There is growing recognition that the workplace needs to become more human again, not less. For all the talk of performance, productivity and retention, too many organisations still treat stress, ill health and emotional wellbeing as secondary matters. They are not. They sit at the heart of business success. The figures from the Keep Britain Working report, an independent review commissioned by the UK government and led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, the former chair of John Lewis, are a wake-up call. The value at stake is enormous. Employers face an estimated £85 billion a year in lost output and costs linked to ill health. For government, the additional burden in welfare payments and NHS demand is around £47 billion annually. On top of this lies the wider cost to the economy through lower participation, and the human and social costs of lost opportunity, stalled careers and reduced life chances.
A “do nothing” scenario means continued decline. More people will leave work because of health conditions and disability, and the numbers will rise. This is not just an economic issue. It is a human one.
Stress is not a side issue
Stress is not going away. Modern work is demanding, and pressure will always exist, but unmanaged stress damages people and weakens organisations. It affects concentration, confidence, judgement, relationships and resilience. Left unchecked, it contributes to absence, presenteeism, burnout and staff turnover.
That is why stress reduction must be treated as a business issue, not a side hustle. Too often, it is pushed into the wellbeing column as though it were a nice extra rather than a strategic necessity. Any board that is serious about performance should be serious about stress management too.
If businesses want loyal employees, they must create environments where people feel supported before they reach crisis point. Prevention is always better than repair.
One of the greatest mistakes organisations make is putting emotional intelligence to one side when pressure rises. Yet this is precisely when it matters most.
Emotional intelligence helps leaders notice when somebody is struggling. It shapes how managers listen, respond, communicate and build trust. It influences whether an employee feels safe enough to speak up or decides instead to suffer in silence.
A truly human workplace does not run on policy alone. It runs on relationships. Employees need to feel that they are more than a number on the payroll. They need to feel valued, recognised and respected. When they do, trust grows. Loyalty grows. Engagement grows.
When they do not, people may remain on the payroll, but mentally they have already checked out.
A human workplace raises standards
Re-humanising the workplace is not about lowering expectations. It is about raising standards in the right areas. It means building a healthy workplace culture where managers are equipped to support staff, where early warning signs are recognised, and where good practice is not left to chance.
We need to improve access to support and transform the visibility of data. If organisations do not know where stress hotspots are, where absence patterns are worsening, or where support is failing, they are managing in the dark.
Employers must act earlier and more effectively on prevention and rehabilitation. Too many people fall through the cracks because support arrives too late, after absence has become prolonged or confidence has been lost.
A call to action
A “wait and see” approach is no longer good enough. The cost of doing nothing is simply too high.
Organisations need practical support, better conversations, line manager training, realistic workloads and rehabilitation pathways. Are workloads manageable? Are managers approachable? Are people recognised? Are reasonable adjustments made early enough? Is there support for return to work, not just sympathy during absence?
These are not soft questions. They are business questions. A workplace where people want to come to work is built through culture, leadership and everyday behaviour.
At the heart of every successful organisation are human beings. Not headcount. Not functions. Not payroll numbers. Human beings with lives, pressures, strengths and vulnerabilities.
If we want workplaces where people feel valued for who they are, then we must start there. We need to build cultures that combine performance with humanity, and standards with compassion. We need to strengthen emotional intelligence, improve access to support and make stress management part of everyday leadership.
Now is the time for employers to stop treating workplace health as a side issue and start treating it as a business priority. Review your culture, raise your standards, invest in prevention and act early when people begin to struggle. Re-humanising the workplace is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Because when people feel valued, supported and recognised, businesses do not just survive – they stand a far better chance of thriving.
Carole Spiers MBE is a stress consultant, international motivational speaker and author with over 25 years’ experience showing senior executives and organisations how to thrive under pressure. She delivers keynote presentations on stress reduction, resilience and healthy workplace culture. Carole is CEO of the Carole Spiers Group and Chair of the International Stress Management Association UK. In that role, she founded National Stress Awareness Day and later established International Stress Awareness Week and the Annual Stress Awards.
She is also the author of Show Stress Who’s Boss! and Managing Stress in the Workplace, and a media commentator who has appeared on BBC, Sky News, LBC and CNN.
April 21, 2026
Re-humanising the workplace: why prevention, support and standards matter more than ever
by Carole Spiers • Comment, Wellbeing
A “do nothing” scenario means continued decline. More people will leave work because of health conditions and disability, and the numbers will rise. This is not just an economic issue. It is a human one.
Stress is not a side issue
Stress is not going away. Modern work is demanding, and pressure will always exist, but unmanaged stress damages people and weakens organisations. It affects concentration, confidence, judgement, relationships and resilience. Left unchecked, it contributes to absence, presenteeism, burnout and staff turnover.
That is why stress reduction must be treated as a business issue, not a side hustle. Too often, it is pushed into the wellbeing column as though it were a nice extra rather than a strategic necessity. Any board that is serious about performance should be serious about stress management too.
If businesses want loyal employees, they must create environments where people feel supported before they reach crisis point. Prevention is always better than repair.
One of the greatest mistakes organisations make is putting emotional intelligence to one side when pressure rises. Yet this is precisely when it matters most.
Emotional intelligence helps leaders notice when somebody is struggling. It shapes how managers listen, respond, communicate and build trust. It influences whether an employee feels safe enough to speak up or decides instead to suffer in silence.
A truly human workplace does not run on policy alone. It runs on relationships. Employees need to feel that they are more than a number on the payroll. They need to feel valued, recognised and respected. When they do, trust grows. Loyalty grows. Engagement grows.
When they do not, people may remain on the payroll, but mentally they have already checked out.
A human workplace raises standards
Re-humanising the workplace is not about lowering expectations. It is about raising standards in the right areas. It means building a healthy workplace culture where managers are equipped to support staff, where early warning signs are recognised, and where good practice is not left to chance.
We need to improve access to support and transform the visibility of data. If organisations do not know where stress hotspots are, where absence patterns are worsening, or where support is failing, they are managing in the dark.
Employers must act earlier and more effectively on prevention and rehabilitation. Too many people fall through the cracks because support arrives too late, after absence has become prolonged or confidence has been lost.
A call to action
A “wait and see” approach is no longer good enough. The cost of doing nothing is simply too high.
Organisations need practical support, better conversations, line manager training, realistic workloads and rehabilitation pathways. Are workloads manageable? Are managers approachable? Are people recognised? Are reasonable adjustments made early enough? Is there support for return to work, not just sympathy during absence?
These are not soft questions. They are business questions. A workplace where people want to come to work is built through culture, leadership and everyday behaviour.
At the heart of every successful organisation are human beings. Not headcount. Not functions. Not payroll numbers. Human beings with lives, pressures, strengths and vulnerabilities.
If we want workplaces where people feel valued for who they are, then we must start there. We need to build cultures that combine performance with humanity, and standards with compassion. We need to strengthen emotional intelligence, improve access to support and make stress management part of everyday leadership.
Now is the time for employers to stop treating workplace health as a side issue and start treating it as a business priority. Review your culture, raise your standards, invest in prevention and act early when people begin to struggle. Re-humanising the workplace is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Because when people feel valued, supported and recognised, businesses do not just survive – they stand a far better chance of thriving.
Carole Spiers MBE is a stress consultant, international motivational speaker and author with over 25 years’ experience showing senior executives and organisations how to thrive under pressure. She delivers keynote presentations on stress reduction, resilience and healthy workplace culture. Carole is CEO of the Carole Spiers Group and Chair of the International Stress Management Association UK. In that role, she founded National Stress Awareness Day and later established International Stress Awareness Week and the Annual Stress Awards.
She is also the author of Show Stress Who’s Boss! and Managing Stress in the Workplace, and a media commentator who has appeared on BBC, Sky News, LBC and CNN.