Most wellbeing programmes are designed around two people: the employee and the People team. The person whose decisions shape an employee's week most directly is often left out. That person is their manager.
Managers shape conditions, not people
The World Health Organization lists the risks to mental health at work. They include excessive workloads or work pace, long or inflexible hours, lack of control over job design or workload, limited support from colleagues and unclear job roles. A line manager has some influence over almost every item on that list.
The WHO also recommends manager training, which helps managers recognise and respond to team members who are experiencing emotional distress. So the question is not whether managers belong in a wellbeing system. It is what they should be given, and what they should not.
What managers need
What managers should not have
Managers should not be given individual wellbeing data, a list of who appears to be struggling or a score for each person on their team. Whole does not show employers individual check-ins or health data. Where an employer funds a coaching allowance, the organisation sees what was drawn down in aggregate. It does not see who booked, and nobody has to ask a manager's permission to seek support.
This is partly about privacy. It is also about how the data behaves. People stop being honest with a system they believe their manager can read, and a manager handed a risk list is being asked to make judgements they are not trained or positioned to make.
A simple rhythm for managers
Enable managers, do not enlist them
This is a view rather than a finding. The risk with manager enablement is that it quietly turns managers into the surveillance layer of the programme. We would rather give them a clearer role, better information about conditions and the authority to change them, and keep the individual view private.
Whole gives employees a private route to verified practitioners, and gives organisations aggregate insight, with an optional employer funded coaching allowance. Explore Whole Coaching.
