Ingrid Lederman
Wellbeing Champion and Mental Health Advocate
Board of Directors, National Alliance for Mental Illness
Head of HR and Head of Talent for high growth organizations
Your career in HR spans decades and you’ve recently championed initiatives like “We Care” to promote wellbeing and reduce stigma around mental health in the workplace. How do you define employee wellbeing and why is it so important for organizations to prioritize it today?
I define employee wellbeing as an overall state that includes physical health, emotional health, work experience and financial security. All these conditions directly influence how people show up at work.
Wellbeing is a priority right now because we’re living and working in a very challenging environment – national unrest, economic uncertainty, political division and rapid technological change (including how artificial intelligence will impact jobs). People are more stressed than ever, and burnout is reaching epidemic levels.
When employees are stressed, productivity, engagement, retention and profitability decline. In contrast, when an organization puts wellbeing at the heart of their strategy, everything improves – from innovation to resilience and long-term business performance. Prioritizing wellbeing isn’t “nice to have”, it’s essential to engagement, and a driver of organizational performance.
Can you share a key challenge you’ve encountered when implementing wellness programs and how you worked with leaders and teams to overcome it?
One of the biggest challenges has been low engagement, even when organizations offer a wide range of wellbeing resources. This often happens when initiatives are positioned as optional perks, rather than as a core leadership priority embedded into the culture and how work gets done.
An effective approach to this challenge is identifying senior leaders who are genuinely committed to wellbeing and model positive behaviors consistently. Wellbeing engagement improves significantly when leaders set boundaries around work and life, manage work sustainably and use available resources themselves. The managers who model positive behaviors and reinforce healthy norms inspire real change by signaling that wellbeing is part of the culture and important in day-to-day work life.
When faced with skeptical leaders, we focus on providing them with credible wellbeing data using the organization’s own metrics and by connecting wellbeing to productivity, retention, and financial performance. When leaders see wellbeing as a performance lever rather than a perk, they’re more likely to engage and support these efforts.
In your view, what role do managers and everyday team members play in creating a culture that supports wellbeing, not just through formal programs but in daily work interactions?
Creating a culture that supports wellbeing is a shared responsibility, and leaders play a critical role. Employees take cues from how their managers manage workload, set expectations, respect boundaries and take time off. If leaders consistently work overtime and neglect their own wellbeing, employees won’t feel safe prioritizing their own.
“Burnout” is rarely an individual’s failure; it’s typically a symptom of broken systems or misaligned priorities. When leadership behaviors, incentives, and processes are aligned with wellbeing goals, overwork is not celebrated and sustainable performance becomes the norm.
HR teams need to partner with leaders and managers to ensure they have the education, skills, resources and authority to design work conditions that prioritize clear expectations and realistic workloads.
Are there specific challenges in creating a culture that supports mental health?
Mental health presents unique challenges because, unlike physical health, mental illness is often invisible, poorly understood, and unfortunately carries a lot of stigma. At the same time, its prevalence is significant. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), in 2024, one in four adults experienced a mental health condition, and one in twenty experienced a serious mental illness.
This reality requires intentional action. Managers and employees need education on how to recognize signs of distress and other symptoms, have supportive conversations, and respond appropriately. Some companies offer mental health ally training to increase awareness and equip employees with skills, and implement employee resource groups where people can connect, share experiences, and find mental health and wellbeing resources.
When leaders appropriately model vulnerability, by sharing personal or family experiences, it creates psychological safety and encourages employees to seek help before issues escalate. Organizations must also ensure that they offer the right mix of services and resources, and that employees trust that counseling services are confidential.
What other lessons would you pass on to other HR professionals?
Wellbeing needs to be embedded into organizational values and core people systems – including new hire onboarding, job design, performance management, and flexible work policies – not treated as standalone benefits or initiatives. When wellbeing is integrated into how work is structured and evaluated, it becomes a sustainable business practice rather than a symbolic gesture.
Like any other strategic initiative, a successful wellbeing strategy requires solid execution including a clear implementation plan, strong change management, consistent leadership messaging, and ongoing communication.
Looking ahead, what do you believe will have the biggest impact over the next few years? How should organizations prepare to meet those evolving needs?
The biggest shift will be moving from reactive wellbeing efforts to preventive strategies. Organizations are increasingly recognizing that prevention costs far less than recovery—both financially and culturally.
Four key trends will drive this shift. First, data-driven decision-making: organizations will measure wellbeing regularly and adjust practices using real insights. Second, executive ownership: senior leaders will be accountable for modeling healthy behaviors and wellbeing outcomes. Third, a more proactive approach to mental health: a focus on prevention, resilience, and stress management will complement traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Finally, technology will enable more personalized services for increasingly diverse workforces.
Organizations that stay ahead will do so by partnering with benefit and wellbeing experts and by continuously adapting their strategies to evolving workforce needs.
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