative, it’s useless if the corporate environment itself is toxic to body and mind. I’d have hoped things would have changed by now, and they have…just not in the ways you might think. 

Today, many companies are spending more money than ever before on wellness — in the US, an $11 million a year for companies with more than 20,000 employees. And yet, employee stress and stress-related illnesses are at a record high. In a recent Gallup report, a staggering 44% of surveyed employees worldwide said they experienced “a lot of stress” in their work day. 

What are we doing wrong? For starters, by and large our leadership is no longer fit for purpose in the modern world. It still relies, in many cases, on a command-and-control mindset that doesn’t work in the face of constant change and unprecedented complexity. As a result, employees shoulder the burden of expectations and pressure that are out of step with reality. 

Secondly, the desire for greater autonomy over work schedules post-pandemic has resulted, in many cases, in hybrid working that works for no one. As former Director of Remote Work for Meta Annie Dean, said recently, it creates merely “the illusion of choice” for employees - a state that’s possibly no better for wellbeing than no choice at all. By missing the opportunity to explore new ways of working that are more productive and fulfilling for everyone, businesses are potentially missing a massive wellbeing trick. 

Finally, fear-based cultures, where infighting and intimidation reign supreme, are having an enormous detrimental effect on employee health. The APA’s 2023 Work for America workforce survey highlighted 19% of respondents who labeled their workplace as toxic, and 22% who said their work environment had harmed their mental health. In the UK last year, sickness absence rates hit a 10-year high, according to research by SimplyHealth, with 76% of respondents reporting stress-related absence. 

No amount of subscriptions to meditation apps or gym memberships will resolve these deeply rooted issues. Without addressing the core issues related to a toxic culture, it will be nigh on impossible to improve employee wellbeing and in turn reap the benefits of increased productivity and retention, let alone innovation and creativity. 

In other words, it’s time we stop trying to heal our people, and start healing ourselves. 

At Hoxby, we can help you build healthy organisations that nurture healthy people. Get in touch to discuss how we do it. 

Alice Phillips is a brand and communications strategist, facilitator, and breathwork coach who has worked with more than 40 businesses, from large corporates to start-ups, to align culture with brand promise. She has a keen interest in both the mind-body connection in individuals and the people-systems connection in cultures, and believes purpose and fulfillment is unleashed at the intersection of both. 

At Hoxby, we have an unrivaled community of People Strategists with the experience and innovative thinking to resolve the toughest strategic challenges and deliver transformational change. Answering briefs across leadership development, organisational development, hybrid working, change management, capability and career planning, employee wellbeing, diversity, equality and inclusion, and more.