Well-being washing happens when companies outwardly promote wellness initiatives but fail to provide meaningful support for employees. These superficial efforts often involve flashy marketing campaigns or token gestures without genuine commitment or impact. While they can temporarily enhance a company’s image, the reality beneath the surface can be damaging.
Employees quickly recognize the disconnect between what is promised and what is delivered, leading to a loss of trust, diminished morale, and disengagement. This article explores the warning signs of well-being washing, its negative impacts on workplace culture, and practical strategies for transitioning to genuine, impactful wellness programs.
What’s Well-Being Washing?
Well-being washing happens when companies promote surface-level well-being tactics without addressing real employee health issues or provide genuine support. These actions are often characterized by underfunded programs, poorly implemented solutions, or offerings that fail to address the core needs of employees.
Instead of fostering a genuinely supportive environment, these hollow efforts serve more as a public relations strategy aimed at improving the company’s image or satisfying external expectations.
Organizations sometimes prioritize appearance over substance. Management may introduce wellness programs simply to check a compliance box or to appeal to socially conscious investors without fully investing in the long-term success of these initiatives. Employees can easily perceive this as insincerity, which leads to skepticism and disengagement.
Research reveals the dangers of well-being washing. For instance, a Deloitte survey found that while 80% of C-suite executives believe their organizations support well-being, only 56% of employees agree, indicating a substantial disconnect.
Image Source [alt text: ]
Younger generations may be more aware of this phenomenon — over half of Gen Z and millennials think their companies are guilty of it.
To foster a culture of true well-being, organizations must commit to programs designed to address real employee concerns, provide adequate resources, and prioritize long-term support over quick fixes.
Red Flags: Signs of Well-Being Washing in the Workplace
Quickly recognizing the signs that your company may be conducting well-being washing is critical to adjusting workplace practices for better company culture. Below are three of the common indicators:
1. Lack of Alignment Between Wellness Initiatives and Employee Needs
If a company offers fitness challenges but employees report high stress due to a heavy workload, this indicates misaligned priorities. This situation may happen when the company doesn’t incorporate employee feedback into its wellness programs, hampering their effectiveness. In those cases, employees may think that management is out of touch.
2. Low Employee Engagement
If employees are not participating much in wellness programs, it may be because they don’t trust the initiative’s sincerity. Similarly, employees can fail to appreciate occasional yoga sessions or fruit baskets because they don’t address the root causes of burnout. This misalignment is a clear indicator of hollow attempts to create an illusion of care.
3. Poor Communication
Employees can be unclear about program goals or the impact of their feedback on current efforts. Without transparent messaging and follow-up, employees may view initiatives as poorly executed and irrelevant. Companies that fail to provide regular updates or measure the impact of wellness programs risk fostering distrust, making employees less likely to participate in future efforts.
How Well-Being Washing Impacts Employees’ Morale and Mental Health
When the company only performs wellness efforts for cosmetic or PR reasons, employees perceive it, and it has harmful consequences for their relationship with the workplace.
- It erodes trust: When a company promises mental health support but only provides access to limited or outdated resources, employees may feel the organization does not genuinely care about their well-being.
- It reduces morale: Employees who feel overlooked or undervalued due to superficial wellness programs may experience disengagement and frustration. Consider a situation where management introduces a "mindfulness hour" but ignores requests for mental health days.
- Impaired productivity and commitment: The natural consequence of this damaged trust and morale is disengaged employees. These workers often contribute less, impacting team collaboration and overall productivity.
- Brand reputation damage: Word spreads quickly and companies risk damaging their reputation when employees share negative experiences about hollow wellness initiatives. This information tarnishes the company’s brand and it makes it harder to attract and retain talent.
How to Move From Well-Being Washing to an Authentic Wellness Initiative
Your organization should implement a company well-being strategy that creates impactful workplace wellness programs that truly benefit employees. Creating effective wellness programs requires thoughtful planning, employee involvement, and a commitment to meaningful follow-through.
- Conduct needs assessments: Use surveys, focus groups, or interviews to understand employees’ preferences and challenges. For instance, it might be that instead of gym memberships, flexible work hours, or access to mental health and wellness resources are more valued.
- Involve employees in co-creating wellness initiatives: This collaborative approach fosters a sense of ownership and increases program relevance and participation. Once initiatives are in place, ensuring follow-through is crucial.
- Measure program effectiveness: Tracking participation rates, satisfaction levels, and health outcomes can provide actionable insights to refine initiatives. CoreHealth offers employee well-being platforms to streamline these processes, helping organizations capture data and evaluate results comprehensively.
By using data-backed approaches and prioritizing employee feedback, organizations can create impactful wellness programs that enhance well-being and boost engagement.
Leveraging Technology to Combat Well-Being Washing
Technology plays a critical role in identifying gaps, improving wellness initiatives, and fostering transparency. There are several ways you can use technology to improve the effectiveness of your wellness campaigns.
- Track the wellness program’s performance: Platforms like CoreHealth provide valuable data-driven insights by tracking engagement, participation, and health outcomes. These insights help organizations identify which programs are successful and which need improvement.
- Implementing automation: Automated feedback tools, such as surveys and sentiment analysis, allow for continuous assessment of employee experiences. Real-time reporting ensures program effectiveness can be monitored and adjusted swiftly, increasing responsiveness to employee needs.
- Personalizing well-being initiatives: Personalization powered by technology tailors wellness solutions to meet diverse employee preferences. The CoreHealth platform, for example, enables companies to offer custom wellness plans that address unique employee challenges, improving engagement and satisfaction.
How CoreHealth Can Help
CoreHealth’s wellness platform empowers organizations to detect and address well-being washing. By providing robust data analytics, automated feedback tools, and customizable wellness solutions, CoreHealth enables organizations to align wellness programs with employee needs. With CoreHealth, employers can transition from performative efforts to impactful initiatives that build trust, improve morale, and foster a healthier workforce. Take the first step towards authentic employee wellness by requesting our demo.
If you found this article helpful, please share it on your social media networks!
Keen to learn more? Check out these articles from the CoreHealth blog:
- How to Implement A Wellness Incentive Strategy at Your Company: 3 Tips
- Taking Care of the Leaders: Why Executive Wellness Programs Improve Success
- Incentivizing Wellness: Creative Ways to Encourage Employee Participation in Corporate Wellness Programs
