Abandoning tick-box employee wellbeing
Written by Katie Buckingham from Altruist
Many organisations genuinely want to improve employee wellbeing. Some have dedicated wellbeing budgets and a comprehensive strategy, while others are doing what they can with limited time and resources.
Whether you're introducing Mental Health First Aiders, launching an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), delivering Lunch & Learns or training managers, every wellbeing initiative has the potential to make a positive difference.
The challenge isn't the initiative itself. It's introducing wellbeing activities simply because they are expected, rather than because they address a genuine organisational need or support a wider wellbeing strategy.
This is what we mean by tick-box employee wellbeing.
What does tick-box wellbeing look like?
Tick-box wellbeing often involves well-intentioned initiatives that exist in isolation rather than as part of a coordinated approach.
Examples include:
- Providing free fruit while ignoring workplace culture.
- Investing in an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) but doing little to promote or embed it, resulting in low awareness and utilisation.
- Sharing generic wellbeing posters or awareness resources without helping managers have supportive conversations.
- Delivering a one-off wellbeing webinar without any follow-up or longer-term action.
- Offering wellbeing activities that aren't accessible to everyone e.g. yoga sessions that only suit one shift pattern or office-based employees.
None of these initiatives are ineffective in themselves. In the right context, they can all make a valuable contribution.
The key is ensuring they form part of a wider strategy with a clear purpose, measurable objectives and ongoing evaluation.
To explore what this looks like in practice, claim a complimentary guest pass to our next Altruist Wellbeing Forum session, where HR professionals and Wellbeing Champions share practical ideas, challenges and successful approaches to embedding employee wellbeing.
Mental Health First Aid is a good example. Training employees to promote wellbeing, recognise the signs of poor mental health and signpost colleagues to appropriate support can have a significant positive impact. However, for Mental Health First Aid to be truly effective, it needs to be embedded within the organisation.
This includes establishing a Mental Health First Aider network, defining clear roles and responsibilities, implementing appropriate policies and processes, and providing ongoing support and opportunities for MHFAiders to refresh and develop their skills. Without this wider framework, it can become difficult for Mental Health First Aiders to maintain confidence and put their learning into practice over time.
Employees quickly recognise when wellbeing feels like a series of isolated activities rather than a genuine organisational commitment. Over time, this can reduce trust, engagement and confidence in future wellbeing initiatives.
Why tick-box wellbeing doesn't work
It doesn't address root causes
If employees are close to burnout because of excessive workloads, organisational change or poor management support, simply providing generic wellbeing information is unlikely to solve the problem.
An effective Wellbeing Strategy identifies the underlying causes before selecting the most appropriate interventions.
It lacks clear objectives
Without measurable goals, it's difficult to understand whether an initiative is making a difference.
Before introducing any wellbeing activity, organisations should ask:
- Why are we implementing this?
- What will be different as a result of this initiative?
- How will we measure success?
Answering these questions helps ensure every initiative has a clear purpose rather than becoming another standalone activity.
Managers aren't equipped
Managers have one of the greatest influences on employee wellbeing, yet many receive little or no practical training.
Employees experience workplace culture through their manager every day. Investing in manager capability often has a greater long-term impact than introducing another wellbeing initiative in isolation.
Wellbeing becomes HR's responsibility
Employee wellbeing shouldn't sit solely with HR.
The most successful organisations involve senior leaders, managers and employees in creating a healthy workplace. When wellbeing becomes part of everyday leadership and decision-making, it is far more likely to deliver lasting results.
Moving beyond tick-box wellbeing
Creating meaningful change doesn't necessarily require a larger budget. It requires a more strategic approach.
Start by understanding your workforce, identifying your priorities, setting measurable objectives and regularly reviewing progress.
If you haven't already, read our guide How to build an SME employee wellbeing strategy, which takes you through the five key steps to creating an effective wellbeing strategy:
1 Develop a business case – Understand why employee wellbeing matters to your organisation and gain leadership buy-in.
2 Assess organisational needs – Use data and employee feedback to identify your wellbeing priorities.
3 Create your wellbeing strategy – Set clear objectives, prioritise actions and develop a realistic implementation plan.
4 Implement your strategy – Put your plans into practice, engage stakeholders and embed wellbeing across the organisation.
5 Evaluate your impact – Measure outcomes, demonstrate ROI and continually improve your approach.
Claim your complimentary guest pass
If you're looking for practical ideas to move beyond tick-box wellbeing, we'd love you to join our next Altruist Wellbeing Forum session.
This HR Forum is an online membership community that gives HR professionals and Wellbeing Champions access to expert wellbeing strategy support, practical resources and the opportunity to learn from peers facing similar challenges.
To introduce the Forum, we're offering a complimentary guest pass to our next live online session:
Generational differences in the workplace happening on Thursday 1 October from 1:00pm–2:00pm
The session includes:
- A 15-minute expert presentation.
- Live Q&A.
- A 40-minute facilitated discussion where HR professionals share practical experiences, challenges and ideas.
If you're looking to build an employee wellbeing strategy that delivers meaningful, long-term impact rather than isolated initiatives, this is an excellent opportunity to hear how other organisations are approaching the challenge.