Singapore’s first science-backed roadmap for wellbeing is here

In a landmark move to reshape how businesses in Singapore approach mental health and organisational performance, WorkWell Leaders (WWL) has launched the WorkWell Leaders Impact Roadmap. Based on the country’s first science-backed study on workplace wellbeing, the roadmap presents a tangible, data-driven blueprint for CEOs and boards to lead with impact.

Developed in partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS), and supported by organisations such as Bank of Singapore, BinjaiTree, Keppel, the Health Promotion Board and the National Council of Social Service, the roadmap draws from insights collected in the WorkWell Leaders Impact Measure study. The study analysed over 200 organisational factors and engaged more than 2,400 employees across sectors from November 2024 to April 2025.

“This study overturns decades of conventional thinking on workplace wellbeing,” said Reuben Ng, principal researcher and behavioural scientist, NUS. “The data are clear – what leaders do matters far more than what they say or delegate. CEOs and boards must take ownership of wellbeing not as a siloed HR function, but as a core leadership responsibility.”

Six key drivers of organisational wellbeing and performance 

At the centre of this roadmap is the Organisational Wellbeing–Performance IMPACT framework, comprising six evidence based levers proven to have the greatest impact on organisational wellbeing and performance. 

1. Invest in leader wellbeing

CEOs play a critical role in shaping the emotional climate of a company and must treat their wellbeing as both a strategic priority and personal responsibility. CEOs who manage their own wellbeing are able to better support their teams. Just as importantly, CEOs must empower their leaders at every level to do the same, creating the conditions for wellbeing to cascade across the company. 

Why it matters: Leader wellbeing is vital to business success; it shapes culture, drives performance, and encourages others to prioritise their health.

2. Make work empowering

Clear roles, autonomy and variety in tasks make work energising rather than draining. Leaders should take personal ownership of work design by co-creating roles, offering constructive feedback and focusing on outcomes rather than micro-managing, while still ensuring employees receive the support they need. Such intentional leadership shapes work into a source of growth and fulfillment.

Why it matters: Leaders shape empowering work by designing experiences that foster mastery, agency, connection, and energy, boosting commitment, care, and value. 

3. Promote belonging

Belonging is a key driver of organisational wellbeing and leaders, not just HR, have a role to play in creating inclusive cultures. Leaders should foster psychological safety, model inclusive behaviours, encourage open dialogue and celebrate individuality. By doing so, they build trust and allow people to bring their authentic selves to work. 

Why it matters: Belonging thrives when leaders create psychological safety, enabling authenticity, risk-taking, and openness, boosting performance and reducing fear, burnout, and turnover.

4. Address whole-person needs

Employees bring their full lives to work, including personal responsibilities and challenges. Leaders should recognise this reality and support employees by offering flexibility, showing empathy and openly discussing life outside work. This strengthens loyalty and performance by making sure people feel valued as individuals.

Why it matters: Leaders who acknowledge personal lives foster trust, retention, and performance by valuing individuals and meeting them with empathy and humanity.

5. Champion fairness

Ensuring perceptions of fairness in pay and promotions is essential for building trust and signalling respect. Leaders should communicate clear criteria, invite open conversations, remain approachable on concerns and audit decisions for bias. Demonstrating fairness in actions builds trust and signals respect for all contributions.

Why it matters: Fairness builds trust and motivation; inconsistency breeds disengagement. When fairness is real and felt, people feel valued and perform better. 

6. Turn values into action

Values only matter if leaders consistently live them out. Leaders should embed values in decisions, role-model behaviours, seek feedback on alignment and hold themselves accountable. Aligning values with actions builds both credibility and trust.

Why it matters: Living values like courage and compassion proves leader well-being, builds trust, and strengthens culture — inauthenticity erodes morale, credibility, and engagement. 

These drivers are designed to be actionable and measurable. For example, under “Invest in Leader Well-being,” leaders are encouraged to foster supportive peer relationships, while “Make Work Empowering” calls for assigning diverse projects to stimulate growth and engagement.

“Leaders want to make change and invest where it matters most – and now we know what matters most from this study,” said former nominated Member of Parliament Anthea Ong, WWL founder and chairperson. “The roadmap empowers CEOs and boards to act with focus, accountability and impact.”

Data-driven insights on what works best

The study’s findings present striking data that disrupts conventional HR thinking, revealing the true weight of leadership behaviours in driving organisational outcomes. It showed that leader well-being is 56 times more impactful than traditional stress management programmes, while clarity in roles and employee empowerment have 120 times more impact than simply managing workload. A strong sense of belonging was found to be nine times more powerful than performance bonuses, and addressing whole-person needs, such as caregiving or financial literacy, proved to be 17 times more effective than relying on wellbeing apps. The perception of fairness in areas like pay and promotion emerged as 46 times more influential than offering perks, and leaders who actively live out organisational values are six times more impactful than those who only articulate them.

“When leaders are well, they make better decisions, create psychologically safe cultures, and build more resilient, high-performing organisations,” said Professor Chua Hong Choon, CEO of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Yishun Community Hospital.

Notably, the roadmap has been tailored to accommodate organisations of varying sizes and sectors – including smaller businesses and trade-based operations.

“As the CEO of a smaller business, with limited resources, most discussions on employee well-being aren’t relevant to me,” said Peter Yang, CEO, Empact. “I’m really excited to have a guide that is specific to my type of organisation.”

Regardless of sector or size, the roadmap offers practical implementation strategies without diluting impact – only the approach changes, not the priorities.

A new era of leadership responsibility

A core message from the roadmap is the urgent need for leaders to internalise well-being as a core leadership responsibility – not merely an HR initiative.

“It’s not just about being a champion of fairness – it’s about creating honest, auditable systems to uphold it,” said Stephane de Montlivault, president, Otis Asia Pacific.

Similarly, values are only meaningful when modelled consistently. “Values cannot just be words on posters,” said Tan Li San, CEO of the National Council of Social Services. “They must be practised and modelled by leaders at all levels, and we must hold each other accountable to live by them.”

As Singapore looks to its future, the roadmap is more than just a corporate guide, it is also a call to national leadership. 

"The well-being of our people is the well-being of our nation," said Anthea Ong. "This roadmap is not just for companies – it’s for the kind of country we want to be. It’s time for leaders to stop outsourcing well-being and start embodying it. That is the leadership Singapore needs now.”