Only 22% of people are thriving at work, according to data from Indeed. And what matters most to their wellbeing? A sense of belonging. With hybrid working now being the norm and will continue to be, the workplace has evolved into being a cultural hub - fostering connection, inclusion and belonging.
Data in our Evolving Workplaces: Find your space to thrive report found that over half of employees see spending time with colleagues as the main advantage of going to the office. While many appreciate the benefits of working from home, there is clear concern about how frequent remote working reduces social and professional networks - highlighting the vital role the workplace plays in establishing human connections. And when organisations get the environment and culture right, the payoff is real: healthier employees, stronger engagement and better business performance.
As T.J. Byrne, Chief Operating Officer at Healthy Place to Work, explained in our LinkedIn Live panel in December 2024:
“If it’s a healthy culture that you’re working in where you have the opportunity to grow, develop and feel accepted and welcomed, then work will actually be a positive contributor to your health.”
Healthy Place to Work’s model outlines four essential pillars:
•Connection – Employees need to feel connected to their company, colleagues and society in general.
• Mental Resilience – Having psychological safety, as well as the tools to do their jobs effectively.
• Purpose – Knowing their work contributes to something bigger.
• Physical Health – The role of biological wellbeing in employee health.
Each pillar includes subcategories influenced by the individual and/or the organisation, including emotional expression, belonging, relationships, work demands, diversity and inclusion and more.
Building a healthy workplace can only be done by embedding a wellness culture – one of the pillar subcategories for organisations to control. T.J. says this approach starts from the top:
“It needs to be part of the DNA of the organisation – having people front and centre. If that’s not the lived experience that people have at work then the organisation’s leadership will not be trusted.”
Leaders must walk the talk—model work/life balance, show genuine care, and back it up with action.
Building a wellness culture can also be done by supporting employees through wellness initiatives and programmes. ISS worked with a customer to offer curated events for its employees such as mindfulness sessions, belonging events, yoga classes and provided healthy snacks during the day. The result: more engaged and satisfied employees – leading to stronger business success.
Accessible workspaces help every employee to feel valued, contributing to a sense of inclusion and belonging – especially as 1.3 billion people globally have a significant disability.
Margot Slattery, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion and Social Sustainability at ISS, explains:
“We’re involved in the design, build, concierge and how a building looks and feels. We need to make sure the building is accessible, easy to navigate and takes into account all the different users and their different requirements.”
ISS collaborates with Mobility Mojo to assess customer sites’ accessibility measures, and provide feedback on where and how to improve to make the building more inclusive. Its Chief Executive Offer, Stephen Cluskey, was another speaker at the LinkedIn Live session, and explained this process and the range of conditions that organisations must consider if they want to become more accessible, such as neurodiversity, mobility, hearing and more.
“When a user goes into a building, it’s important that something’s there when, where and how they need it – this can make their experience go from being negative to positive,” Margot adds.
Data for our Evolving Workplaces report also found that 81% of employees have a hybrid arrangement, and 47% expect their amount of days working from home to be the same in five years’ time – highlighting how this pattern is here to stay and that organisations need to adapt.
To create a workplace to support hybrid working, one approach is to define workstyle personas – grouping employees by how they collaborate and designing workplace spaces that meet the needs of each group (see Designing Curated Workplace Experiences report). In a similar vein to this, ISS helped one customer by grouping building occupants into on-site staff, on-site customer-facing staff, hybrid workers and visitors, and offering curated experiences for each group.
Tools like the Workplace app further enhance the experience for hybrid employees, letting them see who’s in, book rooms, raise IT tickets or pre-order lunch. The goal? A seamless, frictionless day that makes them feel seen and supported.
"It needs to be part of the DNA of the organisation – having people front and centre. If that’s not the lived experience that people have at work then the organisation’s leadership will not be trusted.”
T.J. Byrne, Chief Operating Officer at Healthy Place to Work
To help customers build healthy workplaces, facilities management providers must first cultivate that culture internally. As Margot puts it:
“It’s about culture, it’s about safety. It’s about you having the feeling that you’re truly valued within the organisation.”
ISS leads by example - like its partnership with Tent, which has helped hire over 1,000 refugees since 2022. This internal culture of belonging radiates outward, shaping the service delivered to clients.
When organisations implement positive changes across their workplace, considering the four pillars, they create an environment where employees are mentally and physically healthy, are connected to their peers. They feel valued and a sense of inclusion, meaning more engaged people and greater business success.