HR community July – Rethinking Workplace Wellness: How Health Coaching Can Support HR & Employees

HR professionals are under increasing pressure to manage employee wellbeing alongside their already demanding roles. With limited time and resources, many find themselves responsible for delivering health and wellbeing initiatives – yet traditional approaches, such as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), wellness weeks, and generalised wellbeing perks, often fail to engage employees or create meaningful change. Wellbeing becomes another ‘to-do’ rather than an embedded part of workplace culture.

This session explores how health coaching offers a fresh, effective approach to workplace wellbeing, one that supports employees in taking ownership of their health – by focusing on prevention, habit change, and personalised support – while reducing the burden on HR teams.

You will gain insight into:

• The limitations of traditional corporate wellbeing initiatives – why many fail to engage employees or drive real behaviour change

• What health coaching is and how it differs from conventional wellbeing initiatives – moving from passive resources to active, personalised support

• The business case for coaching-led wellbeing – how it can reduce absenteeism, improve engagement, and enhance productivity without creating additional workload for HR

• Practical ways to integrate health coaching into the workplace

This session will provide actionable steps to enhance employee wellbeing in a way that is effective, achievable, and sustainable. Attendees will leave with a greater understanding of health coaching and with fresh insights on how to integrate it into their wellbeing strategy – helping them support employees more effectively while also benefiting the business and without adding to their already heavy workload.

Our Speaker – Nikki Chamberlain

Nikki is a Registered Health Coach and a full member of the UK & International Health Coaches Association. She partners with forward-thinking businesses that truly care about their people, helping them create meaningful, proactive wellbeing strategies that go beyond tick-box initiatives & foster healthier, more resilient workplaces.

With a 30-year career background in management roles within SME environments, Nikki understands the pressures of corporate life and the challenges HR professionals face in embedding wellbeing while juggling multiple responsibilities.
In 2020 Nikki took the brave leap out of the corporate world to qualify as a health coach and into self-employment; enabling her now to do meaningful work with organisations to implement sustainable, practical wellness solutions – helping businesses improve employee wellbeing, engagement, and performance without adding extra burden to HR teams.

Alongside her workplace wellness work, Nikki also supports senior female business professionals to take their health from good to great through simple, sustainable lifestyle changes. Her 1:1 coaching programmes provide guidance, accountability, and encouragement to help high-performing individuals thrive both professionally and personally.

Nikki’s passion for health and wellness began in 2009 when a ‘bucket list’ goal to run a half marathon turned into a journey to becoming a devoted endurance runner. She has since completed around 30 marathons (including the six World Marathon Majors) and around 15 ultramarathons. Her personal journey has given her a first-hand understanding of the impact that small, consistent lifestyle habits can have on energy, performance, and long-term wellbeing – insights she now brings into her coaching and workplace wellbeing programmes.

Now in her mid-50s, with no plans to stop running anytime soon, Nikki is passionate about inspiring others to take ownership of their health. She is also an England Athletics-qualified Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF), supporting women from beginners to improvers in achieving their running goals.