New UK research commissioned by Verve Healthcare surveyed 2,000 employees and 500 HR leaders and business managers on workplace health support and work-related stress. The numbers at the edges deserve your attention.
18% of employers say they act before absence even occurs. 6% admit they don’t intervene at all. 17% of employees say they feel actively unsupported when they’re going through a period of work-related stress or ill health. A further substantial group sit in a grey area, not neglected exactly, but not clearly helped either.
The majority of employers believe they’re stepping in early. Just 57% of employees feel supported when it actually happens. Those two things are being reported about the same organisations. Which is where the picture gets interesting.
One in six UK employees feels actively unsupported when experiencing workplace health problems. 6% of employers admit they don’t intervene at all. And 14% say they’re simply not sure when they would. That last figure is worth sitting with. More than one in ten organisations has no clear position on when workplace health support kicks in.
The data also exposes a consistent gender gap. 63% of male employees report feeling supported, compared to 51% of female employees. The unsupported figures run in the same direction: 18% of women versus 13% of men. That’s not a marginal difference. Across a workforce of any scale, it represents a meaningful gap in how support is landing depending on who you are.
Employment status adds another layer. 72% of full-time employees report feeling supported, compared to 60% of part-time workers. Part-time workers are also more likely to report feeling unsupported, at 17% versus 10%. Part-time roles are disproportionately held by women, which may help explain some of that gender gap, but the disparity exists independently of it too.
Regional variation makes the picture more complicated still. Employee-reported support is highest in Greater London at 65%. Wales sits at the other end of the scale: 46% feel supported, and 27% feel actively unsupported, the highest proportion of any region. Scotland sits above the UK average at 62% for employee-reported support, yet Scottish employers are the most likely to say they only step in after long-term absence has begun, at 27% compared to the UK average of 20%. Good intentions, late timing.
The age gap is equally striking. Employees aged 25–34 report the highest support levels at 74%. Those aged 55 and over report the lowest at 45%. A 29-percentage-point gap across people working in the same organisations, under the same policies. Something isn’t reaching older workers in the way it should, and with an ageing workforce, that matters more with every year that passes.
The industry data points to some telling contrasts. Medical and health services employers are the most likely to intervene early, before absence occurs, at 18%, which is above the UK average. Financial services employers are the most likely to wait until performance issues arise before acting, at 14% compared to the UK average of 7%. Retail has the highest rate of not intervening at all, at 16%. Education employers are among the least likely to act early, despite working in a sector where mental health pressures are well documented.
No sector has this fully figured out. Even in industries where early intervention rates are higher, the majority of employers are still waiting for something to go wrong before they act.
Most workplace health support activates once something has been raised. An employee assistance programme (EAP) steps in once someone has made a call, occupational health follows a fit note, and a manager responds once absence or performance shifts have already become visible.
None of that is wrong. It just only arrives once a problem is well established.
Stress is usually managed quietly. People push through, tell themselves it’s temporary, and don’t want to look like they’re struggling. By the time something formal is triggered, the issue has often been building for weeks, and support, where it exists, arrives late.
That isn’t a failure of intent. Most HR teams are stretched and trying to make existing provision work. The problem is architectural: most workplace health programmes are reactive by design, and that design creates a consistent gap between need and response.
The fix doesn’t require rebuilding everything. It requires moving the starting point, creating a scheduled moment of contact before absence forces the issue, so that support is part of normal employment rather than a response to something going wrong.
Structured health assessments do exactly that. A health check experienced as routine lowers the barrier to engagement. It isn’t framed as an admission of struggle, just something that happens at a predictable point, with clear and useful output at the end of it.
Verve Healthcare’s Great British Health Check starts with a Well Check and Plan from £49.99 per employee, providing immediate, plain-language feedback on health status. More comprehensive options add nurse-led assessments, GP oversight, and direct routes into physiotherapy, mental health support, or further medical review where it’s clinically appropriate. Every programme is built around the workforce it’s designed for, not a standard package applied regardless of fit.
The goal is shorter distance between identification and action. Workplace health that works with the reality of how people actually behave at work, rather than assuming they’ll ask for help when they need it.
From April 2026, day-one statutory sick pay changes add a direct financial pressure to absence management. Absence costs money, and so does turnover, reduced output, and the management overhead of late-stage intervention that could have been avoided earlier.
The research is clear about where the gap is: earlier visibility, fewer barriers to engagement, and less reliance on employees to raise their hand. Most people won’t raise it, and workplace health provision built around that reality is what makes the difference.
Research conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Verve Healthcare. Employee survey: 2,000 UK respondents. Employer survey: 500 HR managers and business owners. Sector-level findings are based on sub-group data and should be treated as directional.
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