For many people, the summer holidays are already behind them and the autumn routine is in full swing. Calendars are filling up with meetings, projects are moving forward and emails are piling up. After a holiday, people often feel rested and energised for a while, but that feeling quickly fades if the structures and culture of the workplace leave no room for recovery. From an HR perspective, this is a familiar phenomenon: a holiday may restore energy, but if there is no room to breathe in everyday work, the outcome will inevitably be the same as before the holiday. This is precisely why workplace wellbeing still needs to be discussed frequently and extensively, so that practices proven to be effective become part of everyday work.
Previously, we have focused on the brains of knowledge workers and the impact of interruptions. Now it is time to take a broader view: why do we still treat basic necessities as luxuries, and how does this affect workplace wellbeing in practice?
Bare minimum or princess treatment?
During the summer, a discussion circulated on social media in which actions in relationships were assessed through the concepts of the bare minimum and princess treatment. The playful examples stayed with people because they forced us to consider why we sometimes regard basic actions as signs of exceptional care. One person thought that being picked up from home for a date was merely the minimum, while another saw it as a sign of particular thoughtfulness. Some regarded remembering a birthday as self-evident, while others saw it as a grand gesture. The phenomenon was playful, but at its core was an interesting question: why do we sometimes agree to treat the basic level as something excellent and exceptional?
When this idea is applied to working life, the situation looks familiar. Being able to take a holiday without checking emails is sometimes presented as a major benefit, even though it should be taken for granted. The same applies to everyday work in which employees do not constantly have to justify why they need a break or uninterrupted time to concentrate, a calendar that leaves room for focused work, or the opportunity to recover during the working day. If these are seen as signs of exceptional care, we have reached a point where basic necessities have become privileges.
From the perspective of workplace wellbeing, this is a significant problem. Recovery cannot depend solely on holiday periods or on the efforts of individual employees. It is part of the quality of work and an essential condition for people to remain motivated, committed and effective over the long term. When responsibility for recovery is placed on the individual, the organisation outsources responsibility for work-related strain to its employees and maintains a culture in which constant flexibility and overextension become the norm. HR must challenge the idea that ordinary practices should be treated as measures of excellence and make it clear that the standard for genuinely good working life should be much higher.
How language and culture shape workplace wellbeing
In many organisations, workplace wellbeing is included in the strategy and mentioned in the objectives, but everyday practices tell a different story. The language used to discuss work and the practices regarded as normal have a decisive impact on workplace culture. When the message consistently emphasises efficiency, performance and individual responsibility, employees internalise the idea that coping is their own problem.
Language plays a crucial role. The way we talk about work creates unspoken assumptions. If performance reviews focus only on objectives and results, employees receive the message that their value is measured through performance. If the same discussion includes a question about what helps the employee recover each week, the message is entirely different. Recovery is part of work, not a private matter. HR is responsible for reshaping these words and questions so that they begin to build a new culture.
It is important to understand that what is currently regarded as princess treatment in working life should become the basic standard in the future. A manager asking about recovery is not a special gesture, but a normal part of management. Leaving room in calendars for focused work is not extra care, but a condition for high-quality expert work. This change will not happen on its own. It requires consistent language and changes to workplace structures.
Workplace wellbeing is a condition for business success
Workplace wellbeing is often discussed as a soft value that is considered important, while its business impact remains vague. In reality, recovery has a direct connection to organisational success. It is already almost self-evident that people cannot maintain a high level of concentration without recovery. Even a short pause improves memory and problem-solving ability. Without breaks, the quality of decision-making declines, errors increase and creativity suffers. The working day may become longer, but the quality of the results deteriorates.
The annual cost of sickness absences in Finland is measured in billions of euros. Every additional day of absence has a cost, and when prolonged strain is involved, the costs multiply. Burnout is an increasingly common reason for long-term sickness absence, and it is most often caused by a structural problem: the work does not allow sufficient recovery. Employee turnover is also linked to this issue. Every employee who leaves because of exhaustion creates recruitment and onboarding costs that are many times higher than the cost of building practices that support recovery. Workplace wellbeing is therefore not an expense, but an investment that pays for itself through stronger commitment, fewer sickness absences and a more attractive employer brand.
Culture should be built consciously
The best time to take these matters into account is at the earliest stages of a company. When culture is built consciously from the beginning, workplace wellbeing becomes part of the organisation’s identity. Recovery is not left to the individual, but becomes naturally embedded in work structures and management. This is reflected in the employer brand, which attracts applicants and helps retain existing employees.
If the culture has not been built consciously, however, the situation is not beyond repair. It is never too late to make corrective changes. If an organisation notices that recovery is still regarded as an exception or even a luxury, it is time to pause and raise the standard. The language must change, practices must be renewed and management must lead by example. HR can drive the change forward, but it requires strong support and commitment from senior management. The reward is significant: a culture in which people want to stay and which new employees want to join.
Long-term work and points of friction are part of the process
It is nevertheless important to acknowledge that developing workplace wellbeing is not an easy task. It is not a single measure or a quick campaign, but long-term and often slow work. People are different, and what supports one person’s recovery may not work for another. Circumstances change, organisations evolve and conflicts will inevitably arise. Managing workplace wellbeing therefore requires continuous monitoring, measurement and discussion, and above all cooperation between management and HR to ensure that everyday practices genuinely change.
At the individual level, the issue often involves emotions, stress management and psychological resources. These can be supported through realistic job design, competence development and ensuring that managers have the tools to recognise excessive strain at an early stage. HR can provide the structures and tools, but everyday management determines whether they are implemented. At the community level, the focus is on psychological safety, managing difficult interactions and the ways in which the organisation supports the strengthening of positive resources. In practice, this means, for example, that feedback is provided regularly, problems are addressed without delay and successes are made visible. The role of HR and management is to ensure that these responsibilities do not remain with individual managers, but form part of the leadership culture of the entire organisation.
It is difficult to perfect all of these elements, and conflicts are certain to arise. It is precisely at those moments that the role of HR and management becomes most important: keeping the discussion open, supporting managers with practical tools and continuing the work with determination even when results are not immediately visible. A culture of workplace wellbeing is built according to the same logic as a business: systematically, measurably and strategically over the long term.
In conclusion
Workplace wellbeing is not a luxury, and it cannot remain at the bare minimum. The freedom to take a proper holiday, the opportunity to work within manageable boundaries and psychological safety in everyday work are not special benefits. They are the basic standard of working life. If these are still seen as princess treatment, it is worth pausing to ask why. HR must ensure that basic practices become the new normal and that workplace wellbeing is recognised as an essential part of the quality of work.
The bare minimum is not enough when the objective is to build a successful and committed workplace community. Sometimes it is easier to make changes with the help of an external perspective. Outsourced HR provides an opportunity to assess culture and practices objectively. When everyday structures are reviewed by someone who is not personally attached to them, it is easier to identify and address deviations.
If you want to ensure that workplace wellbeing in your organisation does not remain merely a topic of discussion but is reflected in concrete everyday actions, please get in touch.
Satu Edberg
+358 40 531 1542
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