Employers must stop using ‘wellbeing add-ons’ as an alternative to tackling the root causes of workplace stress, experts have warned.
A newly published report from The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) looked at worker experiences from 22 countries – including the UK – and found that a common theme: workforces are under more pressure than ever before.
They also found that businesses continue to rely on reactive benefits such as lifestyle perks and one‑off incentives while leaving fundamental issues such as job design, workload, working hours, organisational culture and psychosocial hazards largely unaddressed.
The IOSH likened it to employers ‘papering over cracks’ with wellbeing perks which ultimately do not protect their staff’s mental health from avoidable harm.
Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH’s head of policy, said: ‘Too many organisations still lean on reactive measures or wellbeing “add‑ons“, while the real issues driving harm go unaddressed.
‘Prevention must be embedded into the systems, culture and leadership of every organisation.
‘That means strong, visible commitment from the top, clear communication, and creating workplaces where people feel psychologically safe to raise concerns.
‘Only then can we shift away from firefighting and build genuinely healthy, safe, sustainable and resilient working environments
Employers need to address the root cause of workplace stress, warns a new report
‘Our findings make one message unmistakable: the future of workplace health and wellbeing cannot be built on perks, posters or token initiatives.’
Mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression were said to be the most common challenge facing their employees.
The report exposes a sharp global rise in workplace health and wellbeing challenges and a widening gulf between good intentions and genuine impact.
Ms Wilkinson added: ‘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.
‘For this reason, employers need to take a proactive approach and this starts with prevention.’
Being stressed at work can have hugely damaging longterm effects which reverberate long after you’ve signed off for the day.
Prolonged stress can trigger a release of hormones that dramatically raise the risk of heart attack and weight gain – which could lead to obesity-related diseases.
In 2024/25, 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression, or anxiety
Physically, the most common signs of chronic stress are chest pains, headaches and muscle aches.
This is because stress causes the body to release too much of the hormone cortisol, which is produced by the adrenal glands that sit on the top of the kidneys.
It regulates a wide range of bodily processes including blood pressure, metabolism, fertility and sleep-wake cycles.
As well as cortisol, the body releases a surge of adrenaline — an increase in both hormones is a result of the ‘fight or flight’ reaction that’s triggered when we’re under threat.
Together, these hormones cause the blood vessels to constrict, which makes our heart have to work harder to pump blood around the body.
This can lead to heart palpitations and chest pains, as well as high blood pressure and pains in the muscles and head.
Workplace stress also has a knock-on cost for employers, too.
Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the national independent regulator for workplace health, safety, and illness, estimated that in 2024/25, 964,000 workers in Great Britain experienced work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
The figures also revealed that mental health conditions were behind a significant portion of the 40.1 million working days lost.
Last year, Wes Streeting instructed GPs to stop issuing sick letters for people struggling with their mental health and instead refer patients to the gym or a job centre, a move which prompted health leaders to warn that it could cause people to become very unwell.
Healthcare workers at St John Ambulance said this ‘pressure to keep going’ runs the risk of minimising the very real effects of burnout, which can easily snowball into more serious health issues such as anxiety or depression.
Burnout, which is recognised by the World Health Organisation, is characterised by a state of ‘physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion’.
Lisa Sharman, head of education and training at the ambulance service, said: ‘When public language suggests people are exaggerating or being written off, it can make some individuals feel even less safe to speak up.’
She said: ‘It’s not always burnout, per se, but it’s exhaustion, emotional overload, or feeling unable to cope.
‘And those are really real experiences, they’re not just buzzwords, so we can’t dismiss them as such.
‘Burnout is often an early warning sign that something is wrong, but if it’s recognised and addressed early, people can and will recover sooner.’
Union leaders have also backed up the IOSH’s report.
Unison’s national officer for health and safety Joe Donnelly said: ‘Prompt intervention could stop hundreds of thousands of people leaving the workforce each year for entirely avoidable health reasons.
‘All too often employers worsen pay and conditions, overwork staff and undermine safety standards, then offer ‘mindfulness’ classes as a solution.
‘Work-related stress isn’t self-imposed. While wellbeing schemes can help, they don’t tackle the causes.’
Dan Shears, GMB health and safety director, said: ‘The report confirms what we have known for some time – that employers need to do much more to prevent work-related stress, and that doing so benefits workers and employers.
‘GMB believes the report strengthens the case for primary legislation in this area – a Mental Health at Work Act – and we hope that the UK Government will be open-minded in its policy considerations.
‘Tackling the root causes of stress is in everyone’s interests, and Government will need to be imaginative and radical in strengthening the protection afforded to workers.’