Across the UK workforce, stress has become the new normal. According to Mental Health UK’s Burnout Report 2026, 91% of adults say they’ve experienced high or extreme levels of pressure over the past year, and more than a third admit this happens “often” or “always”. Yet, despite a growing number of employee wellbeing programmes, one in five workers have taken time off for stress-related mental health issues - and worryingly, 35% feel uncomfortable talking about stress to their manager.
The current picture is especially concerning for younger professionals. Those aged 25 to 34 are taking the most stress-related leave, with many lacking the coping skills to manage the demands of modern work. Even where companies offer support, employees aren’t feeling the benefit. For too many, wellbeing remains a policy on paper rather than a lived workplace culture.
I saw this gap first-hand through working with Deborah (name changed), a corporate lawyer who came to me for Health Coaching after months of ongoing anxiety, stress, and overwhelm. When we first met, she had already been on medical leave for four months. Despite her firm’s wellbeing initiatives - including flexible hybrid work, physiotherapy, and access to the Whoop app - she still felt unable to cope. Long hours, professional pressure and family commitments had taken their toll. Her story is far from unique and reflects a workforce struggling under chronic stress, even in organisations that think they’re doing enough.
Many corporate wellbeing strategies are launched with the best of intentions, yet don’t create lasting behavioural change. A webinar here, a mental health week talk there - these gestures check a compliance box, but they rarely change daily habits or workplace culture.
Over the years, many organisations have also offered perks such as free gym memberships, lunchtime yoga classes, and access to mindfulness and mental health apps. While these initiatives are well-received initially and do support short-term engagement, they don’t have the desired lasting impact. Employees today face complicated, evolving pressures that require more than ad hoc benefits; they need support that’s built into the culture and sustained over time.
When wellbeing programmes are designed with real behavioural change in mind, the difference is transformative. Employees gain the knowledge and tools to reshape daily routines, supporting better physical, mental, and emotional health.
The real impact of workplace habits
The growing impact of workplace habits is clear. Employees like Deborah don’t intend to burn the candle at both ends, have a bad night’s sleep, skip lunch or rely on caffeine and sugar to get them through the day. These patterns evolve over time in response to cultural change, increasing workloads and growing expectations, and they are often reinforced by ongoing anxiety that many workers now see as “just part of the job.” Over months and years, they become negative habits that feel impossible to break. Common bad habits include:
- Skipping breaks and eating at the desk
- Being constantly “online” and checking emails outside of working hours
- Using caffeine, sugar and snacks to get through the day
- Sitting at a desk all day and not moving regularly
- Scrolling on phones late at night instead of winding down
These habits affect far more than how people feel. They’re linked to reduced concentration, slower decision-making and ultimately more errors in the workplace. They also increase the risk of burnout, stress‑related absences and long‑term health conditions, driving up sickness days, healthcare costs and, for many organisations, the loss of younger talent who simply can’t see a sustainable future in their current way of working.
Tick‑box vs strategic corporate wellbeing
In 2025, while over 57% of UK businesses said they had a form of Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) aimed at improving employee wellbeing, they weren’t always successful.
Tick‑box corporate wellbeing programs for employees tend to focus on broad concepts and isolated activities. A one‑off talk about physical health, access to a mindfulness app, or mental health awareness online training may raise awareness of a variety of health-lifestyle related topics, but they rarely change what people do on a Tuesday afternoon when a project deadline is creeping close. It’s no surprise that only 27% of workers feel their mental health is genuinely prioritised by their employer, with 18% viewing current wellbeing efforts as a tick‑box exercise rather than real support.
This disconnect is especially visible in younger age groups. Workers aged 18 - 24, 25 - 34 and 35 - 44 are among the most likely to take time off work due to having poorer coping mechanisms with the daily stress than other age groups. For many people in these age groups that experience looks like:
- Visiting their doctor to ask for a sick leave, known as an “unfit note”, which tells much better how they feel - they see themselves as ‘unfit’ to work.
- Experiencing high levels of anxiety without effective coping mechanisms or the confidence to talk to their manager or ask for support at work.
- Growing up in a culture of heightened mental health awareness, where anxiety and low mood are often framed as medical conditions first, rather than difficult but common emotional states that people can learn to manage and regulate.
For employers, this means a large proportion of the workforce genuinely believes that anxiety and depression require medical intervention, rather than being signals to adjust how they work, access support, and build sustainable habits. Without the right frameworks in place, these beliefs can drive increased absence, presenteeism and long-term disengagement.
The gap becomes even clearer when employees reach breaking point. More than a quarter of workers who take time off due to stress receive no support when they return, and fewer than one in five have a formal return‑to‑work plan in place. In practice, this means people are often dropped back into the same pressures and habits that contributed to burnout in the first place, with no structured help to change how they work or recover.
The three S behaviours in the workplace
When it comes to educating people on how changes in their habits will help them adopt new behaviour long-term, it is important to keep the three S’s as a goal:
- Self‑efficacy - the belief that “I can do this”. In a corporate wellbeing programme, that might mean helping someone experience a week of better sleep or regular movement, so they feel the difference in their own body. The more small wins they create and achieve, the more confident they become in repeating the behaviour and adopting a new habit.
- Self‑autonomy - the behaviour is driven by internal reasons, not pressure from team managers or HR. When employees connect new habits to what matters to them, such as being present with family after work, having more energy for hobbies, or feeling sharp during presentations and important meetings, they are more likely to own those choices.
- Self‑determination - the point where employees keep going without constant encouragement. The goal of an effective corporate wellbeing programme is to guide employees towards this final stage: understanding their own “why”, choosing strategies that suit them, and having tools to adapt when work gets busy or life changes.
Work on changing mindsets to help employees improve their habits might take a longer time to get there, but the results will pay off - the wellbeing programmes that are carefully designed for the needs of your teams will see higher productivity, higher job satisfaction and higher retention of talent long-term.
In Part 2, we will look at how to move from insight to action and design a strategic wellbeing programme that truly supports performance.
Stay healthy, be joyful!
Love, Katya