New analysis from Wellhub, a world company wellness platform, reveals a obtrusive wellbeing hole between CEOs and their workers. Printed in June 2025, the Return on Wellbeing 2025 Examine discovered 93% of CEOs report glorious or good private wellbeing in contrast with solely 63% of workers. This stark distinction suggests an accessibility downside, with impactful wellbeing assist being each unaffordable for particular person workers and inadequately addressed by organisations.
By surveying over 1,500 CEOs and enterprise leaders throughout 10 totally different international locations – together with the UK, US and Germany – the research additionally discovered over three-quarters of CEOs (78%) view wellbeing as a strategic funding, not merely a perk.
This begs the query: If CEOs are self-reporting as glad and wholesome, and so they acknowledge the enterprise advantages of workforce wellbeing funding, why does this vital executive-employee wellbeing hole exist? From monetary disparities to unaddressed office stressors, this text examines the potential root causes of this regarding divide.
Wellbeing inequality within the office
First, let’s look at the accessibility situation. The hefty pay of CEOs permits private funding in high-cost choices resembling remedy, teaching, private coaching, preventative healthcare assessments, wearable applied sciences, and higher high quality meals and vitamin.
Many workers can not afford to pay for these premium wellbeing provisions out of their again pocket. Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reveals over half of youthful workers reside paycheck to paycheck, and there are additionally indicators of a second-job pattern rising amongst SME staff who’re struggling to deal with the rise of value of dwelling.
This monetary pressure exacerbates poor wellbeing, with MetLife analysis revealing 45% of workers with psychological well being issues citing cash issues as a key driver.
Within the UK, many workers are additionally struggling to entry NHS companies, with an enormous post-Covid backlog leaving 6.2 million particular person sufferers ready for therapy. Whereas CEOs have the monetary means to decide on personal healthcare, the identical can’t be stated for lower- and middle-income earners, who will probably be left on a protracted ready listing struggling to search out assist.
Basically, these leaders possess the two-fold profit of monetary safety and higher healthcare entry, which undoubtedly performs a big position on this reported wellbeing imbalance.
If a CEO is invested of their wellbeing, they are going to strongly contemplate rising organisational wellbeing budgets.
CEOs as wellbeing champions
With workers struggling to afford the assist they want, organisations have a duty to supply significant options. In line with Wellhub’s analysis, the CEOs reporting good wellbeing are robust champions for worker wellbeing funding – however this hasn’t but translated into provisions and initiatives that make a significant affect.
Key findings present:
- CEOs who personally interact in wellness programmes are twice as prone to make investments additional.
- The largest concern referring to worker wellbeing provisions amongst CEOs is worker participation (funds is an in depth second).
- Month-to-month affect reporting may enhance the probabilities of additional funding by 58%.
The excellent news right here is that if a CEO is invested of their wellbeing, they are going to strongly contemplate rising organisational wellbeing budgets. However this comes with caveats.
Managing the participation downside
Poor uptake is a identified situation, with over half (58%) of HR leaders admitting their wellbeing advantages have been underused by workers in a 2024 research by Cigna Healthcare. It’s comprehensible, then, that enterprise leaders want a complete wellbeing technique. One which considers the complete worker journey, together with a proactive plan for encouraging participation.
The difficulty lies, partially, in an absence of ongoing communications about obtainable companies and assist for workers. Sending out an electronic mail introducing new initiatives doesn’t suffice. Workers want common reminders and nudges at key touchpoints.
Employers additionally want to research which cohorts have a very low uptake and observe up with a extra nuanced method. For instance, analysis exhibits that as much as 70% of younger males keep away from looking for psychological well being assist, with the emphasis on ‘emotional expression’ reasonably than action-oriented approaches in remedy cited as a key avoidance issue. Reframing assist mechanisms as a improvement alternative higher interact males who’re reluctant to indicate vulnerability.
Addressing office stressors
Past this, organisations additionally have to replicate on their contribution to rising stress and burnout ranges amongst workers – particularly among the many youthful generations. Deloitte analysis finds 40% of Gen Zs and 34% of millennials are anxious or pressured all or more often than not, with one-third saying their job is a big contributing issue to their poor psychological well being.
Dr Jo Burrell – a scientific psychologist and co-founder of Final Resilience – notes that employers should not tackling this downside successfully. “The landmark Oxford research discovered that many wellbeing interventions fail to enhance wellbeing as a result of they don’t deal with core office stressors. Workers gained’t interact with tokenistic provides. Employers should do the groundwork wanted to grasp job calls for and guarantee assist is related, well timed, and efficient.”
With out an intentional method that combats the actual struggles of workers, this stark wellbeing hole between CEOs and their folks will solely persist
Making a real affect begins with technique
Wellhub’s analysis additionally discovered that over half of CEOs view wellbeing as a strategic funding – one which has elevated productiveness (56%), lowered absenteeism (67%) and strengthened worker retention (73%).
But their second greatest concern referring to wellbeing advantages is the excessive implementation value. These large budgets require proof of affect, with leaders stating that extra frequent reporting (ideally month-to-month) may result in enhanced wellbeing budgets.
Nevertheless, additional funding shouldn’t be granted solely via well timed reporting. Organisations want to contemplate the issues they’re making an attempt to resolve and the affect they want to make when making a wellbeing technique. It will allow them to benchmark their progress alongside the best way. Dr Jo Burrell notes that this (typically ignored) place to begin must be knowledgeable by workers and their struggles. “CEOs could see wellbeing as strategic, however many skip the technique. Too typically, interventions are chosen for his or her recognition or polish, not their relevance.”
“A very strategic method begins with listening: understanding worker ache factors and tailoring assist accordingly.” She provides: “With out this, even well-intended provides danger lacking the mark totally.”
Closing the wellbeing hole
Workers at this time are contending with a excessive value of dwelling, rising work-related stress and long-term well being situations – all with restricted entry to the appropriate assist. Whereas CEOs could perceive the destructive affect these points have on the enterprise, this consciousness has not but translated into an efficient wellbeing technique that will get to the guts of the issue.
With out an intentional method that combats the actual struggles of workers, this stark wellbeing hole between CEOs and their folks will solely persist – and widen.
