In October 2024, the government announced upcoming reforms for employers with a new bill that reflects the societal shift towards supporting health, mental illness and disabilities in the workplace. Although the changes are unlikely to take effect until 2026, the employment law alterations will require policy changes and bring new considerations for employers and HR professionals.
Workers are increasingly aware of their own health, and this brings an expectation for employers to be well-informed and supportive of their individual needs. While each case will be different, revising your wellbeing policies is a great way to future-proof your business and consistently support employees with their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
Health awareness
People are anxious about access to healthcare, with 1 in 3 struggling to book time with their GP. Policies should be implemented with this in mind to best support employees who have limited access to NHS support. This might include anything from neurodiversity conditions, to anxiety, to endometriosis, to menopause.
Health awareness campaigns are an important educational tool. If employers base employee wellbeing on a case-by-case basis with their employees, then this will be difficult to maintain support with the influx of changes required to provide support. Having health awareness is not only beneficial to show support to your employees, it can be a pillar in preventing long-term absences and creates a smoother, person-centric business model.
Invisible conditions
With many people in the UK struggling to get a formal diagnosis through the NHS, it’s vital that workplaces reflect support through their policies regardless of the diagnostic stage. If diagnosis hasn’t been received yet, you should still make reasonable adjustments to help.
It can be difficult for people to share details on their condition or disability, so once informed it is an employer’s responsibility to make adjustments to aid their wellbeing and performance. Many disabilities aren’t obvious or might not be visible at all. People often won’t share details of their disability if they feel it will impact their job.
Research estimates that there might be as many as 1.2 million autistic people and 2.2 million people with ADHD in England. With the average wait times for a diagnosis being over a year, employers should make adjustments for neurodivergent employees that adapt to differences in communication and work styles and consider the option of flexible working where possible.
Minimising bias at work
Business owners and HR should have policies in place to guide hiring managers and to back up any decisions or changes. It’s important to make reasonable adjustments when someone is applying or joining your business. Hiring managers should consider unconscious bias training to choose the right candidate for the role without any preconceived ideas or prejudice. To be unbiased and inclusive, employers could implement:
- A guaranteed interview scheme
- Being open and prepared to sending interview questions ahead of time as many people are out of practice with interviews, especially with returning to work.
- Awareness of unconventional body language or communication styles – these can influence decisions even if they’re not reflective of the person’s capabilities to perform the role.
Best practices for employers
The best practices for businesses and HR leaders, as set out in our Wellbeing Trends 2025 report, include:
- Find out what matters to people within your business. In addition to surveys, asking employees directly and checking in with each department can give you more information on what is working and what needs more attention. Businesses should adapt to the needs of their people to avoid box-ticking.
- Managers are the link between policy makers and colleagues. Providing manager training can help your business reduce unconscious bias and help support employees through proactive management styles, such as opening up the mental health conversation.
- Think about universal benefits to employees, such as accessible support for physical and mental health as well as neurodiversity awareness for everyone in the workplace.
- Avoid making diagnosis the centre of conversations — focus on actionable steps and reasonable adjustments that can help provide support for employees. Be proactive in creating changes pre-diagnosis as this will help the whole workforce be more inclusive.
More workplace trends for 2025
Our Wellbeing Trends 2025 report includes future-proof wellbeing policies as one of the four key themes for workplace wellbeing as we enter 2025.
The report examines search trends, NHS data, consumer behaviour and Westfield Health’s wellbeing research to help businesses get a head start on the issues affecting their people now and in the new year.