How Do I Describe My Company's Workforce Wellbeing Policies in an ESG Report?

"We're too small for formal HR policies" — you likely have more than you think

When SMEs reach the workforce wellbeing section of their ESG report, it's common to assume this only applies to large companies with dedicated HR departments and written policy manuals. In reality, most companies already have real practices in place, even if they've never been formally documented. This could be flexible start times, an informal understanding that overtime shouldn't become the norm, or a manager who checks in when someone seems overwhelmed.

If your company already does some of these things, you have the foundation for this section. The task is to describe what genuinely happens, not to invent a corporate policy framework that doesn't exist.

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What is this question actually asking?

This section typically asks you to describe policies covering:

• Health and safety
• Mental health support
• Work-life balance
• Professional development
• Equal opportunities

Importantly, you need to explain how these are implemented, communicated to employees, and monitored for effectiveness, not just listed as topics you're aware of. A strong answer shows these are genuine, ongoing practices, not just intentions.

You don't need a policy in every category if it genuinely doesn't apply to your company's size or structure. But most companies, even small ones, will have something meaningful to say about at least a few of these areas.

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The core workforce wellbeing areas

Health and safety

This covers compliance with basic health and safety expectations. Examples include workplace risk awareness, workstation setup, fire safety, and first aid provision. Even a small office has practical health and safety habits worth describing, such as a nominated first aider, basic risk checks, or simply ensuring new starters know what to do in an emergency.

Mental health and wellbeing

This covers how mental health is supported and discussed at your company. This might involve access to counselling or an employee assistance programme, manager awareness, or simply an open culture where employees feel comfortable raising concerns. For a small company, this might be as simple as management actively encouraging people to speak up if they're struggling, without a formal programme in place.

Flexible working

This covers arrangements like hybrid or remote working, flexible hours, or job sharing. Most companies today have at least some flexibility built in, even informally. For example, you might allow employees to adjust their start time around childcare, or default to hybrid working.

Equal opportunities and inclusion

This covers fair recruitment and promotion practices, non-discrimination, and how concerns about discrimination or harassment would be addressed. Even without a formal diversity programme, most companies can describe genuine practices, such as structured, consistent interview processes, or a clear, even if informal, understanding of who to raise a concern with.

Professional development and training

This covers how employees are supported to grow their skills, including training budgets, support for professional qualifications, mentoring, or simply time allocated for learning. A modest, real commitment, like an annual training allowance per employee, is worth describing clearly.

Work-life balance

This covers expectations around working hours, holiday entitlement, parental leave, and support for caring responsibilities. If your company encourages people to actually take their holiday, or has any flexibility around caring responsibilities, that's genuinely relevant here.

Workplace wellbeing initiatives

This covers more everyday practices like ergonomic equipment, wellbeing perks, social activities, or simply having a decent break space. These smaller, tangible details often make a wellbeing description feel more real and specific.

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Don't just list policies — explain how they work

As with governance and other policy disclosures, the key differentiator between a weak and a strong answer is explaining implementation, not just naming the policy. For each area, consider covering:

• Implementation and oversight: Who is responsible day to day? This could simply be the founder or the office manager, rather than a dedicated HR function.
• Communication: How do employees actually learn about these practices? Examples include onboarding or informal conversation.
• Monitoring: How would you notice if something wasn't working, even informally? You could note general staff feedback or turnover trends rather than formal survey data.

For a small company, this doesn't need to sound like a large corporate wellbeing programme. A sentence like "our office manager checks in informally with the team and flexible working requests are agreed directly with managers" is a legitimate, honest description of implementation at a proportionate scale.

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Keep it proportionate

A ten-person company doesn't need a designated wellbeing champion, quarterly wellbeing reports, or a formal employee assistance programme to have a credible answer here. It's entirely appropriate to describe simpler, real practices, such as flexible start times, an approachable management style, and basic safety awareness, rather than implying a level of formality that doesn't exist.

If a category genuinely doesn't apply, or your practices in that area are minimal, it's fine to note that honestly rather than inventing detail. A short, accurate description of what genuinely happens is far stronger than an elaborate one that doesn't reflect reality.

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Common mistakes to avoid

• Listing policy names without explaining how they work. "We have a mental health policy" says little without describing what that actually means in practice.
• Overstating formality. Describing a "comprehensive wellbeing programme" when the reality is an informal, supportive culture creates a mismatch that can undermine credibility.
• Forgetting communication. A policy nobody has heard of isn't much of a policy in practice. Mention how employees actually learn about these things, even if it's just during onboarding conversations.
• Padding every category equally. It's fine, and often more honest, for some areas to be described briefly if they're genuinely less developed than others.
• Ignoring genuinely relevant, smaller practices. Simple things like flexible start times or an approachable manager count and are worth including even if modest.

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How Wardn helps

Wardn provides a structured template with example wording covering each workforce wellbeing area, so you don't need to start from a blank page. You can work through each category, describe what genuinely happens at your company, and reuse and update the same structure in future reporting years as your practices develop.

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Frequently asked questions

Do we need formal written policies in every category to answer this section?

Not necessarily. Describing genuine, informal practices, like flexible start times or an open-door approach to raising concerns, is a legitimate answer, even without formal written policies in place.

Our company is very small — do we still need mental health support and professional development sections?

Only describe what's genuinely relevant. A small company might have very modest practices in some areas, such as simply encouraging open conversation about workload, and that's a valid answer as long as it's accurate.

How do we describe monitoring if we don't run formal employee surveys?

Describe whatever informal method you actually use, such as regular one-to-ones, general observation of turnover or absence, or open conversations with the team. Formal surveys aren't required for a credible answer.

What if some categories are much more developed than others at our company?

That's fine and normal. It's better to describe some areas briefly and honestly than to pad every category equally to appear more comprehensive than your company actually is.

What's the biggest mistake companies make in this section?

Listing policy names without explaining how they're implemented, communicated, or monitored in practice. A short, honest description of what actually happens is far stronger than a longer list of policy titles with no detail behind them.

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