Skip the Chief Wellbeing Officer. Appoint a Chief Human Sustainability Officer.
For a moment, it looked like Chief Wellbeing Officer might become the next must-have C-suite title. But it never really landed. Too often the role was positioned as custodian of yoga classes and step challenges rather than a strategic owner of how work is designed and delivered. It rarely made it to the board, and […]
The Business of Recovery: Why Organisational Rest Should Be a Year-End Priority
As the year draws to a close, many people find themselves counting down not just to the holidays, but to a much-needed pause. The final weeks of the year are often described as a time for reflection and renewal, yet for many employees, “time off” simply becomes “different kinds of busy.” Family obligations, social events, […]
From Wellbeing to Human Sustainability: How 2025 Redefined the Workplace and What 2026 Must Deliver
If the past decade was about proving that wellbeing matters, 2025 was the year the conversation grew up. The language of “wellbeing” began to give way to a broader, more strategic idea: human sustainability, the capacity of people and organisations to thrive together over time. The Great Maturity Shift For years, workplaces have focused […]
GUEST ARTICLE: Beyond Wellbeing Initiatives: How ‘HOP’ Thinking Can Transform Leadership Strategy
This week’s article was written by a great peer of mine Helen Hayes. Helen works in Human and Organisational Performance (HOP), helping organisations redesign systems to put people at the centre of culture and performance. With a background in clinical practice, wellbeing consultancy and communications, she helps create cultures that enable people and their wellbeing […]
You Can’t Out-Exercise a Poor Diet: Why Broken Organisations Stay Broken
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 […]
From Industrial to Intuitive: The Rise of the “Woo Woo” Leader
I was speaking recently with a breast cancer survivor who had introduced a naturopath into her life. A naturopath, for context, takes a holistic approach to health, blending nutrition, plant-based remedies, and lifestyle guidance to support the body’s natural healing systems. You are probably wondering what any of this has to do with workplace wellbeing, […]
GUEST ARTICLE: Why every employee wellbeing strategy should start with recruitment
We spend a lot of time talking about wellbeing at work: mindfulness programmes, gym memberships, flexible work policies, EAP hotlines, and engagement surveys. These things matter, but they’re often just well-intentioned attempts to fix issues that were baked in long before a person’s first day. The truth is, employee wellbeing doesn’t start with yoga classes […]
The Hidden Cost of Relying on Resilience
In October, leaders start urging their teams to “dig deep” for the final push to year-end. It sounds like the sort of thing a leader should do, right? Unfortunately not! Resilience gets praised as the magic ingredient that will see people through pressure. But here’s the problem: resilience is not an endless resource. Rely on […]
The Contract No One Signs. And Why It Needs Rewriting
Done right, every employee signs a contract when they join a company. But the real deal that shapes daily experience is not written down. It is the psychological contract: the expectations and obligations between employee and employer. First discussed in the 1960s by Chris Argyris and Harry Levinson, and later formalised by Denise Rousseau, the […]
Rethinking the RFP: Why “Knowing Exactly What You Want” Might Be the Problem
There’s a paradox at the heart of most Request for Proposal (RFP) processes, especially in areas such as people and culture. Often, companies go out to market for expert help. And then tell those experts exactly what to do. The intention is sound (from a procurement perspective): define the scope, control the spend, and ensure […]