Why health and wellbeing should be on HR’s radar in 2026

As we move further into 2026, health and wellbeing are set to be prominent topics for organisations.

Published in late 2025, the Keep Britain Working Review highlighted the scale of the challenge employers are up against; around one in five working-age adults are out of the workforce, largely due to health problems[1].

At the same time, organisations are facing pressure from employees and prospective staff to demonstrate a genuine commitment to health and wellbeing. In fact, Vitality’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace report highlighted that 63% of employees want their employer to do more to support their health[2].

As employee expectations continue to evolve, and health and wellbeing remains a challenge for employers at an individual and business level – as highlighted by the Keep Britain Working report[1] – there’s a lot for HR to grapple with.

So, where should the people function focus its efforts in 2026 and beyond?

Employee health in the spotlight

For Luke McClaran, Chief People Officer at Vitality, changing workforce expectations – particularly when it comes to health and wellbeing – will likely be a key focus for HR teams.

“We’re seeing that employees are looking for a much more rounded, holistic support package from their employers,” he explains.

While pay, rewards and career development will continue to be a key priority and expectation among prospective candidates, there’s also a desire for more tailored health and wellbeing support.

Against this backdrop, Luke says HR teams will need to focus on personalisation, tailoring wellbeing support to individual needs. This will be crucial as employee priorities and expectations continue to evolve.

Demonstrating the ROI of supporting health and wellbeing

However, at a time when businesses are facing increased costs and economic uncertainty[3], delivering employee wellbeing support may become more difficult to fund.

In some instances, HR teams might be expected to do more with less resource and come under greater scrutiny to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of any initiatives that are offered to staff.

To help tackle this, Luke says it’s crucial to ensure that HR champions the right type of interventions, and ones that staff will actually engage with.

While employees are, on average, aware of 70% of the health and wellbeing interventions available to them, they use just 25% – which suggests that staff are unaware of what’s on offer or that the services are not resonating[2].

He says: “It’s important to understand the specific objectives of the organisation, the skills and talent the business is going to need to attract and retain to achieve their ambitions, and how these health and wellbeing interventions can support these overarching goals.”

Engagement surveys and feedback sessions can be a great way to find out what is resonating with staff so that employers can better satisfy their needs.

Feedback from prospective employees and external trends data can also help HR to build a picture of the wellbeing initiatives that are likely to offer the best support and return on investment.

What support do employees want?

Traditional benefits like healthy snacks, free yoga and ping pong tables are no longer enough to support health and wellbeing at work. Employees now want more meaningful, holistic support that spans a range of wellbeing pillars.

Benefits like private medical insurance (PMI) have shifted from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’. For example, Vitality's Britain's Healthiest Workplace report showed that 40% of employees identified PMI as one of the initiatives they would find most useful - with PMI being the second most valued initiative[2].

Additionally, 45% of employees selected mental health support as one of the initiatives they would find most useful, 35% of employees selected financial wellbeing support, and 32% selected return-to-work support following an illness[2]. Offering health and wellbeing support is beneficial to employees on an individual level but it can also benefit businesses too.

With the Britain’s Healthiest Workplace report highlighting that lost productivity due to ill health was estimated to cost the UK economy £860 billion between 2014 and 2023[2], the costly impact if employers ignore the health and wellbeing of their workforce is clear to see.

2026 and beyond

As employers move further into 2026, Luke recommends that HR thinks about key business objectives for the next six months.

He also said that employers should think about their employees, what they are struggling with, what matters to them and how they can be better supported to thrive at work. “You can then tailor your people plans to speak to all these needs,” he says.

As the world of work continues to evolve – and employee expectations continue to shift – advances in AI and technology may help to unlock efficiency and productivity gains.

HR teams will play a key role in navigating this landscape and understanding how technology can be utilised to support employee health and wellbeing, such as providing personalised recommendations to help staff form healthier and lasting habits.

[1]  Keep Britain Working Review, gov.uk, Autumn 2025

[2] 10 Years of Britain's Healthiest Workplace: the changing face of the UK at work, Vitality, 2025

[3] Business insights and impact on the UK economy, gov.uk, January 2026

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