HWB Expo Wellbeing Trends Report 2024.

21 Mar

Last week we took our Psychology Works pop up 'Wellbeing Lounge' to the 2024 Health & Wellbeing at Work Exhibition.

Health & Wellbeing at Work Wellbeing Trends Infographic. Click to download

It was great to see everyone and a huge thank you to everyone who visited the stand and shared with us their biggest wellbeing challenge and number one wellbeing priority for 2024 with us via our interactive Better@Work model.

Over the last week we’ve locked ourselves away in a darkened room, working through a very (very) substantial pile of colour-coded post-it notes to analyse and identify the key themes across the biggest wellbeing challenges and priorities that were shared with us.

Better@Work.

To make sense of the data, we mapped the information shared with us using the four key themes of the Better@Work model:

Manage - The practical tools and techniques they need for managing workload and everyday sources of stress. Building a sense of control and resilience?
Refuel - How to ‘refill the tank’. Understanding where you get your energy from, and developing strategies for getting more of it
Recover - Targeted interventions to help people recover and build back from the health and wellbeing challenges they are experiencing
Lead - Working with managers and leaders to embed practices to address the structural and cultural causes of poor wellbeing

What did we learn?

The data has been rich and expansive, the insights both fascinating, and at times, unexpected. So much so, additional supplies of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs needed to be brought in, before we hit the spreadsheets again for a bit more data crunching. However, amongst all of this couple of key themes emerged…

The challenges.

The first question we asked was ‘What is your biggest wellbeing challenge right now?’

Interestingly, compared to last year, where there was a very, very strong theme around the intersection between Refuel and Manage (finding a balance/ boundaries and time), the challenges are much more distributed across all four areas of the Better@Work framework. Whilst workload (Manage) comes out on top when it comes to the biggest workplace wellbeing challenges, budget (Lead) and work-life balance (Refuel) aren’t far behind.

The overall picture, however, is very clear. In 2024, the greatest challenges facing HR and Wellbeing practitioners are very clearly themed around Lead element of the framework. Whether it be budget, culture, communications, supporting/training managers, getting buy in from C-suite or being able to establish a clear wellbeing strategy.

The Priorities.

The second question we asked visitors to our stand, was what was their number one wellbeing priority for them this year?

Again, there were some interesting themes coming through. For the second year in a row, the number one wellbeing priority was ‘self care’, which very much sits within the Refuel element of the Better@Work model. When digging into the details a bit more, last year it was all about physical activity and ‘moving more’, this year, the focus is on developing a greater awareness of the impact of having a positive/healthy lifestyle - and an overall commitment to looking after one’s own wellbeing.

Overall, similar to the number one challenge, the priorities across the four areas of the Better@Work framework for 2024 are more diverse than last year, with less obvious clusters around one or two elements. Coming in second, in term of priorities, was training/awareness (Manage) and communications/conversations (Lead). There is some interesting nuance with both of these, that we’ll be looking forward to exploring more in the full report.

Reflections and conclusions.

So what are the insights or lessons to be learnt from the data? First of all, what struck us was how incredibly hard the people we met work - and like many individuals we meet operating in the world of wellbeing, HR, OD and L&D, as well as those with management responsibility, they operate in quite a unique space. That of working to advocate and facilitate the wellbeing of others - whilst also trying to look after their own.

Secondly, that a lot of the challenges and priorities we saw last year, in many ways remain unresolved - and we are now starting to really see the effects of that. For example, via the increasing concerns regarding burnout, and linked to that ‘managing trauma’ as an emerging and dedicated service offering.

We also, were not to surprised to see budget working it’s way up the list as a key challenge for HR and Wellbeing professionals. We are now four years on from the emergence of Covid, and the UK’s first lockdown - and the world has - and is still trying to - move on, and budget allocations reflect this.

The harsh reality though, is that the effects of that time are still being felt, on many fronts, and without concerted attention and effort the fall out from increasing levels of burnout in the workplace are going to grow. The broader financial challenges faced by organisations, leading to overall budget cuts, headcount or recruitment freezes, also play into this regarding workload, resourcing and what it means to experience ‘good work’.

The finding of this infographic are just an initial review of the data. Over the next month we will be performing more of a deep dive to make sense of these themes, as well as further analysis in terms of how our wellbeing challenges/priorities are changing and evolving compared to last year.

Find out more…

Attend the webinar.

If you’ve found this Infographic interesting, why not sign up and attend our forthcoming webinar on Monday 22nd April, 12:30pm: Unlocking Workplace Wellbeing: Insights from our Better@Work Trends Research.

Explore the full results of our research
Engage in insightful discussions with industry experts, and fellow HR and wellbeing practitioners
Leave with practical ideas and actionable steps to enhance your organisational workplace wellbeing

Don't miss out! Reserve your spot now for a deeper dive into the data!