When Your Organization Needs a Wellbeing Audit (And What It Involves)

When Your Organization Needs a Wellbeing Audit (And What It Involves)

Running wellbeing programs without understanding whether they're working? Seeing concerning trends in absence or turnover but not sure why? Here's when wellbeing audits make sense—and how they provide the clarity you need to fix what's not working.

By Craig Fearn •

The HR director who called me was frustrated. Her organization had invested seriously in wellbeing over the past two years. Mental health first aiders. Employee assistance program. Wellbeing app. Regular communications. Leadership training on supporting mental health.

On paper, they were doing everything right.

But absence rates hadn’t improved. Turnover in critical roles stayed high. Engagement scores were disappointing. And when she talked to employees confidentially, many said the wellbeing initiatives felt performative—nice gestures that didn’t address underlying problems.

“I don’t know if we’re doing the wrong things, or just not doing them properly, or if something else is going on that we’re missing,” she told me. “We’re flying blind.”

That’s when a wellbeing audit makes sense. When you need to move from guessing to knowing. From assumptions to evidence. From scattershot initiatives to strategic approach.

After seventeen years working at board level and through my work as an FRSPH Fellow, I’ve conducted numerous organizational wellbeing audits. What they consistently reveal is this: most organizations overestimate how well they’re addressing wellbeing and miss significant gaps between what leadership thinks is happening and what employees actually experience.

Let me walk you through when audits make sense, what they involve, and how to use findings strategically.

The Signs You Need a Wellbeing Audit

Several patterns signal that wellbeing audit would provide valuable clarity.

You’re running wellbeing programs without clear evidence they’re working. Lots of organizations launch initiatives that look good. But can you demonstrate they’re actually improving organizational health? If you’re investing resources without knowing whether you’re getting return, audit provides baseline and direction.

Absence or turnover rates concern you. When these metrics trend wrong, something’s driving them. Wellbeing audit helps identify root causes—are people leaving because of workload? Poor management? Culture issues? Better opportunities elsewhere? You can’t fix what you don’t understand.

Engagement scores are declining or disappointing. Low engagement correlates with wellbeing issues. But engagement surveys often don’t dig deep enough to identify specific wellbeing problems or their causes. Audit goes deeper.

You’re preparing major organizational change. Restructures, mergers, significant growth, new strategy—all create wellbeing risks. Audit before change helps you understand baseline and anticipate where support will be needed. Audit during or after change assesses impact and identifies emerging issues.

There’s disconnect between leadership perception and employee experience. Leadership thinks wellbeing is fine. But informal feedback or exit interviews suggest otherwise. Audit provides objective assessment that cuts through this disconnect.

You’re not sure where to focus limited resources. Can’t do everything. Audit identifies highest-priority areas so you invest resources where they’ll have most impact.

You want board-level visibility. If wellbeing becomes board governance priority (and increasingly it should be), boards need data. Audit provides the baseline assessment and ongoing measurement that enables proper wellbeing governance.

You’re entering new regulatory or ESG reporting territory. Investors and stakeholders increasingly expect organizations to report on workforce wellbeing. Audit gives you credible data to report and demonstrates you’re taking the issue seriously.

You simply don’t know your current state. Many organizations genuinely don’t understand their workforce wellbeing situation. They’re reacting to problems as they surface rather than proactively managing organizational health. Audit creates that foundational understanding.

If several of these apply to your organization, audit will almost certainly provide valuable insight.

What Wellbeing Audit Actually Involves

Audit approaches vary, but comprehensive wellbeing audits typically include several components.

Workplace policies and procedures review. Examining what’s documented—policies on flexible working, leave, wellbeing support, mental health, stress management. Do policies exist? Are they current? Do they align with best practice?

Cultural assessment. Beyond written policies, what’s the actual culture? Do people feel safe raising concerns? Is workload sustainable? Do managers support wellbeing or undermine it? Culture determines whether formal wellbeing approaches actually work.

Workforce health data analysis. Absence patterns, turnover data, stress-related illness, workers compensation claims if applicable. What’s the data actually showing? Trends? Hotspots? Early warning signs?

Employee experience assessment. Usually through confidential surveys and focus groups. What are people actually experiencing? Where’s wellbeing good? Where are problems? What causes stress? What would help? Employee voice is essential—leaders often miss issues that are obvious to workforce.

Management practices review. How managers actually operate day-to-day shapes wellbeing more than any program. Are managers equipped to support team wellbeing? Do they model healthy behaviors? Or do they create stress through poor practices?

Physical environment assessment. Workspace design, noise levels, lighting, air quality, ergonomics—physical environment affects wellbeing. Often overlooked but important.

Wellbeing programs evaluation. What initiatives currently run? What’s participation? What’s impact? Are programs evidence-based? Do they address actual issues or just look good? Audit assesses program effectiveness honestly.

Benchmarking against frameworks. Comparison against recognized standards—British Safety Council’s Five Star Wellbeing Audit model, Workplace Wellbeing Charter, ISO 45003 psychological health and safety guidelines, CIPD good practice. Where do you meet expectations? Where are gaps?

Leadership and governance review. How does wellbeing fit into governance structures? Is there board-level oversight? Clear accountability? Strategic integration? Or is it delegated to HR as nice-to-have?

Comprehensive audit typically takes 6-8 weeks depending on organization size and complexity. Includes data collection, employee engagement, analysis, and detailed reporting with recommendations.

What Good Audits Reveal

Done properly, wellbeing audits surface insights that organizations genuinely didn’t have.

The gap between intention and reality. Leadership believes wellbeing is priority. But policies aren’t implemented consistently. Managers don’t support them. Or workload makes them impractical. Audit shows where good intentions aren’t translating to real experience.

Specific hotspots. Overall metrics might look okay. But particular teams, departments, or locations have serious problems. Audit identifies these hotspots so you can intervene.

Root causes, not just symptoms. High absence might be symptom. But root cause could be poor management, unrealistic workload, culture of presenteeism, inadequate support systems. Audit digs into causes so you address real issues.

What’s actually working. Not all news is bad. Audit typically identifies initiatives and practices that work well. This is valuable—you can build on success rather than reinventing everything.

Evidence-based priorities. Instead of guessing where to focus, audit provides clear evidence about what matters most. This shapes strategic approach and ensures resources go where they’ll have impact.

Credible baseline for measurement. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Audit creates baseline against which future progress can be assessed.

For the organization I mentioned earlier—the one running multiple wellbeing programs without clear impact—audit revealed that core problem wasn’t lack of programs. It was that workload in critical teams was genuinely unsustainable. No amount of wellbeing support fixes that. They needed staffing changes, workload redistribution, and realistic expectations. Programs were treating symptoms while ignoring disease.

That insight shifted their entire approach. Within a year, they’d addressed root causes. Absence improved. Turnover in critical areas dropped significantly. Employee sentiment became genuinely positive rather than politely skeptical.

Audit provided clarity that enabled effective action.

The ROI Question

Let’s talk about investment. Comprehensive organizational wellbeing audit from qualified provider typically costs several thousand pounds depending on size and scope.

Worth it?

Consider what you’re potentially wasting on ineffective wellbeing programs. Or the cost of preventable absence, turnover, and disengagement. Deloitte’s research shows average 5:1 return on wellbeing investment. But that assumes investment is targeted effectively. Without audit, you’re likely scattering resources across initiatives that aren’t addressing real issues.

Audit delivers ROI through:

  • Stopping investment in ineffective programs and redirecting resources to what works
  • Identifying high-priority areas so limited resources have maximum impact
  • Providing evidence base for securing additional wellbeing investment if needed
  • Preventing costly problems through early identification of emerging issues
  • Creating baseline for measuring improvement and demonstrating program effectiveness
  • Giving board and leadership credible data for governance and decision-making

Organizations that audit before significant wellbeing investment typically achieve better outcomes at lower cost than those that skip assessment and jump straight to programs.

Common Mistakes Organizations Make

Several patterns limit audit effectiveness.

Mistake 1: Treating audit as compliance exercise. Going through motions to tick box rather than genuinely wanting to understand and improve. This produces reports that get filed, not insights that drive action.

Mistake 2: Not ensuring confidentiality. If employees don’t trust that feedback is genuinely confidential, you won’t get honest input. Audit done without strong confidentiality protections misses critical information.

Mistake 3: Cherry-picking findings. Accepting good news, dismissing uncomfortable truths. Effective audit requires willingness to hear difficult feedback about leadership, management, culture, workload—not just identify gaps in program provision.

Mistake 4: Conducting audit then doing nothing. Worst outcome is doing audit, surfacing issues, then not acting. This damages trust and makes employees cynical about wellbeing efforts.

Mistake 5: Using audit as weapon. Some organizations audit to prove specific point or justify predetermined action. Real audit is genuine inquiry, not manipulation of evidence.

Mistake 6: Not involving stakeholders appropriately. Audit should engage employees, managers, leadership. Done in isolation by consultants without real engagement produces less useful insights.

Who Should Conduct the Audit

Internal assessment has value—understanding what you can see from inside. But independent external audit provides several advantages.

Objectivity. External auditors don’t have internal politics to navigate or sacred cows to protect. They can identify problems that internal people might miss or hesitate to surface.

Expertise. Organizations doing this regularly understand benchmarks, best practice, what effective approaches look like across different contexts. My own work combines FRSPH Fellowship credentialing in public health with seventeen years of board-level organizational experience. That combination enables assessment that’s both evidence-based and practically grounded.

Confidentiality. Employees often share more honestly with external auditor than with internal team. They trust that feedback won’t be used against them.

Credibility. Board and leadership often give more weight to external assessment than internal reports. External audit carries credibility that internal assessment sometimes lacks.

Bandwidth. Most internal teams lack capacity to conduct comprehensive audit while maintaining day-to-day responsibilities. External support makes thorough assessment practical.

For these reasons, most organizations benefit from external audit support, even if internal team leads project and stays deeply involved.

After the Audit: Turning Insights into Action

Audit produces detailed report with findings and recommendations. Then what?

Share findings appropriately. Board, leadership, managers, employees all need to understand key findings. Level of detail varies but transparency about what audit revealed builds trust.

Prioritize actions. You can’t fix everything at once. What matters most? What’s feasible? Where will action have biggest impact? Create realistic implementation priorities.

Assign clear ownership. Each priority area needs clear owner with authority and resources to drive improvement. Wellbeing improvement doesn’t happen by committee.

Establish measurement. How will you know if things improve? Define metrics that’ll track progress against baseline audit established.

Build improvement into business planning. Don’t treat wellbeing improvement as separate from business operations. Integrate into normal planning, resourcing, and accountability processes.

Communicate progress. Regular updates on actions taken and impact achieved. This demonstrates commitment and maintains momentum.

Plan follow-up. Re-audit after 12-18 months to assess progress, identify new priorities, maintain improvement momentum.

Organizations that audit then act systematically achieve meaningful improvement. Those that audit then struggle with follow-through waste the investment and often end up more cynical than before audit.

The Board Governance Angle

Increasingly, wellbeing audit connects to board governance rather than just HR programs.

Boards should ask: What’s our organization’s actual wellbeing state? Not what we think it is—what evidence shows? Where are risks? How do we know our wellbeing governance is effective?

Audit provides answers to these governance questions. It creates the evidence base for board oversight, enables informed decision-making about wellbeing investment, and demonstrates duty of care is being met.

Forward-thinking boards now require regular wellbeing audits as part of governance rhythm—establishing baseline, tracking progress, identifying emerging issues before they become crises.

This shift from wellbeing as HR program to wellbeing as governance issue represents significant opportunity. Organizations that get ahead of this trend position themselves better for talent attraction, stakeholder confidence, and sustainable performance.

Starting Point

If you’re thinking your organization might benefit from wellbeing audit, start with honest assessment. Can we clearly articulate our current wellbeing state? Do we have evidence our wellbeing initiatives work? Do we understand root causes of absence, turnover, engagement issues? Can we demonstrate to board, investors, employees that we’re managing organizational health effectively?

If answers are unclear or uncomfortable, audit probably makes sense.

Next question: internal assessment or external? For most organizations, external audit provides objectivity, expertise, and credibility that justify the investment. Particularly if findings will inform significant decisions or need board-level credibility.

Effective external audit combines public health expertise, organizational psychology understanding, and practical board-level experience. This combination enables assessment that’s rigorous and evidence-based while remaining practically useful—not just academic frameworks but actionable insight that boards and leadership can use to drive meaningful improvement.

The Clarity Benefit

Here’s what I’ve noticed. Organizations operating with clear understanding of their wellbeing state make better decisions, invest resources more effectively, address problems before they become crises, and demonstrate credible commitment to workforce health.

Organizations flying blind spend money on programs that don’t work, miss emerging problems until they’re expensive, and struggle to demonstrate they’re taking wellbeing seriously.

Audit creates the clarity that enables everything else. It’s not the end point—it’s the essential starting point for strategic wellbeing improvement.

That clarity—knowing what’s actually happening rather than guessing—that’s what audit provides. And for most organizations, that clarity is worth significantly more than the investment required to gain it.

References

About the Author

Craig Fearn is the founder of Lighthouse Mentoring. He holds two Fellowships (FCMI and FRSPH) and serves as an IoD Ambassador. With 17 years of board-level experience across NHS, technology, financial services, and manufacturing, Craig provides strategic guidance on board governance, executive coaching, and organizational wellbeing.

Learn more about Craig →

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