Getting Britain Back to Work: What the Best Employers Do Differently

​The headlines are bleak.

One in five working-age adults in the UK is now economically inactive. Over 800,000 people have exited the workforce due to health-related issues since 2019. The cost? A staggering £212 billion annually: 7% of our GDP.

The government's Keep Britain Working: Final Report (released 5 November 2025) paints a sobering picture of workplace culture failures, fear of disclosure, and inadequate support systems. It's a wake-up call that's impossible to ignore.

But here's the question nobody's asking: Whilst most organisations are losing people, which companies are keeping them?

Because whilst the statistics dominate the discourse, there's a quieter story unfolding across British workplaces. Some employers aren't just reading the reports; they're rewriting the rules. They're retaining talent, reducing health-related exits, and building cultures where people can actually thrive rather than just survive.

So what are they doing differently?

1. They're Making Psychological Safety Real, Not Rhetorical

The report cites "fear of disclosure" as a critical factor in workplace exits. Translation? People don't feel safe telling their managers they're struggling.

The best employers have stopped treating psychological safety as a buzzword and started treating it as a measurable outcome.

This means creating regular, low-pressure opportunities for people to speak up before small concerns become major crises. It means training managers to ask "How are you, really?" and actually mean it. It means demonstrating, through consistent action rather than poster campaigns, that vulnerability won't be punished.

Psychological safety doesn't arrive through wellbeing apps or mission statements. It arrives when leaders prove, day after day, that people can bring their whole selves to work without fear of consequences.

2. They're Training Leaders to Respond, Not React

The government's Healthy Working Lifecycle model acknowledges that managers are the frontline of workplace wellbeing. But here's the uncomfortable truth: most managers have never been taught how to respond when someone discloses mental health challenges, caring responsibilities, or chronic illness.

So they panic. They avoid it. They inadvertently make things worse.

The employers winning the retention battle are investing in trauma-informed leadership training. They're teaching managers how to hold difficult conversations without descending into amateur therapy or performative sympathy. They're equipping leaders with the confidence to ask better questions, listen without judgment, and signpost appropriate support.

This isn't about turning managers into counsellor. It's about giving them the tools to respond with compassion and competence when someone says, "I'm struggling."

Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating the conditions where people feel safe enough to ask for help.

3. They're Designing Inclusion Into Systems, Not Retrofitting It Later

The report highlights that many workplace exits happen because adjustments and accommodations feel like special favours rather than standard practice.

The best employers have stopped treating flexibility as a perk and started embedding it into how work actually gets done.

This doesn't mean everyone works from home in their pyjamas. It means questioning the assumptions that underpin how we've always done things: Does this meeting need to be at 9am? Could this role be job-shared? Do we actually need everyone in the office on the same day, or are we just doing it because we've always done it that way?

It means designing roles, processes, and policies that work for different needs from the start, rather than making people request exceptions that mark them as "difficult" or "high maintenance."

Inclusion isn't an HR initiative. It's an operational decision.

4. They're Measuring What Matters (And Acting on It)

The £212 billion figure is shocking, but it's also abstract. The companies addressing Britain's work crisis have made the data personal and actionable.

They're tracking metrics that actually matter: How long does it take someone to feel safe enough to disclose they're struggling? Are managers confident in their ability to respond appropriately? Do people who take health-related leave actually come back, and do they stay?

These aren't vanity metrics. They're early warning systems that reveal whether your culture genuinely supports people or just says it does.

You can't improve what you don't measure. And you won't measure what you don't value.

5. They're Treating Wellbeing as Strategic, Not Seasonal

The report makes clear that Britain's work crisis isn't a short-term problem requiring a quick fix. It's a systemic issue demanding sustained, strategic commitment.

The employers making genuine progress have stopped treating wellbeing as a January initiative or a Mental Health Awareness Week gesture. They've embedded it into business strategy, leadership development, and performance frameworks.

Wellbeing isn't a separate agenda item; it's woven into how they plan growth, allocate resources, and develop capability. It sits alongside financial performance and operational efficiency in leadership conversations and performance reviews.

Because here's the truth: if your people can't work, your strategy doesn't matter.

The Real Opportunity

The government's report identifies the problem with clarity and precision. But policy changes, while necessary, take time.

Meanwhile, employers who act now have a competitive advantage.

Talent isn't just scarce because of skills shortages; it's scarce because people are choosing not to work, or can't work, in environments that deplete rather than sustain them.

The organisations addressing this aren't just doing social good (though they are). They're building more resilient, productive, and profitable businesses.

So here's the question for every UK employer reading this:

In a labour market where one in five working-age adults has already left, are you the kind of organisation people stay in or the kind they escape from?

The £212 billion question isn't just about national economics. It's about whether your workplace culture is part of the solution or part of the problem.

And the answer to that question will determine whether you're still here in five years. Click here to know more

​Image source – Canva