How do I get leaders to commit when management is not interested?

The owner or managing director often sees every cost and every hour staff spend away from work. You may hear:

• “We cannot spare the money or the staff time.”
• “We do not have an HR person to run it.”
• “Our staff would tell us if something was wrong.”
• “We need to focus on keeping the business going first.”

Start small and keep costs low. One trained Champion is enough to begin. Use what is already free: the iWorkHealth survey from the WSH Council, whose shorter Lite version can show issues staff may not raise face to face, PRISM, the national helplines and the fully funded training places. Work out with the owner what it costs when a key person leaves or goes on long medical leave.

The reasons are more about how the company is run. You may hear:

• “Head office decides this, not us.”
• “We already have an employee assistance programme (EAP), so it is covered.”
• “If we ask staff, we will have to deal with whatever comes up.”
• “Our managers are measured on business targets, and they have no time for this.”

Find out what head office sets and what can be decided locally. Check how many staff actually use the EAP. If leaders are worried about what might come up, agree beforehand who will review the results and how issues will be handled. Then ask one senior local leader to own the plan, and link it to measures managers are already judged on, such as safety incidents and staff turnover.

1. Start with the people you can reach You don’t need senior backing to get started. Work with your own team, your Champions and any manager who is willing to try something. What they achieve becomes your evidence.
2. Start the conversation with risk Most leaders already deal with legal, safety and staffing risks. Once you have their attention, talk about what will change for staff.
3. Bring figures you already have, such as exit interview themes, medical leave patterns, harassment complaints and incidents where fatigue played a part.
4. Ask for one thing leaders can be seen doing, like joining a session with staff or explaining a restructure to staff in person before it happens. Ask one of them to own the plan.
5. Point to national guidance The Tripartite Advisory sets out what employers are expected to consider (see Should the government make workplace well-being mandatory before companies act?).
6. Report what changed for staff – fewer escalations, people staying longer, or staff saying their supervisors treat them with more respect. Try not to lead with attendance numbers.

You can ask leaders which of these they would be prepared to explain afterwards:

• A staff member treated unfairly because of a mental health condition. Once the Workplace Fairness Act takes effect, expected at the end of 2027, this can lead to a claim. People will ask what the company knew and what managers said.
• Bullying that everyone knew about and nobody stopped. Sometimes the first sign is several staff asking to move out of the same manager’s team.
• A colleague who died by suicide, and the questions afterwards about whether anyone could have helped.
• Roles nobody wants to fill, and exit interviews that keep mentioning the same manager.
• A restructure or new system, such as AI tools, that does not deliver what was planned as staff were worried about their jobs and overloaded during the change.