The Make Work Better Conference 2024

Over 500 delegates joined Investors in People at The Mermaid in London for the second Make Work Better Conference on 10th September 2024.

This day-long, CPD Certified event featured an exclusive roster of Wellbeing experts who delved into the latest trends in workplace wellbeing.

With a line-up featuring renowned celebrities like Joe Wicks and Ruby Wax, Wellbeing acamedics, such as Professor Sir Cary Cooper and Dame Carol Black, and Wellbeing speakers such as Gethin Nadin and Petra Velzeboer, there was plenty to take away from the day for all attending to consider and implement within their organisations.

What you can find here:

Register for the Make Work Better Conference 2025
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to register for the Make Work Better Conference 2025! Set to take place in London on 9th September 2025. Get the latest news on all the speakers as it happens.

Media
Our team was busy recording and snapping all the content for the day. You can find all the session videos and photography from the day below.

When the perks don’t work: The true value of investing in a culture of wellbeing
This year’s conference saw the launch of our latest whitepaper, “When the Perks Don’t Work: The True Value of Investing in a Culture of Wellbeing,”.

Key insights from our YouGov commissioned research reveal the crucial gap between what HR decision-makers think matters and what truly impacts employee wellbeing.

You can read and download the whitepaper to dive into the true value of creating a holistic wellbeing culture that prioritizes people first.

REGISTER FOR 2025!!!

We’re excited to announced that The Make Work Better Conference will be back on 9th September 2025.

For the best chance to secure your place and find out who will be headline the next Make Work Better Conference, complete the form below and we’ll keep you up to date with all announcements as they happen!

Make Work Better conference 2024 - VIDEO

All sessions from the Make Work Better Conference 2024 are available to watch below.

Make Work Better Conference 2024 - Keynote

Speaker: Paul Devoy - CEO, Investors in People

Paul Devoy kicks off The Make Work Better Conference 2024, sharing experiences of his own wellbeing journey, highlighting the importance and impact of Wellbeing, introducing IIP’s new whitepaper ‘When the perks don’t work’, and calling for organisations to focus on creating and embedding cultures of wellbeing in their workplaces.

Dealing with Stress in a Work Environment

Speaker: Ruby Wax

From her studies in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and neuroscience at Oxford University where she received a Masters, Ruby provides tools on how to defrazzle a frazzled mind and how to become the master, not the slave of your brain. If you can lower your own stress, you lower the stress in those around you – thereby creating trust and rapport. Ruby believes that we work like neural wifi.

Banishing the Sunday Night Blues

Speaker: Kirstin Furber

Kirstin Furber, People Director for Channel 4, a renowned public speaker and expert on the Sunday Night Blues has worked in senior roles at Kantar, BBC Worldwide, 20th Century Fox and Discovery Channel 4. This experience convinced her that top leaders and managers create a culture that allows us to be the best we can be at work. Her life-long focus on the Sunday Night Blues and her current work with Investors in People and The University of Exeter have resulted in insights and practical, actionable leadership behaviours that can positively influence culture in an organisation. In this session, Kirstin explores the latest findings from the research as well as a few of those practical behaviours!

A Decade of Change: The Profound Societal Impact of your Wellbeing Decisions

Speaker: Gethin Nadin

The UK is facing a decisive decade of change. Trust in the employer is at a record high and the workplace now has more of an impact on our wellbeing than our Doctor or partner does. As workplace wellbeing has evolved significantly over the last ten years, is it time to ask ourselves if our commitment to employee wellbeing is crucial to society’s future?

Building a Culture of Wellbeing: Insights from Senior Leaders on Crafting Effective Strategies and Gaining Business Leader Support

Panel: Gethin Nadin (chair), Julie Stephens (BUPA), Idris Arshad (Asthma + Lung UK) and Janet O'Hehir

Starts at 31m 03s

Gethin, Julie Stephens (BUPA), Idris Arshad (Asthma + Lung UK) and Janet O’Hehir share their experiences and strategies for fostering a culture of wellbeing within organisations, discussing effective approaches to promoting mental, emotional, and physical health in the workplace, and how these initiatives can lead to improved employee satisfaction and productivity.

Empowering Employers to Improve Employee Health and Wellbeing

Dame Carol Black

Dame Carol Black explores the current challenges faced by employers and how they might enhance the health wellness and engagement of their workforce, the importance of institutional culture, interventions targeting individuals, the importance of training and retention, and the potential of gen AI leveraging technology to support human endeavour.

Supporting colleagues in the workplace on their perimenopause and menopause journey

Kate Martin

As perimenopause and menopause have lost some of the stigma that has long been associated with this life transition phase, women have increasingly been opening up about how the symptoms impact on them in their personal and work lives. Kate Martin speaks from personal experience and her own learnings about how this has influenced the development of the new service offering from PAM Wellness that will support employers supporting their employees during their perimenopause and menopause journey.

Fireside Chat: Enhancing Mental Capital and Wellbeing at Work

Professor Sir Cary Cooper, Paul Devoy

Sir Cary Cooper discusses why organisations need to engage in strategic wellbeing, what the drivers are for change, what the main sources of lack of mental wellbeing at work are, what evidence there is that workplace wellbeing delivers to the bottom-line, and what strategic organisational wellbeing looks like.

Leading. Supporting. Improving. How organisations are using the We invest in wellbeing framework as the foundation of their culture.

Beth Samson, Holly Stevenson, Declan Macallister, Hayley Staff

Leaders from SMEs who have successfully achieved the “We invest in wellbeing” accreditation by Investors in People share their experiences and insights on the framework’s implementation, detailing the strategies and practices that led to their accreditation.

Balancing Act: Integrating Culture and Wellbeing Strategies for Hybrid Work Environments

Petra Velzeboer

Petra Velzeboer delves into the essential strategies for harmonising organisational culture and employee wellbeing in the evolving landscape of hybrid work, discussing practical approaches to maintaining a strong, cohesive culture while addressing the unique challenges and opportunities that arise in a flexible work environment.

From Fitness to Wellness: Joe Wicks Shares His Mental Wellbeing Journey & Lessons for Creating a Supportive Workplace Culture

Joe Wicks, Paul Devoy, Anna Richardson

Renowned fitness coach and author Joe Wicks delves into his transformative journey from focusing solely on physical fitness to embracing a holistic approach to mental wellbeing, sharing how his experiences, particularly during the global recognition of his online workouts amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, led him to realise the importance of mental and emotional health.

Make Work Better conference 2024

Browse a gallery of media from The Make Work Better Conference 2024 headlined by Joe Wicks.

Make Work Better 2024 - Gethin Nadin Panel

Make Work Better 2024 - Professor Dame Carol Black

Make Work Better 2024 - IIP Community Panel

WHEN THE PERKS DON'T WORK

The true value of investing in a culture of wellbeing

For an organisation to thrive, the people it employs need to be thriving too.

There is a growing body of evidence that links healthy organisational performance with having a healthy workforce. However, research of employees and HR decision-makers conducted for Investors in People by YouGov finds that when it comes to investing in employee wellbeing, employers are putting their budgets and energies into the wrong areas.

Our research found a significant mismatch in how employee and HR professionals think about wellbeing, with employees finding wellness initiatives less valuable and effective than HR decision makers imagine.

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