We’re Treating Whole People… In Pieces. And It’s Costing Us Everything

by Nichola Adams

Happy Chinese New Year  – Welcome to the Year of the Horse. A year of energy, momentum, and breaking free from what no longer serves us. Feels like the right moment to talk about something that’s been quietly holding organisations back for decade

Last week someone told me their back was killing them.

They’d raised it with Facilities, who adjusted their chair. The pain continued. They told HR, who referred them to the EAP. They never called. The pain got worse. They started sleeping badly. Their focus went. Their manager noticed the dip in performance and had a “wellbeing check-in.” Another box ticked. The pain? Still there.
Three departments. Multiple interventions. One person still struggling.

The Fragmentation Crisis No One Names

We have built elaborate, well-intentioned systems to support people at work. And then we’ve split them into silos so distinct that the left hand genuinely doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.

HR owns the mind and emotions. Facilities and Health & Safety own the body and the physical space. Occupational Health steps in when things have already gone wrong.

Meanwhile, the person in the middle – the actual human being trying to do their job – doesn’t live in silos. They live in a body that affects their brain. They experience stress that tightens their muscles. They carry anxiety that changes their posture. They have neurodivergent traits that intersect with physical hypermobility, sensory sensitivities, and executive function differences that nobody has connected the dots on.

The problem isn’t the programmes. It’s the separation.

And right now, that separation is more costly than ever.

The Perfect Storm We’re Standing In 

We’re not navigating one challenge. We’re navigating five, simultaneously: 

Four generations at work, each with different needs, expectations, and communication styles. A mental health crisis with UK sick days at record highs. Musculoskeletal disorders quietly rising as our working patterns shift. Neurodiversity awareness finally emerging — with 1 in 7 people identifying as neurodivergent — yet workplaces still designed for a mythical “average” person who doesn’t actually exist. And layered over all of it: AI. 

AI is extraordinary. It is also, right now, a source of profound anxiety for millions of workers who don’t yet know where they fit in a world that seems to be rewriting itself in real time. 

If we think siloed wellbeing strategies were struggling before AI – we need to take a long, honest look at what we’re walking into. 

Here’s What the Science Tells Us (And We Keep Ignoring) 

Stress creates tension in the body. Muscle tightness becomes back pain. Back pain creates worry, disrupts sleep, reduces movement – which creates more stress. Anxiety causes shallow breathing, poor posture, and muscle guarding — which creates physical pain. Pain affects concentration. Reduced concentration affects performance. Work pressure creates more stress. 

Round and round it goes. 

We know this. The research is clear. The mind and body cannot be separated — and yet our organisational structures treat them as entirely different problems owned by entirely different people. 

The result? We address symptoms. Not systems. 

What We’re Hearing Right Now

• The quiet, low-grade exhaustion that doesn’t look like a crisis but is
• AI anxiety showing up in client conversations, not as panic but as unease
• Neurodiversity awareness racing ahead of actual workplace change
• Return-to-office creating physical discomfort nobody anticipated
• The Get Britain Working backdrop adding pressure to organisations already stretched
• And that consistent thread: the organisations doing well are the ones joining the dots

The Year of the Horse Asks Something of Us 

In Chinese tradition, the Horse represents freedom, vitality, and the courage to move forward with purpose and speed. It doesn’t plod along cautiously. It runs. 

I think that’s the invitation right now — particularly in the age of AI, where the pace of change is not slowing down for anyone. 

We cannot afford a fragmented approach to human wellbeing in a world moving this fast. When people are supported as whole people — physically, cognitively, emotionally — they don’t just survive change. They lead it. 

The organisations I see thriving aren’t the ones with the most wellbeing programmes. They’re the ones who’ve stopped treating wellbeing as a series of separate interventions and started treating the workplace itself as a system — one where every element connects.

What an Integrated Approach Actually Looks Like 

It starts with a simple but radical question: are we designing for the average, or for the individual? 

A one-size-fits-all solution sounds efficient. It isn’t. It works for nobody particularly well and fails some people entirely — especially those whose needs are invisible. The person who looks fine but is three weeks away from burnout. The neurodivergent team member whose sensory environment is quietly draining them every single day. The person managing chronic pain who never mentioned it because nobody asked in a way that felt safe. 

An integrated approach brings ergonomics, inclusivity, and neurodiversity thinking together — not as separate workstreams but as one lens through which we look at how people actually experience their work. It catches issues before they become crises. It removes the need for people to label or disclose their needs just to receive support. It designs environments where more people can do their best work, more of the time. 

That’s not just the ethical case. That’s the business case.  

A Note to Anyone Who Recognises This 

If you’re in HR, Health & Safety, Facilities, or leadership — you are exactly the person who can change this. 

The invitation isn’t blame. It’s collaboration. 

What would it look like in your organisation if these conversations happened together, not in sequence? 

Nichola Adams is the founder of Inspired Ergonomics, a team of specialist ergonomists and neurodiversity experts helping national and international organisations design workplaces where people genuinely thrive. She holds an MSc in Health Ergonomics and is a Tech CIEHF and WELL Advisor (IWBI). 

Wishing everyone a joyful, energised, and human-centred Year of the Horse.