Prevention, not perks: key to workplace wellbeing

This call comes as IOSH publishes its new white paper, From perks to prevention: redefining health and wellbeing for today’s workforce, which exposes a sharp global rise in workplace health and wellbeing challenges – and a widening gulf between good intentions and genuine impact.

Drawing on global research across 22 countries and more than 1,000 senior decision‑makers, the report reveals a workforce under mounting pressure. Two in three (67 per cent) organisational decision‑makers reported an increase in health, safety and wellbeing issues over the past year. The pressures driving this surge are clear, with over half of respondents (55 per cent) citing mental health issues such as workplace stress, anxiety and depression as the most common challenge facing their employees.

Despite many organisations having health and wellbeing strategies in place, the white paper finds that these strategies often fail to address the very factors harming workers. Businesses continue to rely heavily on reactive benefits – lifestyle perks, wellness add‑ons, one‑off incentives – while leaving fundamental issues such as job design, workload, working hours, organisational culture and psychosocial hazards largely unaddressed.

Calls to action

To close this gap, the white paper sets out a series of bold and urgent calls to action:

For governments and policymakers

IOSH urges governments to embed psychosocial risk management explicitly into health and safety regulations, promote health and safety competency standards, and provide accessible guidance, especially for SMEs. This includes supporting employers to meet their legal duties through proportionate health and safety management systems.

For businesses

The message is unequivocal: prevention must replace perks. Employers are encouraged to adopt person‑centred, prevention‑first approaches. This includes identifying hazards and risks, designing safe and healthy work, developing inclusive and supportive cultures and involving workers directly in shaping health and wellbeing programmes. Leadership visibility and measurable performance indicators are essential.

For health and safety professionals

IOSH emphasises that health and safety professionals are pivotal in translating policy into practice. They are called on to embed mental health into health and safety management systems, embed psychosocial risks into risk assessment processes, strengthen reporting frameworks to include wellbeing metrics, and act as strategic partners across leadership, HR and other specialist operations.

Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH’s head of policy and public affairs, said: “These findings tell us that employers are committed to investing in worker health and wellbeing, yet problems are still occurring. It means the action and investment to date is not having the desired impact – it is not getting to the root cause and preventing the harm from happening."

Ruth added: “Our findings make one message unmistakable: the future of workplace health and wellbeing cannot be built on perks, posters or token initiatives. Meaningful progress requires integrated systems, root‑cause prevention, cultural change and leadership prepared to move from aspiration to measurable action.”

As organisations grapple with the fast‑changing world of work, IOSH stands ready to support them with evidence‑based guidance, training, practical toolkits and strategic expertise. The white paper reinforces that prioritising wellbeing is not an optional extra; it is fundamental to organisational performance, resilience and sustainable success.