Early in the year, a lot of HR and People & Culture teams sit down to plan the wellbeing calendar. A webinar in March. Fruit boxes. An app subscription. R U OK? Day in September.
None of these are bad. But after years of running sessions in workplaces, I've noticed a pattern: the programs that make a real difference look very different from the ones that exist mainly so someone can say "we have a wellbeing program".
Source: PwC and Beyond Blue, Creating a mentally healthy workplace: Return on investment analysis, 2014
So before you lock in this year's plan, here are five signs your program might be more tick-box than transformation.
1. Nobody can name it
Ask five people on your team what your wellbeing program is. If you get blank looks, or five different answers, it isn't part of how people experience work. A program people can't name is a program people don't use.
2. It lives on the intranet
A page of links to an employee assistance program, an app and a PDF about sleep is a resource library, not a program. Resources matter, but people under pressure rarely go looking for them. Wellbeing works best when it shows up in the rhythm of the week: in meetings, at offsites, in the calendar.
3. Managers don't turn up
If leaders skip the sessions, the team hears the real message loud and clear: this isn't important. When managers join in, breathe alongside their people and talk openly about pressure, everyone else gets permission to do the same.
4. It's the same for every team
A finance team at quarter-end, a sales team on the road and a customer service team handling difficult calls have very different pressures. One generic program for everyone usually fits no one particularly well. The best programs are designed around what each group is actually dealing with.
5. Nobody asked your people
This is the big one. If the program was planned without asking employees what's hard, what would help and when they could realistically take part, it's built on guesses. A short survey or a few honest conversations can completely change what you offer.
What to do instead
If you ticked more than one of those, you're not alone, and the fix doesn't have to be expensive. A wellbeing program that works usually:
- Starts with listening: ask your people what's hard and what would help
- Looks at the work itself: workload, role clarity and how change is managed come first
- Is designed for your teams, not taken off the shelf
- Has leaders taking part, not just signing off the budget
- Runs all year, not just in Mental Health Month
- Gets reviewed: what did people use, what changed, what should you try next?
In Victoria there's now an extra reason to get this right. Since December 2025, employers must actively manage psychosocial risks like high job demands, and training on its own can't be the main fix. I wrote more about that in Psychological health is now the law in Victoria.
Source: PwC and Beyond Blue, Creating a mentally healthy workplace: Return on investment analysis, 2014
Wellbeing isn't a cost line to trim when budgets get tight. Done well, it's one of the better investments a business can make.
If you're planning your wellbeing year and want a second pair of eyes, I'd love to help you design something your people will actually use.