Employee Wellbeing is Not Just Fluff: Why International Employers Should Treat it as a Strategic Business Asset
For decades, employee wellbeing has been dismissed as a “nice to have” – a soft HR initiative that sounds good in annual reports but doesn’t move the needle on organizational performance. New research from the London School of Economics shatters this myth. According to a recently published The Happiness Dividend report, employee happiness is capable of increasing firm value by 20% and could theoretically add £334 billion annually to the UK economy.
For international employers the implications are profound: employee wellbeing isn’t a cost. It’s an investment with measurable returns.
The Research: What the Data Actually Shows
The LSE research, conducted by Dr. Christian Krekel and published by Reward Gateway/Edenred in partnership with the London School of Economics, examined the relationship between employee happiness and organizational performance across multiple sectors. The findings are compelling and consistent:
Organizations that score highly in employee happiness see a 12% uplift in productivity, which translates into a 20% increase in overall firm value. These aren’t marginal gains. They’re transformative. For a mid-sized organization with 500 employees, this could translate into millions of dollars in additional value creation.
The mechanism is straightforward: happy employees are more engaged, more creative, more collaborative, and less likely to leave. They make better decisions. They take better care of clients and customers. They attract other talented people who want to work in that environment. Over time, this compounds.
For international employers specifically, this matters enormously. When employees are happy and healthy, they perform better. When they’re stressed, burned out, and unsupported – especially in unfamiliar environments far from home – they disengage, make mistakes, and leave.
The Gap: What Most Organizations Are Missing
Despite this compelling evidence, happiness remains an under-utilized metric. Only 30% of companies are currently measuring employee happiness directly. This means the vast majority of organizations are operating blind. They have no idea how their employees actually feel.
Even more striking: only 51% of UK employees report being frequently happy at work. In international contexts – where employees often face additional stressors (expat isolation, cultural adjustment, family separation, visa uncertainty, geopolitical concerns) – this number is likely significantly lower.
The gap between what organizations say they value and what they actually measure is enormous. Most organizations talk endlessly about employee wellbeing. But most don’t measure it. And what gets measured gets managed. What doesn’t get measured gets forgotten.
This is particularly acute for international employers. They often inherit wellbeing approaches designed for domestic workforces and apply them globally without considering the unique challenges of expat employees. The result: wellbeing initiatives that miss the mark, employees who feel unsupported, and high turnover.
The Framework: How to Think About Wellbeing Strategically
Dr. Krekel’s research offers a practical framework for any organization to approach employee wellbeing strategically. Rather than implementing random initiatives and hoping something sticks, organizations should:
Measure what actually drives happiness at your organization. Start by understanding what matters to your employees. Is it health insurance? Mental health support? Professional development? Physical environment? Work-life balance? Financial security? Visa sponsorship and relocation support? Different organizations will have different priorities. The key is to measure directly rather than guess. Use surveys, focus groups, one-on-ones. Get the data.
Conduct rigorous cost-benefit analysis. Not all wellbeing initiatives are created equal. Some are expensive and generate minimal happiness gains. Others are inexpensive and highly impactful. Dr. Krekel recommends ranking initiatives by “pounds per unit of happiness” – essentially, ROI on wellbeing. An organization might spend £50,000 on a wellness program that generates modest happiness gains, while spending £10,000 on mental health support generates significantly more. The rational approach is to prioritize the latter.
Treat employee happiness as a strategic asset, not a cost. This is the mindset shift. When organizations view employee wellbeing as a cost to minimize, they make poor decisions: cutting mental health support, reducing insurance coverage, eliminating professional development, offering inadequate relocation support. When they view it as a strategic asset that drives productivity, retention, and organizational success, they invest accordingly.
Invest in manager training. One of the report’s key recommendations is to invest in training managers and supervisors. Managers have enormous influence on employee happiness. A well-trained manager who understands how to support their team, communicate clearly, and create psychological safety creates a culture of wellbeing. An untrained manager, no matter how good the benefits package, creates stress and burnout.
Build a holistic approach. Wellbeing isn’t just one thing. It’s the entire ecosystem: health insurance, mental health support, professional development, financial security, physical environment, onboarding and offboarding processes, community and culture, work-life balance, visa and relocation support. Organizations that do wellbeing well invest across all dimensions, recognizing that these elements are interconnected.
The Reality for International Employers
International employers face unique challenges that domestic organizations often don’t consider. Employees are often expats living far from family and support networks. They navigate cultural adjustment, language barriers, visa uncertainty, and the isolation that comes with being abroad. They’re also highly mobile – if they’re not happy, they leave for competitors who do support them better.
In this context, employee wellbeing isn’t a luxury. It’s a competitive necessity.
International organizations that invest comprehensively in employee wellbeing – through health insurance, mental health support, professional development, strong onboarding and relocation support, and a culture of care – attract and retain the best talent. Organizations that don’t invest lose employees to competitors who do.
The data backs this up. Organizations with strong employee wellbeing programs see:
- Lower turnover – Retaining experienced employees is far cheaper than constantly recruiting and training new ones. For international employers, this is especially true; replacing an expat employee costs 1.5-2x their annual salary.
- Better performance – Happy employees are more engaged, more creative, more collaborative. They deliver better results.
- Stronger reputation – Word travels fast in international communities. Organizations with strong wellbeing cultures attract top talent and build stronger employer brands.
- Easier recruitment – The best employees have choices. They choose organizations that support them holistically.
- Reduced absenteeism and health costs – Supported employees take fewer sick days and have lower healthcare utilization.
The Hypocrisy: Talk vs. Action
Here’s where it gets uncomfortable: most international organizations talk about employee wellbeing but don’t fund it comprehensively.
They’ll invest in office design and ergonomics (which matter), but not in mental health support. They’ll provide health insurance but cut it when budgets get tight. They’ll talk about professional development but not fund it. They’ll implement wellness programs but not hire someone to actually manage them. They’ll offer relocation packages but provide inadequate support for the actual relocation process.
This isn’t malice. It’s usually a lack of strategic thinking. Organizations haven’t connected the dots between employee wellbeing and business outcomes. They haven’t done the cost-benefit analysis. They haven’t measured what actually drives happiness at their organization.
For international employers, this gap is even more pronounced. Many organizations have inherited wellbeing approaches designed for domestic workforces and apply them globally without considering the unique challenges of expat employees. The result: initiatives that miss the mark and employees who feel unsupported.
What International Employers Should Do Now
If you’re a leader at an international organization reading this, here’s the framework:
Measure employee happiness directly. Don’t guess. Ask your employees what matters to them. Use surveys, focus groups, one-on-ones. Get the data. Pay special attention to expat employees – they face different challenges than local employees and may have different wellbeing needs.
Analyze your current wellbeing investments. What are you spending on? What’s the ROI? Are you investing in things that actually drive happiness? Are your initiatives designed for domestic workforces, or have you adapted them for international contexts?
Identify the gaps. Where are you underinvesting? Where could you get better returns? What unique challenges do your expat employees face that your current wellbeing approach doesn’t address?
Develop a strategic wellbeing plan. Based on your data, create a comprehensive approach that addresses the top drivers of employee happiness at your organization. Include elements specific to international employees: visa support, relocation assistance, mental health support for expat stress, professional development, community building.
Assign ownership. Wellbeing won’t happen if it’s nobody’s job. Designate someone (ideally a dedicated wellbeing director or coordinator) to own this and hold the organization accountable. This person should have authority and budget.
Measure the impact. Track employee happiness over time. Measure retention, performance, absenteeism, health costs. Connect the dots between wellbeing investments and organizational success.
The Strategic Imperative
The research is clear. The framework is available. The question is: will your organization act on it?
International employers that do will attract and retain the best talent, deliver better performance, and build more stable, successful organizations. They’ll also reduce costs through lower turnover and absenteeism. They’ll build stronger employer brands and find recruitment easier.
International employers that don’t will continue to lose employees to competitors who understand that supported, happy employees create thriving organizations. They’ll face higher turnover, higher recruitment costs, and weaker performance.
The data doesn’t lie. The question is whether your organization will listen.
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