Why One-Off Employee Wellbeing Webinars Don’t Work
Mar 06, 2024The Problem With One - Off Employee Wellbeing Webinars
There’s something I absolutely love about delivering employee wellbeing webinars.
It’s the moment someone has a breakthrough. That shift in energy when a technique lands. That feeling of “I didn’t expect this to work—but wow, it did.”
I’ve spent over a decade working one-to-one with individuals and teams, and I bring everything I’ve learned into the group sessions I now deliver across organisations, including online mental health training for teams across the globe.
I design every webinar to engage all five senses. We tap. We breathe. We bring it back to the body and the mind together.
And it works. The feedback is extraordinary.
The Power of a Well-Designed Wellbeing Webinar
Here’s just a small sample from one of our monthly employee wellbeing webinars delivered to the Department of Corrections in Wisconsin:
🌟 “Sara has a way of making you not feel guilty to have feelings… I’ve learned so much about myself and how to change unhealthy thinking.”
🌟 “The tapping was powerful—I plan to keep doing it because I noticed a dramatic improvement in the areas where I hold stress.”
🌟 “I’ve never attended training that had a bigger impact.”
🌟 “These sessions are by far the best I’ve taken in terms of mental health support.”
It’s not unusual for people to say:
“Can we have more?”
“This should be mandatory!”
“Why didn’t we learn this sooner?”
But here’s the truth no one wants to hear, and it’s the reason I’m writing this blog:
💥 One-off employee wellbeing webinars don’t create lasting change.
They’re powerful. They’re transformative in the moment. But they’re not the full solution.
The Myth of the ‘Quick Fix’ for Employee Wellbeing
Let’s talk about something that still happens far too often.
A company ticks the mental health box with a single wellbeing webinar during Mental Health Awareness Week, then calls it a day.
Job done, right?
Except nothing’s really changed.
Employees are still stressed. Absence rates are still rising. Managers are still unsure what to say when someone’s struggling. The workplace culture? Still running on autopilot.
This is the problem with surface-level support.
It makes us feel like we’re doing something without actually shifting the culture. And culture is what drives employee wellbeing in the workplace.
You cannot transform mindset, nervous system regulation, and emotional intelligence in a 60-minute session. And as someone who delivers these sessions, I’ll be the first to tell you that.
Why One-Off Webinars Don’t Work (Even When They’re Brilliant)
A single wellbeing session is like a spark. It can be beautiful. It can ignite awareness.
But unless you feed it, the fire goes out.
Neuroscience backs this up. Creating new neural pathways—especially those related to stress, emotional regulation, and resilience—takes repetition.
That’s why resilience training for managers and ongoing leadership development programs are so effective. They don’t just deliver information—they build capability over time.
The same applies to employee wellbeing.
You need repeated exposure to new tools, new ways of thinking, and the space to reflect, practice, and integrate.
So What Does Work?
Here’s what I’ve seen work again and again—across industries, job roles, and continents:
1. Consistent sessions over time
This could be monthly or bi-weekly webinars, a structured program, or themed workshops spread across the year.
It allows for:
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Depth of learning
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Habit creation
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Cultural momentum
This is what we do with organisations like the Department of Corrections—one session builds on the last. We create trust. We go deeper. And the results speak for themselves.
2. Equipping managers, not just employees
Wellbeing is everyone’s business—but managers have the most direct impact.
When managers aren’t trained, they either avoid conversations or fumble through them, and that’s where things go wrong.
Our mental health training for managers and emotional intelligence training in leadership helps shift that. It gives managers the confidence and tools to lead with empathy, not avoidance.
And when that happens, your entire team feels it.
3. Embedding wellbeing into culture, not just events
This is about asking:
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Do our managers have regular check-ins with their team?
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Are we modelling vulnerability and openness from the top down?
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Do people feel safe to be honest about their struggles?
Employee wellbeing is a culture shift, not a calendar entry.
The Ripple Effect of Real Investment
When you prioritise consistency over convenience, your results change.
Not just in feedback, but in retention, morale, and performance.
You’ll see:
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Lower stress-related absence
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Higher engagement
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Improved collaboration
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Greater loyalty
Because people don’t forget how they feel in your organisation.
When you create safety, that becomes the standard.
When you offer tools that work, people keep using them.
And when people feel like their mental health matters, they show up differently.
A Final Word for HR and Leadership Teams
I get it because I worked as an HR Leader for over a decade. There is always so much going on, mental health in the workplace is now such a key focus for you, and there's pressure to make every initiative “count.”
So let me say this as simply as possible:
A single webinar won’t change your culture.
But a consistent, strategic approach absolutely will.
Whether it’s a six-month program, quarterly resilience sessions, or training your managers to have better conversations, employee wellbeing needs to be lived, not just delivered.
If you’re ready to take that step, we’re here to walk it with you.
📞 Let’s Talk:
Want to explore how we can create a bespoke wellbeing journey for your team?
Book a call and let’s build something that actually works long-term.
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