For years, one of the biggest challenges in workplace health and wellbeing has been proving impact.
Leaders have broadly accepted that wellbeing influences performance, productivity, retention and risk. But when it comes to measuring that impact consistently – and making confident investment decisions – many organisations are still navigating uncertainty.
What’s interesting right now is the growing number of research initiatives focused specifically on solving this problem.
From academia to industry and government-backed programmes, there’s a clear shift underway: moving workplace health and wellbeing from a “belief-based” discipline to one grounded in evidence, consistency and measurable outcomes.
A growing focus on evidence and effectiveness
Three initiatives, in particular, highlight this trend.
First, a major new programme led by the University of Birmingham is set to explore the effectiveness of workplace health interventions – particularly those that are free at the point of use for employers.
Second, Affinity Health at Work’s Research Consortium is calling for evidence to help organisations better understand and communicate ROI (Return on Investment) and VOI (Value on Investment).
And third, the Keep Britain Working Review continues to build momentum with a dedicated data workstream, focused on defining how workplace health outcomes should be measured at scale.
Taken together, these initiatives signal a clear direction of travel: better data, better frameworks and more confidence in what works.
University of Birmingham: testing what works for SMEs
The £3.7 million, five-year research programme led by the University of Birmingham will focus on workplace health and wellbeing initiatives delivered through local authorities – often funded by public health or mayoral bodies.
These initiatives, known as WHISPAs (Workplace Health Interventions Support Programme Activities), are particularly important for SMEs, which often lack the resources to invest heavily in health and wellbeing support.
The research will:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of free and low-cost wellbeing initiatives
- Assess how they are implemented in real-world settings
- Focus on outcomes such as sickness absence and quality of life
This is significant because while over 60 UK regions already offer some form of support, there is currently limited evidence on what actually delivers results – especially for smaller employers.
By building that evidence base, the programme aims to make workplace health and wellbeing support more accessible, scalable and impactful.
Affinity Health at Work: cracking the ROI and VOI challenge
While academic research focuses on effectiveness, many employers are grappling with a more immediate question: How do we measure and communicate the value of what we’re already doing?
That’s the focus of the Affinity Health at Work Research Consortium’s 2026 project, which is calling for evidence to support the development of a practical evaluation framework.
Their goal is to help organisations measure impact in a way that is:
- Consistent across different initiatives
- Simple enough to apply in practice
- Meaningful for both financial and non-financial outcomes
Importantly, the consortium distinguishes between:
- ROI (Return on Investment): the financial return relative to cost
- VOI (Value on Investment): broader benefits such as wellbeing, employee experience and reduced psychosocial risk
This reflects a growing recognition that not all value can – or should – be reduced to pounds and pence.
By gathering tools, methodologies and case studies, the project aims to create a shared approach that organisations can use to evaluate multiple wellbeing interventions in a comparable way.
Keep Britain Working: building a national measurement framework
Alongside these initiatives, the Keep Britain Working Review is embedding measurement into its wider transformation agenda.
A dedicated data workstream, led by EDF as a Vanguard employer, is defining how success should be tracked across three key outcomes:
- Sickness absence
- Return-to-work rates
- Participation and retention of disabled employees
These metrics will feed into the development of a new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit (WHIU) – designed to act as a central hub for:
- Insight and benchmarking
- Data aggregation
- Continuous improvement
The ambition is to create a system where organisations can not only measure their own performance, but also compare progress across sectors and regions, helping to drive national improvement.
Why this matters for employers
For well-informed HR, wellbeing and business leaders, none of this is about proving that wellbeing matters.
That case has largely been made.
The real challenge now is precision:
- What interventions actually move the needle?
- Which investments deliver the greatest return?
- How can impact be measured consistently across diverse workforces?
These emerging research initiatives are helping to answer those questions.
They also point to a future where workplace wellbeing is:
- More strategic
- More accountable
- More integrated into core business decision-making
A shift in the right direction
It’s encouraging to see this level of coordinated effort emerging across academia, industry and policy.
Each initiative tackles a different part of the same challenge – from testing effectiveness, to measuring value, to building national infrastructure for data and insight.
Collectively, they are nudging the sector towards a more mature, evidence-based approach.
And ultimately, that’s what will enable organisations to move beyond good intentions – and ensure their approach to workplace culture, employee health and wellbeing genuinely makes a measurable difference.
Affinity Health at Work is inviting practitioners, researchers, organisations and stakeholders to support their research by sharing evidence and resources on the Return on Investment (ROI) and Value on Investment (VOI) of workplace wellbeing activity. To learn more about the project, the types of evidence they’re looking for and how you can submit yours, you can find more details on their website here.
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