Workplace Wellbeing Actions for Every Team

“Loneliness is not the absence of people around us, but the inability to express what truly matters within us.”

This quote, often attributed to Carl Jung, feels particularly relevant for Mental Health Awareness Week. This year’s theme is action, but when we talk about workplace wellbeing actions, we need to ask an important question: are those actions designed for the whole workforce, or only for the people who are easiest to reach?

In the workplace, this raises an important question. When organisations take action on mental health and wellbeing, who are those actions actually designed for?

Too often, workplace wellbeing is built around the rhythms of office-based, full-time, 9–5 employees. The lunchtime webinar. The wellbeing stand in reception. The in-person event at head office. The team lunch. The 10am workshop. The message on the intranet. These initiatives can be helpful, but they do not always reach the whole workforce.

What about the driver who is on the road all day? The field sales colleague between client visits? The engineer working alone on site? The offshore worker on a rig or ship? The night shift employee. The remote worker. The part-time colleague. The employee on family leave. The person returning from long-term absence. The colleague who technically has access to support, but only at times or in formats that do not fit their working life.

If the only option is to “watch the recording later”, we may need to ask whether the action was really designed with them in mind.

We Are Highly Connected, But Not Always Meaningfully Connected

Modern workplaces are full of connection. We have Teams messages, Slack channels, emails, shared drives, video calls, intranets, digital wellbeing platforms and employee engagement tools. In many organisations, people are more contactable than ever.

But contact is not the same as connection.

Psychological connection is about whether people feel seen, included, trusted and able to speak honestly. It is about whether they have space to say, “I’m struggling,” “I feel isolated,” “I’m exhausted,” or “I don’t feel part of the team.” It is also about whether someone is likely to notice when they stop speaking up.

This is where workplace psychology matters. Loneliness at work is not simply about being physically alone. It can exist in a busy office, a large team meeting or a full inbox. It can show up when someone is surrounded by communication, but has no meaningful opportunity to express what is really going on for them.

I often hear examples of people working in teams where they have never met some of their colleagues in person, or have only met them once or twice. Hybrid working has created new flexibility, but it has also changed the social fabric of work. Even when people do go into the office, hot-desking can mean they sit near different people each time. The familiar rituals that once helped relationships form naturally, such as the same desk, the same neighbour or the casual conversation before a meeting, are no longer guaranteed.

This is not an argument against remote or hybrid work. Flexible working can be hugely valuable for wellbeing, inclusion and performance. But it does mean organisations need to be more intentional about connection. We cannot assume that relationships, trust and psychological safety will simply happen by accident.

The Risk of Designing Wellbeing for the Most Visible Employees

One of the challenges with workplace wellbeing is that the people who are easiest to reach are often the people we design for first.

Office-based employees are visible. They are more likely to see posters, attend events, join workshops, take part in wellbeing days and have informal conversations with managers or HR. Their needs are important, but they are not the whole picture.

A broad workforce may include employees who are:

• remote or hybrid
• field-based
• shift-based
• offshore or working on vessels
• travelling regularly
• part-time
• working compressed hours
• on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave
• returning from sickness absence or long-term leave
• working alone
• based across multiple sites or countries
• unable to access digital systems easily during the working day

These groups may experience very different barriers to support. They may lack privacy. They may not have a reliable signal. They may be asleep during daytime sessions because they work nights. They may be driving, travelling, caring, recovering or working in environments where joining a live wellbeing session is simply unrealistic.

HSE guidance on lone working and mental health recognises that lone working can affect work-related stress and mental health, particularly because being away from managers and colleagues can make it harder to access proper support. HSE also advises employers to consider stress and mental health risks for home workers, including the potential for isolation or feeling disconnected.

So, if our wellbeing activity only works for people who are available between 9am and 5pm, at a desk, with privacy, a laptop and control over their calendar, it may not be as inclusive as we think.

Moving From Awareness to Action

The theme of action is useful because it challenges organisations to move beyond good intentions.

A wellbeing calendar is not the same as a wellbeing strategy. A webinar is not the same as culture change. A recording is not the same as inclusion. A mental health campaign is not the same as psychological safety.

Action means asking better design questions.

1. Who can access this?
2. Who is likely to miss out?
3. Whose working pattern have we assumed?
4. Does this work for field, shift, remote and part-time employees?
5. How will people on leave know support exists?
6. Are managers equipped to support people they rarely see?
7. Are we creating real opportunities for conversation, or just sending more information?

CIPD wellbeing at work guidance emphasises that employee wellbeing needs to be integrated into culture, leadership and people management, rather than treated as a standalone initiative. This aligns closely with the way we approach workplace wellbeing at Mindset: support needs to be practical, evidence-informed and embedded into everyday habits, not limited to one-off awareness sessions.

For dispersed or operational teams, this is especially important. A single campaign is unlikely to shift the experience of someone who rarely has protected time, rarely sees their manager and rarely has meaningful contact with colleagues.

What Inclusive Wellbeing Action Can Look Like

Taking action for the whole workforce does not always require complex programmes. Often, it starts with designing support around real working lives.

1. Map who is currently reached, and who is not

Look at attendance, engagement and feedback by role type, location, working pattern and contract type. Are field employees attending wellbeing sessions? Are night shift teams represented? Are part-time employees able to join? Are people on family leave included in communications in a thoughtful and appropriate way? Are people actually reviewing the recordings? 

Low engagement does not always mean low interest. Sometimes it means the support has not been designed to be accessible.

2. Offer wellbeing support at different times and in different formats

An 11 am webinar may work well for office-based teams, but not for drivers, offshore workers, night shift teams or part-time employees. Consider repeated sessions, shorter sessions, shift-change briefings, manager-led discussion guides, audio resources, mobile-friendly content and practical toolkits.

The goal is not to create more content for the sake of it. The goal is to make support usable.

3. Stop Treating Recordings as the Inclusion Strategy

Recordings can be useful, but they are rarely enough on their own. Many people will not watch them, not because they do not care, but because they are tired, time-poor or unsure how the content applies to them.

If recordings are used, pair them with something active: a team discussion, a manager check-in, a reflection prompt, a short toolbox talk or a follow-up conversation.

4. Equip Managers to Build Connection Intentionally

For dispersed employees, the line manager relationship is often the main route into support. Managers need confidence to notice changes, ask supportive questions and make check-ins feel human rather than purely task-focused. They also need time to build connections with their teams, which is recognised as an important part of their workload. 

This is particularly important for employees who are rarely seen in person. If managers only speak to people when something has gone wrong, opportunities for early support are easily missed.

5. Create Team Rituals That Support Belonging

Connection does not always require large events. Small rituals can make a difference: regular check-ins, peer buddy systems, reflective team huddles, virtual coffees, shift debriefs, mentoring, or occasional in-person connection days designed around relationship-building rather than just updates.

In hot-desking and hybrid environments, this matters too. If the office no longer guarantees familiarity, organisations may need to create new ways for people to build relationships across changing spaces.

6. Include People Who Are Temporarily Away From Work

Employees on maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, bereavement leave, sickness absence or career breaks can easily become disconnected from workplace support. Communication needs to be thoughtful and consent-based, but these employees should not disappear from wellbeing thinking.

Returning to work after leave can be a psychologically significant transition. Support should not begin on the first day back; it should be part of a planned, human return.

The Real Test of Workplace Wellbeing

This Mental Health Awareness Week, organisations will be encouraged to take action. That is positive. But the real test is whether those actions reach the people who are easiest to overlook.

Workplace mental health action needs to be broad enough to reflect the whole workforce. Not just the people we see most often. Not just the people whose calendars look like ours. Not just the people who can attend at lunchtime.

Because a connection is not created by sending more messages. It is created when people have the time, trust and psychological safety to express what truly matters.

And that means designing wellbeing actions around the reality of how people actually work.

How Mindset Can Help

At Mindset, we support organisations to take practical, evidence-informed action on workplace wellbeing, mental health and culture. We help teams move beyond awareness campaigns to create support that is inclusive, psychologically informed and relevant to the realities of different roles, working patterns and environments.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, the challenge is not simply to do something.

It is to make sure the actions we take are designed for everyone.