Many organisations are missing the real key to building human sustainability and high performance. They are throwing good money after bad by investing in the wrong solutions, delivered at the wrong time, to the wrong people.
I see it repeatedly. Companies introduce mindfulness apps, resilience workshops, or “fun at work” campaigns, hoping to re-energise tired teams. HR departments launch pulse surveys, new perks, and awareness days. These ideas are not wrong; they are simply misplaced and over-valued. Despite good intentions, results are limited, and the bigger picture remains unchanged. Stress, disengagement, and burnout continue to rise.
The problem is not effort. It is focus. Too much energy is spent trying to fix people instead of fixing the conditions that shape their work.
Why the metaphor matters
In health, there’s a saying: you can’t out-train a poor diet. Exercise matters, but if your diet is poor, your body simply cannot thrive.
The same principle applies to work. You cannot out-perk, out-workshop, or out-coach your way out of a broken system. If the underlying conditions are toxic; excessive workload, low fairness, limited autonomy, or weak leadership, no amount of exercise classes or coaching can undo the harm.
The World Health Organization and ISO 45003 highlight the same root causes: workload demands, role clarity, fairness, social support, and leadership behaviour. When these are poor, people suffer. When they are strong, performance improves.
The right “diet”
An organisation’s diet is the quality of its working conditions. A healthy one includes:
- Manageable demands: avoiding chronic overload and unrealistic deadlines.
- Role clarity and control: people know what is expected and have autonomy in how they deliver it.
- Fairness and justice: transparent processes and equitable treatment.
- Support and recognition: feeling valued, respected, and backed by peers and leaders.
- Psychological safety: being able to speak up without fear of blame or punishment.
These are not soft factors. They are recognised psychosocial hazards with proven links to mental health, retention, and business performance. Gallup’s global data consistently shows that addressing these drivers predicts engagement and productivity far better than perks or programmes.
When organisations skip this foundation and go straight to “exercise,” they should not be surprised when results fail to stick. A poor organisational diet also leaves people and teams less able to withstand shocks, be that economic, technological, or cultural, creating volatility within your organisation.
Movement is medicine
If diet is the foundation, movement is what builds strength. In health, exercise creates energy, strength, and resilience. In organisations, movement is adaptability: the ability to recalibrate systems, renew leadership practices, and build momentum for change.
This is where leadership makes the difference. Leaders who act on evidence, measure psychosocial risks, and test new approaches create motion. Without it, even the healthiest design will stagnate.
The hidden cost of a poor diet
Poor organisational diets often go undetected. They rarely appear in engagement surveys or HR dashboards. Initiatives look good on paper but fail to address root causes.
This leaves CEOs and boards in a blind spot. They see retention issues, innovation plateaus, and rising costs but cannot trace the cause. The risks are real, quietly eroding performance and resilience.
Addressing this requires a diagnostic approach that reveals psychosocial risks, not one that glosses over them. ISO 45003 sets a clear expectation: identify risks, then manage them. Doing so demands courage, curiosity, and the willingness to face uncomfortable truths. But whether you uncover them or not, those risks continue to shape outcomes.
From fixing people to fixing conditions.
From treating symptoms to redesigning systems.
From chasing activity to building sustainability.
Those are the shifts that separate resilient organisations from the rest, and as the both the business and external conditions remain turbulent, foundation strength is key.
About WellWise
WellWise helps organisations identify and manage psychosocial risks so people and performance can thrive together. Its evidence-based diagnostic aligns with ISO 45003 and global wellbeing standards, providing leaders with clear insights into what’s helping, what’s hurting, and where to focus next. Trusted worldwide, WellWise turns workplace data into human-centred action.
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