ROI of Wellbeing Programmes: Tools to Build the Business Case
The ROI of wellbeing programmes is built by linking wellbeing to measurable business outcomes like absence, presenteeism, turnover, safety, and performance—then tracking what changes after you improve leadership behaviours, work design, and support pathways. This guide gives you the practical tools to quantify impact, present it credibly, and win budget without relying on “nice to have” language.
This article sits inside Health and wellbeing in the corporate world: The Human Leader playbook.
If you want leaders to deliver the conditions that create measurable wellbeing outcomes (psychological safety, clarity, healthier rhythms, better conversations), explore The Human Leader Workshop.
Why “ROI” matters, and what it should include
CFOs and boards don’t fund wellbeing because it’s kind. They fund it because it reduces cost, protects performance, and lowers risk.
And the UK data makes the “cost” case hard to ignore:
The CIPD’s Health and Wellbeing at Work reporting shows sickness absence has risen (for many organisations, up to 9.4 days per employee per year in the latest report). (CIPD)
CIPD also references official data showing 29.6 million working days lost to work-related ill health in 2023/24, with stress, anxiety and depression accounting for almost 16.4 million of those. (CIPD)
Deloitte’s UK analysis of workplace mental health interventions reports an average £4.70 return for every £1 invested. (Deloitte United Kingdom)
UK government “Keep Britain Working” material cites strong returns for multiple interventions, including EAP ROI averaging £8 per £1, and mental health/wellbeing investments referencing Deloitte’s £4.70 return. (GOV.UK)
But here’s the key: ROI is not only money back.
A strong business case includes:
financial return (hard savings or productivity value)
risk reduction (legal, safety, psychosocial risk)
capability building (manager skill, culture resilience)
strategic outcomes (retention, employer brand, performance)
This is exactly the logic behind Wellbeing as a business strategy: Embedding health into leadership.
The biggest mistake: measuring the programme instead of the problem
Many wellbeing initiatives fail in the boardroom because they measure:
attendance
downloads
satisfaction scores
Those metrics don’t answer the executive question:
“What did this change in the organisation that matters?”
So your business case should start with the cost drivers:
absence
presenteeism
turnover
performance drift
conflict escalation
safety incidents
grievance volume
burnout risk and long-term absence
Then show how your intervention changes the drivers (leadership behaviour + work design), not just how many people attended a webinar.
This connects with psychosocial risk thinking, and why standards like ISO 45003 matter in practical culture design: From policy to practice: Bringing ISO 45003 to life in your culture. (GOV.UK)
Your ROI toolkit: a simple 7-step approach
Step 1: Pick one primary business outcome (don’t try to measure everything)
Choose ONE main outcome you’ll lead with, such as:
reduce absence
reduce presenteeism
reduce turnover
improve productivity in a specific function
improve safety (if frontline/operations)
You can include secondary outcomes later, but your headline must be sharp.
Step 2: Build a baseline using data you already have
Most organisations already hold what they need:
HR: absence days, long-term absence cases, turnover, time-to-fill, exit reasons
Finance: payroll costs, recruitment costs, overtime, contractor spend
Ops: output, error rates, quality metrics, customer metrics
Surveys: engagement, stress, psychological safety indicators
EAP/occupational health: aggregated utilisation themes (never personal data)
CIPD’s reporting also helps you benchmark and frame why leadership skill and stress prevention matters. (CIPD)
Step 3: Define the “mechanism of change”
This is the missing link in many proposals.
Example mechanisms:
manager capability increases → earlier support conversations → fewer crises → reduced long-term absence
work design improves → fewer overload weeks → lower presenteeism
meeting hygiene improves → better focus → fewer errors + higher throughput
hybrid rhythm improves → better belonging → better retention
This is why your cluster includes leadership behaviour and rhythms, not just benefits:
Leading with nervous system awareness: Somatic skills for modern managers
Creating your human leader roadmap: From one-off workshops to lasting change
HR and L&D as human leaders: Equipping culture shapers for the future of work
Step 4: Use a credible ROI formula (with conservative assumptions)
Here are three CFO-friendly models.
Model A: Absence savings (simple and widely accepted)
Value = (absence days reduced) × (cost per absence day)
If you don’t have internal cost/day, you can estimate with:
average daily salary cost (salary ÷ working days)
plus on-costs (NI, pension, overheads)
plus overtime/temporary cover where applicable
CIPD highlights how absence has risen, which helps justify why preventing absence is a core business issue. (CIPD)
Model B: Presenteeism value (often the biggest prize)
Presenteeism is harder, but it’s often where the biggest hidden cost lives. The UK government “Keep Britain Working” report summarises evidence that presenteeism can equate to multiple lost productive days per person per year. (GOV.UK)
A conservative method:
Value = (productive days regained) × (average daily value of labour)
Use small assumptions (e.g., “we regain 0.5 productive day per employee per quarter”), then scale.
Model C: Turnover savings (highly persuasive)
Value = (leavers avoided) × (replacement cost per leaver)
Replacement cost includes recruitment, onboarding, ramp-up time, and lost productivity.
Even a small reduction in regretted attrition can fund a programme fast.
Step 5: Choose a measurement design that leaders trust
You don’t need a university study. You do need credibility.
Options:
pre/post (before vs after programme)
pilot vs control group (best if you can)
staggered rollout (use later cohorts as comparison)
matched teams (similar size/function)
Keep your evaluation timeframe realistic:
8–12 weeks for early signals (meeting quality, manager confidence, psychological safety)
3–6 months for absence/turnover trends
6–12 months for deeper culture change
Deloitte’s ROI analysis is useful here, because it shows that earlier, organisation-wide interventions (like culture and manager training) can generate strong returns. (Edu-c8 Mental Health & Wellbeing)
Step 6: Add “evidence anchors” from credible sources
These are your board-level credibility supports:
Government summary of typical ROI ranges (EAP, mental health, MSK). (GOV.UK)
Deloitte: average £4.70 return per £1 invested in mental health interventions. (Deloitte United Kingdom)
CIPD: absence trends and the importance of manager capability. (CIPD)
Use these as context, then lead with your internal baseline and pilot data.
Step 7: Present the business case in a board-friendly format
A good structure:
Problem: “Here is the cost trend and business impact”
Root cause: “Leadership + work design + stress drivers”
Intervention: “What we’ll do (skills + systems + rhythms)”
Measurement: “How we’ll track outcomes”
Financial case: “Conservative ROI scenario + upside scenario”
Risk: “What happens if we do nothing”
Ask: “Budget, timeline, decision”
A practical “ROI worksheet” you can use immediately
Use this as a template:
1) Define population
Target group size: ____ employees
Scope: department / region / whole business
2) Baseline
Absence days per employee/year: ____
Turnover rate: ____
Employee survey stress/burnout indicator: ____
EAP usage (aggregated): ____
3) Cost assumptions
Cost per absence day: ____
Cost per replacement hire: ____
Estimated productivity value per day: ____
4) Conservative impact assumptions
Reduce absence by: ____ days/employee/year
Reduce turnover by: ____ leavers/year
Regain productivity by: ____ days/employee/year
5) ROI calculation
Total value: £____
Total programme cost: £____
ROI = (value ÷ cost)
Then add a sensitivity table:
Low / expected / high impact
This keeps the case honest and robust.
What to do when leaders say “Wellbeing doesn’t work”
This comes up a lot. Sometimes because past programmes were superficial.
A strong response is:
“You’re right that perks alone don’t fix systemic stress. That’s why this programme targets leadership behaviour and work design, and we will measure outcomes that matter.”
This aligns with the shift many analysts argue for: moving from perks to root-cause organisational change. (Financial Times)
Your cluster already supports that direction through leadership skills and practical culture change:
Leading with nervous system awareness: Somatic skills for modern managers
From policy to practice: Bringing ISO 45003 to life in your culture
Creating your human leader roadmap: From one-off workshops to lasting change
Next steps on your Human Leader path
If you want to build an ROI case that lands, focus on what leaders can do differently every week—because that’s where absence, presenteeism, and retention start changing.
Start here:
Health and wellbeing in the corporate world: The Human Leader playbook
Wellbeing as a business strategy: Embedding health into leadership
From policy to practice: Bringing ISO 45003 to life in your culture
I look forward to connecting with you in my next post.
Until then, be well and keep shining.
Peter. :)
