We Have More Wellbeing Solutions Than Ever.

So why are people still struggling? Asks Krisztina Csurgo, Founder, MENBEING Magazine

OPINION PIECE

Krisztina Csurgo

9/11/20264 min read

Corporate wellbeing has come a long way. The days when a gym membership, a step challenge or an occasional wellness activity could be presented as a complete wellbeing strategy are largely behind us. Companies now recognise that wellbeing includes mental health, relationships, flexibility, financial security, leadership, culture and the way work itself is organised.

In 2022, I wrote about this shift and questioned whether corporate wellbeing was becoming too focused on providing solutions rather than understanding what people actually needed. Many programmes were becoming more sophisticated, while communication, personalisation and genuine engagement remained inconsistent.

Four years later, the question is still relevant.

The numbers tell us something is still missing

The numbers are difficult to ignore. According to Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in their work in 2025, while 34% were thriving in their overall lives. In the Middle East and North Africa, workplace engagement was even lower at 14%.

In Egypt, the contrast is particularly striking. Only 4% of employees were classified as engaged, while 57% reported experiencing significant stress on the previous day.

These figures do not mean that wellbeing initiatives have failed. They do suggest that offering wellbeing solutions does not automatically create wellbeing. Something is still missing between the programme being offered and the person experiencing their working life.

Wellbeing does not always look like a wellbeing problem

One of the biggest challenges is that wellbeing problems rarely announce themselves clearly. A person can be successful, productive, reliable and apparently engaged while feeling increasingly disconnected from their work or their life.

Stress does not always look like stress, and burnout does not always look like exhaustion. Sometimes it looks like continued performance with very little sense of meaning behind it.

There is also a danger in placing too much responsibility on the individual. If excessive workload, poor leadership, constant uncertainty or unhealthy organisational expectations are contributing to distress, asking employees to become more resilient does not address the conditions creating the problem.

What happens when only three to five people sit down together?

Small group sessions offer a different possibility.

A group of three to five people is large enough to create perspective and small enough to create trust. There is something profoundly important about hearing another person speak openly about a challenge you thought was uniquely yours. Recognition can reduce isolation, create perspective and make it easier to look at your own experience with greater honesty.

Men need spaces where they do not have to perform

This can be particularly significant for men. Many men have been conditioned to deal with difficulty privately, to remain capable and to avoid exposing uncertainty.

A small group can create an environment in which those patterns begin to soften naturally.

Something more than conversation can emerge. Men begin to recognise themselves in one another. They listen, contribute, challenge, support and gradually develop a sense of belonging.

In the right environment, the process can resemble a modern form of initiation, a movement from carrying everything alone towards being witnessed and recognised by other men.

Small groups can create a much bigger ripple

In my experience, small groups can also become catalysts for much larger change. What happens inside a group does not necessarily stay inside the group.

People begin to experience the benefits of sharing, listening and connecting, and this can influence the way they communicate with colleagues outside the sessions.

A person who feels heard may listen differently. Someone who has learned to express uncertainty may become less defensive when others do the same. A manager who experiences genuine openness may begin creating more space for it within their own team.

This is where the butterfly effect becomes an interesting way of thinking about organisational wellbeing. A small intervention can create small changes in individual behaviour, which influence relationships, which influence communication, which gradually influence the wider culture.

The loop closes when the experience of the small group begins to shape the environment around it.

The next step may be smaller, not bigger

Small groups do not replace structural change, professional support or existing wellbeing programmes. They create a human layer between organisational systems and individual experience, while potentially influencing the culture far beyond the people who initially participate.

Corporate wellbeing may therefore need fewer generic activities and more meaningful conversations.

Sometimes a cultural shift begins with only three to five people sitting in a room and discovering that they do not have to carry everything alone.