Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week
October 19 - October 23
About Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week
Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week is an international observance focused on the role that leaders play in shaping the wellbeing of the people they manage. Held in October each year, it encourages chief executives, founders, managers, and team leads to model healthier ways of working and to invest in the systems that support staff wellbeing.
What is Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week?
Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week is dedicated to the link between leadership and wellbeing at work. The week recognises that workplace wellbeing is not simply a matter of yoga classes and fruit baskets but a leadership responsibility. Decisions about workload, autonomy, recognition, communication, and culture have a far greater impact on staff wellbeing than perks alone. The week brings together leadership coaches, HR professionals, occupational health specialists, and business leaders to share evidence and practical strategies for healthier workplaces.
When is Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week?
Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week 2026 runs from Monday, 19 October to Friday, 23 October. The week sits in October, alongside World Mental Health Day on 10 October and many national workplace wellbeing campaigns, allowing organisations to build connected programmes of activity throughout the autumn.
Why Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week Matters
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace reports have consistently shown that engagement and wellbeing levels have a powerful effect on productivity, retention, and customer outcomes. The 2024 edition reported that around 1 in 5 employees globally feel angry or sad at work daily, while leaders and managers themselves report higher stress and loneliness than their teams. The Health and Safety Executive in Great Britain has found that work-related stress, depression, and anxiety account for around half of all working days lost to ill health. Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week matters because the data show that wellbeing is a leadership issue first and a wellness benefit second. Without leaders who model and protect healthy ways of working, programme spending tends to deliver poor returns.
How to Get Involved in Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week
The week is built around practical leadership actions, not big gestures.
- Audit your own ways of working – Are your emails, meetings, and decision habits enabling or undermining your team’s wellbeing? Honest self-reflection is a powerful starting point.
- Hold listening sessions – Set aside time during the week to ask staff what is and isn’t working. Listen first; act later.
- Review workload – Look at what each team is being asked to do, what could be stopped, and where capacity needs to grow. Wellbeing depends on realistic workloads.
- Train managers – Provide line managers with simple, evidence-based training in conversations about mental health, workload, and reasonable adjustments.
- Share leader stories – Senior leaders who talk openly about their own pressures, mistakes, and recovery help reduce stigma in the wider workforce.
- Strengthen psychological safety – Use Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety as a framework for asking whether your team feels able to speak up, disagree, and admit mistakes.
- Invest in occupational health – Confirm that your organisation has accessible, well-promoted Employee Assistance Programmes, occupational health support, and mental health first aiders.
- Measure what matters – Track wellbeing indicators such as sickness absence, regretted attrition, employee engagement scores, and burnout signals throughout the year.
History of Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week
Workplace wellbeing has been studied for decades, with early research from Sir Cary Cooper at Lancaster University and later at Manchester Business School laying the foundation for the modern field. The 1980s and 1990s saw a focus on stress management and occupational health, while the 2000s and 2010s broadened the conversation to engagement, mental health, and culture.
The combined pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, the move to hybrid working, and a sharp rise in burnout pushed wellbeing to the top of many leadership agendas in the early 2020s. World Mental Health Day on 10 October became one of the most marked dates in the corporate calendar, but practitioners felt that more was needed to put the role of leaders, rather than wellness benefits alone, in the spotlight.
Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week was created to fill that gap. It is supported by leadership networks, executive coaches, and HR communities around the world. Each year the week features online sessions, executive briefings, and shared resources designed to help leaders move from intention to action. The week sits alongside World Wellbeing Week in late June, World Mental Health Day in October, and other national observances, forming part of a year-round wellbeing conversation.
Noteworthy Facts About Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week
- Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace research has shown leaders and managers experience higher stress, loneliness, and sadness than individual contributors.
- Work-related stress, depression, and anxiety accounted for an estimated 17.1 million working days lost in Great Britain in 2022-23, according to the Health and Safety Executive.
- Research from Deloitte UK has estimated that for every £1 spent on workplace mental health, employers see an average return of around £5 through improved productivity and retention.
- Psychological safety, popularised by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, is one of the strongest predictors of effective team performance.
- Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week sits within an October “wellbeing month” feel, alongside World Mental Health Day and many national mental health campaigns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week?
It is an international week dedicated to the role of leaders in shaping workplace wellbeing, with shared resources, events, and campaigns aimed at chief executives, founders, and managers.
When is Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week in 2026?
It runs from Monday, 19 October to Friday, 23 October 2026.
How is it different from World Wellbeing Week?
World Wellbeing Week takes place in late June and addresses wellbeing across society. Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week is more narrowly focused on leadership accountability for wellbeing in workplaces.
Spread the Word
Help raise awareness by sharing Global Leaders in Wellbeing Week with your colleagues, friends, and followers. Use the hashtags #GlobalLeadersInWellbeingWeek and #WellbeingLeadership2026 on social media, share a leadership commitment, and tag the leaders setting an example for healthier work.
Related Awareness Days
- World Mental Health Day – The closest companion observance, focused on mental health awareness more broadly.
- Dying Matters Week – Connects to the often-difficult conversations leaders are asked to have with bereaved or ill staff.
- Mental Health Awareness Week – The UK’s flagship mental health week, run by the Mental Health Foundation.
Links
2026 Awareness Days Wall Planner
Every key awareness day at a glance. Perfect for offices, staff rooms, and team planning.
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