There really isn't an app for that

As a business or non profit, it's hard to navigate the intricacies of workplace wellbeing. On SLT agendas it comes with a line of budget allocation and a tidy box and narrative which requires measurable ROIs - as if it is somehow a separate, self-contained area.

I think that might be why I'm seeing more organisations investing in online wellbeing programmes and signposting to apps. They have a valid place of course, but I'm not sure that they're a finite, singular solution to the messy, complex intersection between leadership, culture and health & wellbeing.

It's tempting to assume that a clear payment plan, a series of sequential modules or interfaces, backed by some data analysis, can box it off. I'm still surprised by people who casually say "Yeah, we've got wellbeing covered" and then point to a neat subscription and a generic online programme.

It reminds me of the commodification of therapeutic modalities like CBT into a basic, monetised online plan that can be accessed from your mobile in the (often painfully long) wait for face-to-face therapy. Yes, it has its benefits, but it's not going to seismically shift your state of mind.

An app can't hold space while you cry with the sheer overwhelm of responsibility.

A tech interface won't pause and gently read the nuance of subtle relational dynamics.

And here's the more cynical bit. Signing up to an annual subscription of an off-the-shelf programme may well appear to tick off the agenda item, but it is also a convenient swerve for addressing workplace accountability.

It won't invite a discreet conversation with Dave in Finance who has this hard-to-articulate way of shutting people down in meetings, or Louise in Strategy who presents your slides, laps up the feedback from the client and overlooks the opportunity to credit you.

It won't address all the ways that quietly undermine cultural congruence or dismantle psychological safety, even though leaders are implicitly treating it as a proxy for organisational wellbeing.

It may well sound cynical, but hey, I'm heading towards fifty and I've worked in enough environments to know when a deeply human, complex and relational issue is either avoided because it's too tricky, or is addressed by turning to a scalable product that ticks a box. Efficiency may well be a strategic imperative, but depth and meaning are not something to be overlooked.

The unspoken complexities of workplace wellbeing are the ones to watch. They're the quietly corrosive parts that lead people to exit, burnout or cause fractures in organisational culture. I'm all for innovation, but I'm pretty sure there isn't an app that can handle all of that in a few clicks.

I'm Nat and I'm a women's health and wellbeing coach & consultant, helping women leaders who carry a lot to return to the centre of their own lives.