The future of wellbeing starts with the work choices we make today

Across corporate websites and town halls, the word “wellbeing” is now standard business vocabulary. But as with inclusion or sustainability, what starts as enthusiasm often slips into superficial practices — a policy statement, resilience workshops or digital wellbeing apps, but little real change. 

Most companies say they care about their people. The real question is whether they are willing to change how work is actually done.

“There is a lot of talk and, fortunately, also some action,” says Daniela Lup, professor of work and human relations at ESCP Business School. “But to me, the problem is that firms do not approach the issue seriously enough.”

Wellbeing, she argues, often gets the same surface-level treatment as other trendy initiatives: well-meaning but fragmented, with little structural change and not much follow-through.

Yet a growing body of research, hers included, shows that meaningful progress on wellbeing starts not with perks, but with how work itself is structured. That means rethinking autonomy, workload, recognition and management. For companies that want to take wellbeing seriously, the challenge is to move from gestures to design.

Wellbeing is not a simple thing to solve. But there is so much knowledge and research accumulated about this.

The first test: measure it

According to our expert, one early sign of seriousness is measurement. “There are still many organisations that do not measure this in any way,” Lup says. “So how do you even say you care about wellbeing when you don’t attempt to understand your employees?” Lup says she has seen progress in the rise of employee surveys targeting stress, burnout and other precursors of wellbeing. But even this is inconsistent.

Companies may invest in solutions — an app here, a workshop there — but fail to ask whether they’re targeting the right problems. “Frankly, what we also see is that it can trigger resentment, as it shows the leadership is disconnected from the employees’ needs,” she says.

If companies want to move beyond box-ticking, Lup says they need to rethink the design of work itself. “Wellbeing is not a simple thing to solve,” she says. “But there is so much knowledge and research accumulated about this.”

Autonomy is essential

A foundational insight from that research is that autonomy matters — but not in the abstract. “This is really about the freedom to make some decisions about how your work is organised. Not about unilaterally making changes, but rather together with managers agreeing what is important.” That might look like agreeing on schedules or allowing employees a say on what tasks to prioritise — seemingly small changes that often have an outsized impact.

Lup points to her own work on disability inclusion to illustrate how critical this kind of flexibility can be. Her study finds that not all flexibility helps; some can even backfire, suggesting that companies need to choose carefully and rely on evidence, not assumptions. “Autonomy over schedules and how it’s organised is super important here,” she says. “If you rob people of autonomy, it will surely have a negative impact on their wellbeing.”

Just as crucial as autonomy is appreciation. “If others show they value us and our opinion, that has a positive impact on wellbeing,” she says. “When we are undervalued and undermined, that is one big source of low self-esteem.”

Lup argues that some of the most damaging dynamics play out in the micro-moments between managers and their teams. These daily interactions, she says, are often where wellbeing is won or lost. A common example? Telling someone they need to improve, but offering no guidance. “It really shows I don’t care,” she says. “I see this for young employees a lot — pressuring them to work at high intensity, while offering little in the way of appreciating their work or offering meaningful developmental feedback.”

If there is a bigger problem than wellbeing, it’s sending people into the trenches to take care of other people — without anyone taking care of them.

Ask the right questions

So what can companies do tomorrow? Lup’s answer is simple: start measuring. “It’s as simple as that. You can’t even start a conversation without this.” A good survey, she says, doesn’t require a consultancy firm or months of planning. “It’s mind-blowing what you can learn from 5-6 clearly addressed questions.”

The results of those measurements can then guide where to act — and, crucially, who to support. “What I often see is that you have different climates in organisations,” she says. “I haven’t seen one organisation that is all good or all bad. I see micro-climates. And often it depends on the manager.”

That brings her to the point she believes is more foundational than wellbeing itself: manager capability. Many managers are promoted without support, training, or clarity on how to lead. “When I talk to managers, a lot of them speak about being thrown into the midst of it with zero training and understanding — and just doing it on the fly. It might be good. But it might be catastrophic.”

The real issue: untrained managers

In Lup’s view, the biggest wellbeing challenge in many companies is not apps or mental health webinars. It is the fact that the people responsible for others often receive nothing themselves. “If there is a bigger problem than wellbeing,” she says, “it’s sending people into the trenches to take care of other people — without anyone taking care of them.”

The call to action, then, is less about grand reinvention and more about being honest, starting small and taking work seriously – as the driver of wellbeing, not its backdrop.

“You don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Lup says. “But you must check that the wheel is aligned with the journey ahead.”

License and Republishing

The Choice articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Term of use.