Taking action on workplace health and wellbeing
Taking action to support your employees’ health and wellbeing benefits your workforce, your workplace and your business.
Why employers should take action
On average, we spend over a third of our waking lives in work. This means that as an employer, you play an important role in the health and wellbeing of your employees.
In Wales, ONS data (2025) shows that:
- employees have a sickness absence rate of 1.9% (lower than other home nations)
- 6 million days are lost through sickness absence each year
- an average of 4.1 days are lost through sickness absence per worker each year
A 2026 Public Health Wales report found that ill-health and disability that prevents people from working costs approximately £19.4 billion a year in Wales.
Many of the long-term causes of sickness absences are preventable, such as stress or musculoskeletal injuries.
You can help reduce sickness absences in your workplace by addressing the causes and supporting employees.
The benefits of taking action
Our workplace can positively impact us by providing a sense of purpose, social contact and a supportive environment. But it can also have a negative impact from things like poor work conditions or unrealistic workloads.
Employers who invest their time and energy on the health and wellbeing of their staff can help their business thrive in many ways:
- Employees feel valued and are more engaged and resilient
- Increased morale, motivation and productivity
- Fewer sickness absences
- Reduced staff turnover, lowering recruitment costs
Taking action can also improve your brand and reputation, helping to attract new talent and clients – and allowing your organisation to grow and thrive.
How to take action
You have lots of opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles and support good health and wellbeing in your workplace. This can include:
HWW Employer Survey Tool
Our free, easy-to-use tool helps you understand how your organisation is performing when it comes to health and wellbeing in the workplace, and what other actions you could take.
Workplace Adviser Support
The Workplace Adviser Support (WAS) gives employers in Wales a chance to have a one-to-one chat with a Healthy Working Wales adviser. These online sessions take place on Microsoft Teams and can last up to two hours.
You can book one-to-one support to help you improve health, safety and wellbeing in your workplace, with discussions based on your responses to the Employer Survey Tool.
Workplace wellbeing starter pack
We have created a practical guide to support organisations who care about their people and want to make work a healthier, more positive place to be.
Whatever stage you’re at, this pack will help you move forward, one step at a time.
Workplace Wellbeing First Steps workshops
Join Healthy Working Wales for a practical workshop to help you take your first steps towards improving health and wellbeing at work.
These workshops are for employers and managers who are new to workplace health and wellbeing, or who are not sure where to start.