Most organisations now have some form of wellbeing initiative.

• Stress management workshops.
• Resilience training.
• Mental health awareness days.
• Flexible working policies.

These are not bad things.

But they tend to operate at a relatively low level of maturity.

They focus on reducing friction: lowering absenteeism, preventing burnout, improving output, managing risk. Sensible goals. Necessary even.

But they don’t address a deeper issue.

For most adults, a significant part of their wellbeing is intrinsically connected to their experience of work — far more than we consciously recognise.

Work shapes our sense of achievement, progress, relationships, identity and meaning. When that relationship is healthy, energy and commitment follow. When it’s immature or neglected, disengagement grows quietly.

The statistics are familiar. We know that urnover rises to 22% among those who are struggling or suffering, compared with 12% among those who are thriving. The highest turnover — 24% — is among people who are neither thriving nor engaged.

The typical response is to add another programme.

But adding more activity at the same level of thinking rarely changes the underlying dynamic.

The real shift requires maturity.

Higher-maturity wellbeing is not about perks or performance theatre. It is about helping people examine and consciously develop their relationship with work itself — their intrinsic drivers, their sources of meaning, how they experience growth and achievement.

This is harder.

It requires opt-in.
It requires cognitive effort.
It requires new habits of thinking.

It cannot be imposed.

And it will not thrive in environments where people are expected to comply rather than reflect.

But the payoffs are durable.

When individuals mature how they think about work, the downstream effects are tangible: more stable engagement, stronger retention, better long-term outcomes. Not because people were incentivised differently, but because their relationship with work itself evolved.

We have become sophisticated at designing structures, targets and incentives.

We have been far less intentional about maturing how people experience work.

Wellbeing at work is not a bolt-on initiative.

It is a question of organisational maturity.

And maturity takes effort — from leaders and from individuals alike.

Check out our new Wellbeing at Work product SL@Work