Across the UK, conversations about wellbeing have never been louder. From corporate wellness apps to mental health awareness weeks, employers have made clear strides in recognising the importance of emotional wellbeing. Yet the reality beneath the surface tells a different story.

Recent data from the WorkL Workplace Awards 2025 shows that while 80% of organisations say they actively support mental health, only 46% of employees actually feel supported. It’s a striking disconnect.. one that highlights how easy it is for good intentions to lose impact in the everyday rhythm of work.

In the same study, stress levels remained as high as last year, and only half of employees felt recognised for their contributions. At the same time, a third said they wouldn’t feel comfortable raising a personal issue with their manager. So, while the frameworks and initiatives are there, the feeling of safety, of being seen, heard, and valued, is not yet keeping pace.

This is what we call the empathy gap.

The limits of policy-based wellbeing

Over the past five years, UK employers have become more sophisticated about wellbeing –  measuring engagement, rolling out flexible policies, even offering access to coaching or therapy platforms. But somewhere between intent and implementation, the human layer gets lost.

A mental health day means little if employees fear the unspoken judgment that follows. A flexible work policy doesn’t automatically build trust if managers quietly reward visibility over balance. And wellbeing budgets won’t move the needle if the culture still rewards overextension.

That’s the paradox many organisations now face: wellbeing has been professionalised, but not yet personalised.

What the data reveals about emotional culture

When you look at recent UK workforce studies side by side, a clear trend emerges: employees don’t just want wellbeing resources – they want emotionally intelligent leadership.

• Only 41% of UK workers say their manager regularly checks in on how they’re doing (CIPD, 2025).
• 37% say their mental health has worsened due to work-related stress (Mental Health Foundation, 2025).
• And over half of employees who recently changed jobs said they were leaving for a workplace that “values people, not just performance.”

It’s not the absence of wellbeing initiatives that’s driving disengagement. It’s the absence of attunement – that sense that leaders genuinely understand and respond to what employees are experiencing.

The leadership shift: from awareness to attunement

The next phase of workplace wellbeing will hinge less on benefits and more on behavioural intelligence – the micro-moments that shape how people feel day to day.

Empathy fuels better decision-making, improves retention, and builds trust that can’t be replicated by any app or training course alone.

Leaders who practise emotional attunement, listening with curiosity, recognising effort early, naming tension without defensiveness, become cultural multipliers. They model the kind of humanity that turns psychological safety from a concept into a lived experience.

And that’s what truly drives wellbeing. Not perks. Not slogans. Presence.

Closing the empathy gap

So where does that leave organisations now?

The data suggests that the next wave of impact won’t come from reinventing wellbeing programmes but from retraining conversations. Equipping managers to have more emotionally intelligent dialogues. Normalising vulnerability at work. Measuring empathy as much as output.

Because ultimately, employees don’t need perfect leaders. They need perceptive ones. The kind who notice when energy dips. Who follow up after a tough week. Who make space for real talk instead of rushing to resolution. That’s how we close the empathy gap.. not by adding more, but by feeling more. The future of wellbeing at work isn’t about doing more for employees. It’s about being more with them.