The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 report published in September provides a revealing snapshot of how UK employers are faring on the complex topic of workplace wellbeing. While the findings show encouraging signs of progress, they also uncover persistent challenges and emerging risks, which require considered attention from employers to translate good intentions to meaningful action.
Progress
Encouragingly, there is evidence that wellbeing is finally being recognised as a strategic priority. Since 2020, the number of employers that have a stand-alone wellbeing strategy has increased by 13% to 57%. The statistics suggest that senior leaders are increasingly buying in to wellbeing initiatives, signalling a positive shift from lip service to genuine commitment. Organisations are also taking a more holistic approach to wellbeing, promoting tailored activities like financial wellbeing, values, and good lifestyle choices.
Pitfalls
It’s not all positive news. The average number of absence days per employee per year has risen to 9.4 days, the highest in over 15 years, with increased working age thought to be a contributing factor. While there is evidence of some investment in preventative measures such as staff surveys and focus groups, stress audits and access to counselling, generally action tends to be reactive rather than proactive. That will need to change if employers want to see improved absence rates in their business longer-term.
Pressing Priorities
The most troubling findings are around mental health – the leading cause of long-term absence, with poor mental health and stress featuring strongly as a cause of short-term ill health. Nearly two thirds (64%) of organisations are taking steps to identify or reduce stress in the workplace, but only half believe their efforts are effective. In the 2025 report over half of organisations include non-work factors as a top three cause of stress, reflecting the multifaceted nature of people’s mental health in modern day life.
Furthermore, the CIPD Working Lives Scotland 2025 report states 26% of Scottish employees say work has a negative impact on their mental health and 24% say it is negative for their physical health. Over a fifth (22%) of Scottish employees find it hard to relax in their personal time due to their job. This combined picture highlights the direct impact working environments have on physical and mental health for individuals, furthering the urgent requirement for meaningful workplace wellbeing strategies to be implemented by Scotland’s employers.
Th evidence also confirms that hybrid working is here to stay. The Wellbeing survey highlights working from home can lower absence and boost productivity, with 36% of employers reporting reduced sickness absences and increased productivity. The Working Lives report confirms strong employee support for hybrid models and unmet demand for flexible working options including four-day weeks, compressed hours and flexitime. It also found that hybrid working strongly correlates with positive mental and physical health compared to no homeworking options.
Summary
The message from both reports is clear – wellbeing is now a strategic imperative, regardless of industry. The most successful employers will be those that embed wellbeing into organisational culture, moving beyond tick box exercises. Just as they say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, the same is true of a wellbeing policy which isn’t lived and breathed from the top. The main challenges for employers will be in finding budget for wellbeing initiatives on top of steeply rising business costs; competing priorities for leadership teams; as well as navigating the new regulations being brought in by the Employment Rights Bill. However, in today’s competitive landscape, investment in wellbeing is a business-critical focus that shapes retention, engagement and long-term success.
*Originally featured in The Scotsman on 8th December 2025: Why staff wellbeing of is now a strategic imperative – The Scotsman, Fiona Cameron
