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Current pressure on HR leaders to decrease their wellness and benefits expenditure raises the question of whether C-suite executives view wellbeing programs as a cost, as opposed to a profitable investment.

"Most business leaders will say something along the lines of 'employees are our number one priority'," however, "values aren't a plan", says Lockton head of people advisory Morag Fitzsimons.

Organisations often struggle to measure the ROI of their wellness programs, she notes, and "when leaders are unconvinced wellness programs will have a lasting impact, it's not surprising they may hesitate to invest".

"Health and wellbeing programs have historically been seen as a 'nice to have' not a 'need to have'. This is because most wellbeing strategies aren't targeted at identified issues within the organisation and fail to measure a return on investment," adds Steve McCullagh, CEO of health and wellbeing provider Healthy Business, which partnered with Lockton on a new report on wellbeing investment...