Employee wellness is a true driver of retention in 2025. Recent studies have shown that a new focus on workplace wellness could reduce absenteeism and turnover, providing a significant return on investment for employers.
For every £1 spent on employee wellbeing, employers could yield up to £9. In fact, addressing poor employee wellbeing could add £130–£370 billion to the UK economy annually, equivalent to £4,000–£12,000 per employee.
Workplace wellness programmes also boost productivity and lower healthcare costs for UK businesses. With more than half of all long-term sick leave associated with stress, depression and burn-out, prioritising employee wellness schemes could save your company thousands in the long run.
Don’t believe us? Let’s take a closer look at some of the key benefits associated with prioritising workplace wellness in 2025.
The cost of employee turnover in the UK
In 2025, the average cost of replacing an employee in England is £30,614. This is the equivalent of an average worker’s annual take-home pay and can be even higher if your turnover stems from high-ranking positions.
Replacing a senior role in 2025 costs a whopping £40,000-£100,000, contributing to a total yearly cost of £48 billion spent on employee turnover.
These costs may seem extortionate for replacing one employee, but it’s crucial to remember that managing turnover drains money from multiple areas of the business.
These costs include:
- Recruitment expenses
- Onboarding and training costs
- Profit loss during the transition period
- Impact on staff morale, reducing productivity
- Loss of institutional knowledge
On the back of rising taxes and interest rates, the UK business landscape has never been more brutal. In 2025, employers can no longer afford to lose their employees, especially if they want to turn a profit.
Four ways wellness initiatives can drive retention and savings
Investing in employee wellness could be the key to turning a profit in a modern-day business landscape.
To remain both productive and present in the workplace, employees must feel supported and cared for by their leaders. In an era where mental health has never been so important, business owners must prioritise workplace wellbeing in order to keep their retention rates high.
According to experts at IGPP, employee wellness programmes in the UK alone have increased productivity by 66% and are yielding a £5 return on every £1 spent on mental health in 2025.
Employee wellness programs address key factors that influence an employee’s decision to stay with a company. Here are just a few ways wellness initiatives can drive retention and savings for your business:
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- More Mental Health Support: Businesses that invest in mental health support systems could see a 20% increase in employee retention. Fostering a culture of open communication and building workshops around managing stress and burnout helps employees feel supported and encouraged to speak up when they are struggling in the workplace.
- Making Employees Feel Valued: Employees are twice as likely to remain in their role if their employer prioritises their well-being. Investing in your colleague’s mental and physical health demonstrates that you view them as a valued member of the team, which in turn, fosters loyalty and commitment to the company.
- Improved Work-Life Balance: Investing in flexible working initiatives or remote working schemes allows employees to balance their work and home life in a way that fits their schedule. This is crucial in a post-COVID era where work-life balance is a top priority for corporate workers.
- Enhanced Engagement and Productivity: Happy employees in the UK are up to 13% more productive, according to recent stats from the University of Oxford. Investing in their mental well-being could boost your company’s profits, as happy employees ace deadlines and take fewer sick days on average.
On the flipside, the same study from IGPP found that 42% of UK businesses have lost staff due to a lack of mental well-being support, reaffirming the importance of investing in your employees’ well-being.
How to care for your employees in the workplace
When it comes to implementing workplace wellbeing initiatives, it doesn’t have to cost the earth. Supporting employees can be as simple as fostering a positive, supportive work environment or prioritising regular check-ins with staff members who are struggling to stay afloat.
Here are a few low-cost ways to care for your employees in 2025:
Build a positive working culture
Fostering a supportive working environment is the key to helping employees stay longer in the workplace.
You don’t necessarily need to invest a great deal in wellbeing workshops. For smaller teams, the best action plans include promoting open communication, providing a safe space for colleagues to chat and offering support for stress, such as one-on-one HR meetings for employees who are struggling.
Recognise and reward hard work
Employees love to feel valued in the workplace. Encouraging learning and acknowledging hard work empowers employees and motivates them to stay productive in their roles.
If you have the means to do so, offering professional development is also a key driver of retention in the workplace. Employees want to grow while working at your company and climb their way up the career ladder.
Providing opportunities for career development, such as learning and shadowing programs, could be key to keeping employees more engaged in their roles and reducing turnover.
Promote a work-life balance
Supporting a healthy work-life balance in the workplace helps your employees manage their personal and professional lives with ease.
Encouraging healthy habits, such as taking walk breaks and stocking the canteen with healthy options, motivates workers to take care of themselves while working.
Offering hybrid and remote working schemes is also favourable and can make your business appear more attractive to employees with busy personal lives.
Wrapping up
There’s no doubt that workplace wellbeing is a key driver of employee retention.
If you want to cut employee turnover costs in half, you must first establish what factors are contributing to your high turnover rate in the first place.
Whether this is poor worker mental health, lack of development opportunities or absence of a work-life balance, you must jump on board the wellbeing train before it’s too late.
