“Wellbeing is how you dial up the impact of all the other HR spend – it is a multiplier, not a nice-to-have.”
For many human resources (HR) directors, wellbeing can feel like yet another priority that’s competing for limited budget, time, and attention. But Guy Chennells, Chief Commercial Officer of Discovery’s Corporate and Employee Benefits division, argues that wellbeing is not a separate ‘nice to have’ spend item. It’s actually a multiplier of the investment which organisations are already making in their people.
Speaking at the HR Directors’ Conference in Stellenbosch earlier this year, Chennells advised that, when considering where wellbeing fits into the many priorities on an HR director’s desk, it helps to remember that each HR pillar ultimately flows through the people within the business, before it can translate into impact.
“Yes, HR teams are already investing in rewards, growth, performance, engagement, and culture,” he added. “But if employees are struggling mentally, emotionally, physically, or financially, much of that effort will be diluted before it can translate into improved business performance.”
As Chennells explained, “The place of wellbeing is to multiply the effort that you’re already putting into all the other pillars.” In other words, when more employees move from merely coping to being genuinely well, this directly translates into more value which organisations can extract from the same HR spend.
Pillars, inextricably linked
A useful way to understand this is through the link between physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing. Chennells is clear that these challenges rarely exist in isolation.
“These pillars are all inextricably linked,” he says. “For example, a person’s depression could be linked to a level of financial responsibility that they simply cannot meet, which could in turn be driven by costly health challenges.”
Here, data becomes powerful. Chennells explains that the Discovery business is a core client of the Corporate and Employee Benefits team, and so the team is able to gain valuable insight through data and partnership with the Discovery human resources department. During the presentation at the HR Directors’ Conference Chennells and Discovery Chief Experience Officer, Steve Teasdale, shared a number of insights, innovations and case studies that have emerged from this.
For example, an internal analysis has found that employees with BMIs outside the healthy range (i.e. with an index above 27) take on average 51% more sick leave days than those whose BMI is within range.
Chennells is careful to frame BMI appropriately. “This is not to body-shame anyone,” he says. “But there’s a statistical link between weight and a number of other critical health conditions. This makes BMI a good measurement index for overall health.”
Absenteeism, or presenteeism with a lack of engagement
For HR leaders, the point is that health impacts productivity. Poorer health often manifests through higher absenteeism, lower energy levels, and reduced capacity to perform. Healthier employees, by contrast, are simply able to contribute more.
“You’re getting a third less absenteeism from the people who are healthier, without you doing a single extra thing,” Chennells notes.
The same pattern appears in mental wellbeing. Employees identified as high risk on standard mental wellbeing questionnaires show significantly higher sick leave scores than those in a healthier range.
And when health improves, productivity does too. Further analysis shows that for employees whose BMIs moved from out of range to within the healthy range (below 27 on the index) over time, their sick leave dropped by almost 20%.
Cause, effect, and targeted interventions
Evidence like this matters because it answers a question every HR director faces: can you actually change an outcome for the better? Chennells believes the answer is yes.
He notes that the real insight is that organisations do not need to do everything for everyone.
Chennells sums it up like this: “Discovery’s wellbeing spend has not increased once over the last four years. The focus is just concentrated now on targeted groups with specific key objectives. And we are seeing increasingly positive behaviour, better engagement, and higher productivity scores overall.”
For HR leaders under pressure to deliver more with less, these case studies reveal significant opportunities. Wellbeing should therefore not be treated as an additional line item that needs justification.
Instead, it can be harnessed to dial up the impact of all the other HR investments already in place – by unlocking more value from the people these investments are designed to support.
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