10 Ways to Convince Leadership to Take Wellbeing Seriously!
Leaders don’t always buy into the notion of supporting employee wellbeing.
In fact, many companies only address employee wellbeing when problems arise!
But by then, it’s often too late.
The cost of poor employee health is detrimental to any organisation, leading to financial losses, low productivity, and high turnover.
A 2025 McKinsey Health Institute report highlights employee wellbeing’s impact on business success.
This report shows that poor workforce health could result in an $11.7 trillion economic loss worldwide.
If you’re trying to convince leadership to take wellbeing seriously, this blog gives 10 evidence-backed points that will help to convince leadership to take employee wellbeing seriously!
Contents
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How to Convince Leadership to Fund Employee Wellbeing Initiatives! (VIDEO)
10 Ways Convince Leadership to Take Wellbeing Seriously
- Demonstrate the Financial Impact
- Show How Wellbeing Supports Employee Retention and Talent Attraction
- Connect Wellbeing to Productivity & Performance
- Highlight the Cost of Sick Leave
- Leverage ESG & Corporate Reputation
- Compare to Industry Leaders Who Prioritise Wellbeing
- Use Wellbeing to Strengthen Business Resilience
- Show the ROI of Low-Cost Wellbeing Initiatives
- Use Employee Feedback & Real Data
- Make Wellbeing a Measurable Business Goal
Download Your FREE Workplace Wellbeing Insights Report
How to Convince Leadership to Fund Employee Wellbeing Initiatives! (VIDEO)
10 Ways Convince Leadership to Take Wellbeing Seriously
1. Demonstrate the Financial Impact
If you want to convince leadership to take wellbeing seriously, start with the numbers.
Highlighting the financial impact is one of the strongest arguments you can make.
Simply put, organisations that don’t support employee wellbeing lose money!
According to McKinsey, companies lose an average of $1,695 per employee per year due to absenteeism, much of which is linked to preventable health conditions.
When employees struggle with stress, burnout, or chronic health issues, businesses see rising costs in sick leave, lower productivity, and increased healthcare claims.
To get leadership on board, highlight that wellbeing is not an expense.
Supporting employee wellbeing is an investment that reduces long-term costs like sick leave and staff turnover.
2. Show How Wellbeing Supports Employee Retention and Talent Attraction
If leadership wants to attract and retain top talent, employee wellbeing needs to be a priority.
The workforce is changing, and companies that fail to adapt risk losing skilled employees to organisations that actively support their people.
A McKinsey survey of 42,000 employees found that at least one-third of workers consider physical, mental, social, and spiritual health resources when choosing an employer.
For younger generations, particularly Gen Z, wellbeing benefits are as important as salary.
To make a strong case to leadership, highlight these key points:
- Top candidates actively seek out companies with strong wellbeing initiatives. If your business isn’t offering them, competitors will.
- Turnover is expensive. Losing an employee costs far more than retaining one. Recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity all add up.
- A workplace that prioritises wellbeing creates loyalty. When employees feel valued and supported, they are more likely to stay, reducing long-term hiring costs.
If leadership is struggling to attract or retain staff, challenge them with this question.
Are we creating a workplace where people want to stay and grow?
3. Connect Wellbeing to Productivity & Performance
One of the most effective ways to convince leadership to take wellbeing seriously is to link it directly to productivity and business performance.
Employees perform at their best when they are healthy, engaged, and supported.
When wellbeing is ignored, stress, burnout, and poor mental health lead to lower efficiency and higher costs.
According to McKinsey, organisations that invest in employee wellbeing see higher performance, adaptability, and resilience.
On the other hand, workplaces that neglect wellbeing face an increase in presenteeism.
Employees show up but struggle to focus.
They work at a reduced capacity and make more mistakes.
This leads to slower project completion, declining innovation, and ultimately, reduced profitability.
To make a strong case to leadership, emphasise these key points:
- Wellbeing isn’t just about health, it’s about business results. Healthy employees are more focused, creative, and productive.
- Poor wellbeing leads to presenteeism, which silently drains performance and profits. Leadership might not see the problem, but they’ll feel the impact.
- Investing in employee wellbeing improves efficiency, engagement, and overall output. Companies that prioritise health and wellbeing create workforces that consistently deliver better results.
If leadership is concerned about meeting targets, deadlines, or revenue goals, ask them if they feel they are supporting employees in a way that allows them to perform at their best?
4. Highlight the Cost of Sick Leave
One of the most overlooked costs in business is the financial impact of sick leave.
Many companies plan their budgets around salaries, operations, and growth but fail to account for the hidden expenses caused by employee illness and absence.
According to the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE):
- 7 million working days are lost annually due to work-related ill health and injury.
- The financial impact of this is estimated at £14.5 billion per year.
- Stress, depression, and anxiety alone account for 16.4 million lost working days.
For leadership this represents real business losses in the form of:
- Reduced productivity: When employees are absent, deadlines are missed, and workloads increase for others.
- Increased costs: Businesses often need to hire temporary staff or pay overtime to cover absences.
- Higher turnover rates: Employees dealing with chronic stress or burnout are more likely to quit, leading to expensive recruitment and training costs.
If leadership is focused on cost control, they need to see the reality.
Ignoring employee wellbeing isn’t saving the company money.
Preventative wellbeing initiatives can significantly reduce sick leave, increase employee resilience, and improve long-term financial stability.
Ask leadership how much the company is currently losing to preventable sick leave?
What would those savings look like if it was invested in employee wellbeing initiatives instead?
5. Leverage ESG & Corporate Reputation
Leadership isn’t just responsible for financial performance.
It’s also accountable for how the company is perceived by investors, employees, customers, and regulators.
A company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy plays a crucial role in shaping its reputation, and employee wellbeing is now a key factor in ESG evaluations.
Many businesses, however, still place most of their emphasis on environmental sustainability and governance.
As a result, the social pillar, which includes employee wellbeing, job satisfaction, and mental health, is coming under increasing scrutiny.
According to McKinsey, investors are now assessing companies based on their approach to employee wellbeing.
Major stock exchanges like the S&P 500 and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange are incorporating workplace wellbeing into corporate evaluations.
Businesses that prioritise wellbeing benefit from:
- Stronger investor confidence – Companies with high ESG scores experience greater revenue growth and reduced financial risk.
- Better customer perception – Consumers and clients prefer to engage with companies that treat their employees well.
- Improved employer brand – Talented professionals seek out workplaces known for prioritising their people.
If leadership is serious about safeguarding the company’s reputation and future-proofing its success, employee wellbeing must be a core part of its ESG strategy.
Failure to do so could lead to regulatory scrutiny or reputational damage.
Ask your leaders if they’re positioning the company as an organisation in responsible business practices.
A strong commitment to employee wellbeing isn’t just good ethics, it’s smart business.
6. Compare to Industry Leaders Who Prioritise Wellbeing
If leadership is hesitant about investing in employee wellbeing, a powerful way to persuade them is by showing what industry-leading companies are already doing, and how they’re benefiting.
Top-performing organisations have recognised that employee wellbeing isn’t just a perk, it’s a key driver of business success.
Companies that integrate wellbeing into their culture consistently see higher productivity, stronger retention rates, and better financial results.
For example:
Google – Offers extensive mental health support, flexible working options, and wellness workshops, contributing to high employee satisfaction and innovation.
Salesforce – Invests heavily in employee wellbeing initiatives, including mental health days and leadership training focused on emotional intelligence.
Their focus on wellbeing has strengthened their reputation as a top employer.
Unilever – Has embedded wellbeing into its company culture, reporting that sustainable business practices, including employee health initiatives, have led to higher employee engagement and stronger financial performance.
Here’s how you can use this to convince leadership
- Benchmark your company’s wellbeing efforts against industry leaders. If competitors are prioritising wellbeing and seeing measurable success, leadership needs to consider whether their company is at risk of falling behind.
- Highlight the business benefits these companies have gained from their wellbeing initiatives. Increased engagement, lower absenteeism, and stronger employer brands all contribute to better financial performance.
- Ask leadership: Are we positioning ourselves as an employer of choice, or are we losing talent and performance to companies that prioritise wellbeing?
If leading businesses across industries are proving that investing in employee wellbeing leads to better results, leaders need to ask themselves: Why wouldn’t we do the same?
7. Use Wellbeing to Strengthen Business Resilience
Employee wellbeing isn’t just about attracting talent or reducing sick leave, it plays a crucial role in a company’s long-term stability and resilience.
Businesses that invest in wellbeing create workforces that can adapt to challenges, recover from setbacks, and maintain high performance during periods of uncertainty.
Research from McKinsey highlights that organisations with strong wellbeing programs experience higher adaptability, better problem-solving, and greater innovation.
When employees feel physically and mentally supported, they are more likely to handle workplace pressures effectively, make smarter decisions, and remain engaged even during difficult times.
To convince leaders, highlight the following:
- Wellbeing directly impacts a company’s ability to navigate change. In industries facing rapid shifts, from market disruptions to economic downturns, companies with resilient workforces stay ahead.
- Ignoring employee wellbeing increases vulnerability. High stress, burnout, and disengagement leave companies exposed to operational risks, from reduced efficiency to high turnover during critical periods.
- A stable, high-performing workforce starts with a strong wellbeing strategy. Businesses that invest in employee resilience see long-term gains in efficiency, innovation, and overall sustainability.
Ask the decision makers if they’re building a workforce that can sustain high performance in the face of challenges?
Or if they risk productivity losses, burnout, and instability by not prioritising employee wellbeing?
A business is only as strong as its people.
If leadership wants a company that thrives in both stable and uncertain times, investing in employee wellbeing is not optional, it’s essential.
8. Show the ROI of Low-Cost Wellbeing Initiatives
One of the biggest objections leadership may have to employee wellbeing initiatives is cost.
The assumption is that wellbeing programs require a large budget.
In reality, many effective strategies are low-cost and deliver a strong return on investment (ROI).
Companies that prioritise wellbeing don’t always need to make massive financial commitments.
Small, targeted changes can have a significant impact on employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity.
Here’s how you can highlight this to leadership:
- Wellbeing initiatives don’t have to be expensive. Simple adjustments like flexible working policies, mental health check-ins, and workload management, cost little but make a big difference.
- The ROI is measurable. It is estimated that for every £1 invested in employee wellbeing, businesses can expect a return of up to £5 due to higher productivity and reduced absenteeism.
- Preventative care saves money in the long run. Supporting employees early reduces the risk of stress-related illnesses, which leads to lower healthcare costs and fewer sick days.
Ask leaders what small wins can be implemented to support employee wellbeing.
Leadership needs to see that wellbeing isn’t an expensive luxury, it’s a strategic investment with proven financial benefits.
The sooner they act, the greater the returns.
9. Use Employee Feedback & Real Data
Leadership may hesitate to invest in employee wellbeing if they don’t see a clear need for it.
But nothing is more compelling than direct feedback from employees.
When leaders hear from their own workforce about the challenges they face, the impact of stress, and what they need to perform at their best, it becomes difficult to ignore.
Here’s a few things you can do to convince leaders:
- Survey employees to gather real insights. Ask about stress levels, workload concerns, mental health support, and overall job satisfaction.
- Use data to highlight trends. If absenteeism is rising, engagement scores are dropping, or turnover is increasing, connect these trends to employee wellbeing.
- Show leadership that wellbeing directly impacts retention. If employees report that burnout or lack of work-life balance is making them consider leaving, leadership needs to take action.
Ask leaders if they really know how employees are feeling, or are they assuming everything is fine?
Remind leaders that Ignoring employee feedback doesn’t make issues disappear it only makes them worse.
One of the best ways to convince leadership to act is to give them real, undeniable data from the people who keep the business running.
10. Make Wellbeing a Measurable Business Goal
For leadership to take wellbeing seriously, it needs to be treated the same way as any other business objective, clear goals, tracking, and accountability.
Just like revenue, customer satisfaction, and productivity metrics, wellbeing should be measured and reported on.
When wellbeing is integrated into a company’s performance strategy, leadership can see its direct impact on business outcomes.
Without measurement, wellbeing initiatives risk being seen as just a nice to have rather than an essential component of business success.
Before I provide suggestions, here’s a caveat.
Famous marketing expert Rory Sutherland said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
This can be similar with employee wellbeing. Not everything can be measured.
It’s sometimes hard to measure the hidden benefits of employee wellbeing.
However, here’s how you can use some measurable goals to convince leadership to take wellbeing seriously:
- Define clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Track metrics such as absenteeism rates, employee engagement scores, and retention rates.
- Set wellbeing targets just like financial goals. For example, aim to reduce stress-related absences by 15% over the next year.
- Regularly report on wellbeing data. Include it in leadership meetings alongside financial and operational updates to ensure ongoing accountability.
And why not suggest adding employee wellbeing metrics to company performance reports so leadership can see trends and take proactive action.
Explain that by measuring wellbeing, the company can identify risks early, make informed decisions, and improve overall workforce performance.
By making wellbeing a measurable goal, leadership can move from seeing it as an abstract concept to understanding its real business impact.
What gets measured gets managed, and that includes employee wellbeing.
Convincing leadership to take employee wellbeing seriously isn’t always easy, but the evidence is undeniable.
Businesses that prioritise wellbeing see stronger financial performance, higher productivity, lower turnover, and a more engaged workforce.
The key is to present wellbeing not as an expense, but as a strategic investment that contributes to long-term business success.
The companies that act now will not only create healthier workplaces but also gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent.
Due to all of the benefits, the real question for leaders should be “Can we afford not to invest in employee wellbeing?”
Author
Tyler Lowe
Workshop Facilitator and Wellbeing Speaker
