The concept of self-care has embedded itself in mainstream conversation. But workplace self-care is much more than physical activity and mental health days. The seven pillars of self-care identified by the International Self-Care Foundation show how broad self-care really is.
National Self-Care Week (16th-22nd November) is an opportunity for employers to think about how they support all seven pillars of self-care for individuals across the workforce.
National Self-Care Week workplace ideas
Self-care is often associated with lifestyle, but looking after our health is more than the choices we make during leisure time. Supporting employee self-care therefore means considering the wider conditions that help people maintain their physical and mental health, and creating a work environment where healthier choices are practical and accessible.
According to the 2026 ‘Work is Health’ study, conducted by YouGov and the Playlist group, which surveyed 4,000 employees across four countries, 41% of UK employees say their work has negatively affected their mental wellbeing, and 34% say health issues have negatively affected their work performance in the past year.
What are the seven pillars of self-care?
The International Self-Care Foundation’s seven pillars provide a broad framework for maintaining health, preventing illness, and supporting general wellbeing.
1. Knowledge and health literacy
Health literacy is having the knowledge and aptitude to confidently make informed decisions about your health. At work, this includes understanding health information and knowing how to find help. Make sure all communications are accessible to employees with different language needs, digital confidence, and levels of health literacy.
2. Mental wellbeing
Looking after mental wellbeing involves recognising personal needs, understanding how we feel, and having some autonomy over decisions that affect our health. Make sure your employees don’t feel they are responsible for managing workplace stress. Provide psychological safety, supportive managers, manageable workloads, and access to appropriate mental health support.
3. Physical activity
Regular physical activity supports physical health, and can contribute to mental wellbeing, helping people manage the demands of daily life. Employees should feel able to choose their physical activity, so make sure your wellness benefits include flexible access to a choice of gyms, leisure centres, and other activities.
In the workplace, offer strategies such as walking meetings, movement breaks, and options for active commuting along with your flexible fitness benefits.
4. Healthy eating
The healthy eating pillar of self-care at work means access to drinking water and nutritious food options, facilities for storing or preparing food, and enough breaks to eat and digest food comfortably.
Employee communications should avoid food policing and weight-focused messaging, and should acknowledge that employees have different dietary needs and resources.
5. Risk avoidance or mitigation
This pillar involves understanding and reducing avoidable risks to health. The ISF framework gives examples including smoking cessation, moderating alcohol, and sun protection.
Employers can support access to health information and preventative services as well as giving appropriate occupational health measures without stigmatising people for health behaviours.
6. Good hygiene
Hygiene is a basic but vital part of preventing illness and protecting individual and community health. At work, this can include accessible handwashing facilities and safe food preparation areas, and appropriate cleaning practices.
7. Rational and responsible use of products and services
The final pillar in the ISF framework is about using health products and services appropriately and with an understanding of their benefits and risks. Employers can support by making it easier for colleagues to understand and access appropriate health services and benefits. Fitness and wellness services can be part of the broader picture here, and should be credible and appropriate.
Why is self-care important in the workplace?
The ISF seven pillars demonstrate that self-care is broader than relaxation activities at home. It encompasses physical, psychological, and preventative approaches to individual and community health.
Workplace culture can either make healthy behaviours easier to maintain, or it can create barriers. The most effective approach combines individual support with embedded workplace practices that make self-care part of organisational life.
There’s a connection between employee health and organisation outcomes, too, with better individual health influencing engagement, performance, and retention. The Work is Health survey found that 44% of respondents say mental fatigue and stress are an obstacle to work-life balance.
What is the connection between self-care and reduced employee stress?
The seven pillars of self-care can help employees build habits that contribute to better health, but workplace stress needs to be addressed at its source. A preventative approach to employee stress means making wellbeing part of how work is designed. Employers need to combine individual wellbeing support with action on the organisational factors that contribute to stress, including unrealistic workloads, competing priorities, unreasonable pressure, and lack of opportunities for recovery.
Why single-focus wellness programmes fail
Reviewing the seven pillars is a useful way to review your wellness benefits package: does it cover the breadth of self-care and offer accessible flexibility and choice relevant to all colleagues? Create a holistic employee wellbeing strategy rather than a collection of disjointed benefits.
How can employers support employee self-care without micromanaging?
Employees have different preferences, circumstances, and health needs. Make support available without expecting everyone to participate in the same activities or want to share the same amount of health information.
- Ask employees what they need: use surveys, focus groups, 1-to-1s and relaxed conversations to identify preferences and barriers
- Offer choice and flexibility: provide different ways to access support and benefits including fitness as a benefit
- Make participation practical: consider time, cost, location, accessibility, and working patterns
- Supportive management: train managers to model healthy habits and discuss wellbeing
- Communicate clearly: make sure all employees know what support exists, whether it is confidential, and how to access it
How do you measure the impact of a workplace wellbeing initiative?
To understand whether workplace self-care initiatives are making a difference, look beyond the numbers. Combining engagement data with feedback and wider workforce indicators will give a more rounded view of the impact.
- Who is using the initiative, how often, and which groups are less engaged?
- Are all colleagues including shift workers, remote workers and apprentices able to participate?
- Do people say they find the support relevant, useful, easy to access?
- Do all employees know what support is available and how to use it?
- What trends are you seeing in absence, presenteeism, retention, and wellbeing?
Making self-care part of your workforce strategy
A holistic approach to employee wellbeing recognises that physical activity is one part of the wider picture. Employers can support this pillar by making opportunities to stay active accessible, flexible, and relevant to different needs.
The ClassPass Corporate Wellness Program helps organisations offer flexible fitness and wellness benefits, giving employees global access to 88,000+ venues including top-rated fitness studios, gyms, spas, and wellness services via a simple, easy-to-use membership.
To find out how flexible wellness benefits could support your employee wellbeing strategy, book a call with ClassPass.
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