7OS06 Wellbeing At work Student Assessment Brief

Looking into how wellbeing affects performance and culture? The “7OS06 Wellbeing at Work Student Assessment Brief” helps learners think critically about this growing area in HR and management.

There’s been a shift, more people are starting to ask how we feel at work, not just what we do. And that’s not just a trend or buzz; it’s a genuine concern. The 7OS06 Wellbeing At Work Student Assessment Brief encourages this kind of reflection. It’s part of the CIPD Level 7 qualification, and it challenges learners to assess real situations, what goes wrong when people are ignored, or what changes when organisations actually pay attention to how staff are doing.

You might expect everything to be black and white, but in practice? It’s rarely that simple. We’ve seen people thrive in tough settings and struggle in seemingly great ones. So what really makes the difference? That’s what this unit nudges students to think through.

Case study: Assessment questions

You receive the following e-mail from the head of your organisation. 

‘I appreciate the organisation’s commitment to employee wellbeing but believe we should step up our efforts and invest more in this area. Before putting this to the Senior Leadership Team, can you update me on some of the key principles of wellbeing at work by answering the following questions?’

For the purpose of this assessment, you need to apply your answers to either your own organisation or one with which you are familiar.

It is essential that your reading of the published literature is used to inform your responses to all questions.

Question 1 (AC 1.3) Examine the organisation’s responsibilities to engage with workplace wellbeing (other than those for health and safety, and its legal duty of care).

Alright, let’s begin.

Now, this question might seem broad on the surface, but if you slow down and break it apart, it becomes much more manageable. Let’s walk through it together, piece by piece.

1. Let’s look at the wording carefully. What is it really asking?

The first thing to note is that this question is about organisational responsibilities.

But not legal ones like health and safety, or duty of care. Those are excluded deliberately. So don’t spend time writing about HSE law, or accident reporting, or formal mental health policies under legislation. That’s not what the assessor wants.

What they do want is for you to go a little deeper, into what’s often considered the more human side of wellbeing.

This is about the choices an organisation makes to intentionally support the wellbeing of its employees even when the law doesn’t demand it. So, think in terms of moral responsibility, organisational culture, and social expectations.

2. Think about wellbeing as something beyond health.

Yes, health is part of it, but not just physical safety. Wellbeing at work, these days, touches on:

• Psychological and emotional wellbeing (stress, burnout, work pressure)
• Social wellbeing (how people relate to each other, isolation, inclusion)
• Financial wellbeing (can people meet their basic needs?)
• Work-life balance (are people overworked, or are expectations reasonable?)
• Autonomy and purpose (do they feel valued? Like their job matters?)

This is where you start shaping your answer.

3. Use the case study and choose a real-life organisation.

You need to apply this to an organisation you know. That’s important.

Let’s use a hypothetical case for this session: say we’re talking about “Thamesview Care Group”, a medium-sized care provider with five residential homes across the South East of England.

It’s an organisation where most of the frontline staff are healthcare assistants and support workers. Many work long shifts, often with limited breaks. There’s high emotional labour, dealing with vulnerable people, family expectations, and loss.

It’s not hard to see why wellbeing matters here, right?

4. Structure your response naturally, like a flowing reflection.

In the context of Thamesview Care Group, workplace wellbeing can’t be treated as a bonus or a side issue, it sits right at the heart of how people experience their jobs. Beyond health and safety rules, there’s a responsibility to actually create an environment where staff don’t just survive their shifts but feel respected and supported in the long term.

One area where this shows up is emotional fatigue. Care workers regularly deal with distressing situations; death, family grief, behavioural difficulties. That takes a toll. The organisation has a duty, I’d say, to recognise that emotional strain and respond to it, not just react when someone is already burned out. A good example would be creating informal peer support sessions, or offering optional access to counselling services. These aren’t legally required, but staff value them. And if they don’t exist, we often see high churn rates.

We might also consider workload patterns. Technically, as long as staff aren’t breaching working time regulations, an employer could do nothing more. But let’s be honest, that’s a low bar. At Thamesview, managers have recently started consulting staff on rota changes, giving people more say. It’s small, but it shifts the message: “We care about how this job feels to you.”

Social wellbeing matters too. In one of the homes, a manager introduced weekly “team breakfasts” just a 30-minute chat before the morning shift starts. No agenda. Just space. Some staff love it. Others don’t attend, which is also fine. But the option matters, it creates social glue. Again, there’s no policy that says a care provider must do this. But it reflects a view that workplace relationships, and feeling part of something, support mental health.

There’s also a financial angle. The organisation can’t always raise wages. But they’ve partnered with a budgeting support charity to offer optional drop-ins for staff who want help managing debt or costs. It’s not about assuming people are struggling, it’s about acknowledging that financial stress bleeds into work. Quietly offering a bit of support makes a difference, even if uptake is low.

So, to sum up this kind of approach, wellbeing isn’t about huge, flashy programmes. It’s about consistent, sometimes very ordinary actions that show staff they’re seen and valued.

Not everything will work for everyone. Some things will land well with one team and flop in another. But the responsibility is to try, and to listen.

5. To connect it with theory and evidence, draw from published work.

At this point, you should be weaving in a few references from the literature. Don’t just say what Thamesview is doing, relate it to what researchers or professional bodies suggest.

For example:

• The CIPD’s Health and Wellbeing at Work report often talks about the link between management behaviour and wellbeing outcomes. You might quote that when discussing line managers setting the tone.
• The Black Report (2008) stressed the economic and moral value of maintaining employee wellbeing, particularly in emotionally demanding jobs.
• Academic work from authors like Cooper and Cartwright (1994) has long emphasised that proactive emotional wellbeing support reduces absence and increases engagement.

But, don’t just drop in citations. Use them to back up what you’re saying. Make the theory feel alive in the case you’re presenting.

6. What is the assessor expecting here?

They want you to show:

• That you understand what wellbeing at work really means — in a layered way, not just health and safety.
• That you can think critically — not just saying “more is better,” but recognising trade-offs, staff differences, and culture.
• That you can apply this to a real situation — with practical examples.
• That you’ve read beyond your own head — using real academic or professional sources to shape your view.

This question isn’t about showing how much you know, but how well you can think. If your answer feels too neat, or too theoretical, it might not feel grounded. Let it breathe. Let it reflect the real workplaces. That’s what gives your answer credibility.

You’re not expected to solve wellbeing overnight, but you are expected to show you understand what the responsibility looks like, and how an organisation might meet it in everyday ways.

Question 2 (AC 2.2) Drawing upon examples, critically evaluate how the lack of support for employee wellbeing may impact on both organisational and employee outcomes.

Step 1: Understand What’s Being Asked

This isn’t just about listing negative outcomes. It’s about evaluating, so you’re expected to consider the scale and nature of the impact, look at possible differences in how the lack of support plays out across groups, and offer some kind of thoughtful judgement, not just observations.

You’re also asked to be critical, which means not everything is black or white. A lack of wellbeing support might not always result in disaster, but you need to explore how and why the outcomes vary.

And most importantly, use examples. Not just generic examples, but draw from either your own workplace or one you’re familiar with. Since you’ve been given the option, let’s lean into the case study:

Case Study Context:

You’ve received an email from leadership asking for key principles of wellbeing. That sets the tone. It tells us that the organisation already has some kind of commitment to wellbeing, but there’s a sense they could do more. The leadership wants evidence, some clarity on what’s at stake if they don’t invest more.

So, you’re essentially writing a mini advisory briefing. Not a lecture. Not a theory essay. More of a, “here’s what happens when we don’t look after our people” piece. You’re not selling wellbeing, you’re trying to get them to pause and reflect.

Let’s move through this logically.

Step 2: Structure Your Answer

This is one way we might go about it:

1. Briefly define what ‘support for wellbeing’ actually means in a workplace.
2. Outline the key areas where lack of support shows up (you could mention physical, mental, financial, social wellbeing).
3. Discuss how those affect employees personally (motivation, stress, absenteeism, etc.).
4. Then show how those personal effects translate to wider organisational impacts (low productivity, staff turnover, reputational damage).
5. Use specific examples or mini case moments—pull from your chosen workplace or make a realistic one up based on UK practices.
6. Finish with a light reflection on how critical support for wellbeing can be, but don’t wrap things up too neatly.

Step 3: Walkthrough with Commentary

Let’s break it into conversational chunks.

❍ What does support for wellbeing look like?

Start simple, almost like you’re saying it aloud:

When we talk about support for employee wellbeing, we’re really referring to how the organisation helps staff manage their work-life balance, health, and general mental state through policies, culture, leadership, even small day-to-day practices.

In my experience at a large city hotel group in the UK (we’ll call it InterLuxe for this discussion), there were basic supports like access to mental health first aiders, flexi-hours for housekeeping staff, and weekly manager check-ins. But, truthfully, these weren’t always consistent across branches.

You don’t need to go too deep here, just paint a picture.

❍ What happens when that support is missing?

Now shift into the real core of the question. Keep the tone reflective, not too clinical:

When those supports are either inconsistent or entirely absent, staff often begin to disengage, first quietly, then more visibly. I remember one housekeeper at the InterLuxe Brighton site who began taking multiple days off each month. Her workload hadn’t changed, but she’d mentioned once in passing that her knees were giving her trouble. No one followed up. No one offered reduced hours or light duties. Eventually, she just left.

And she wasn’t the only one. Lack of physical support, like ergonomic tools or proper scheduling, gradually led to higher turnover. And the longer it went on, the more strained the remaining staff became, covering for those who left, picking up shifts. You could see the morale drop. It wasn’t always vocalised, but it lingered.

Use lived or imagined experience to give a sense of realism. Then connect it to employee outcomes:

On an individual level, this lack of support led to exhaustion, loss of motivation, even burnout. Some staff began cutting corners, not out of laziness, but out of fatigue or quiet protest. Others turned quiet, stopped volunteering ideas, stopped engaging during team briefings. You could sense that emotional disconnection.

And once that starts spreading, it gets into the bones of the team culture.

❍ And what about organisational outcomes?

This is where you shift focus, not too sharply though. Just lean into it:

For the organisation, the consequences aren’t always immediate. That’s what makes this tricky. You don’t suddenly lose 20% of staff in a week. It happens slowly. But it builds.

Absenteeism rates climb. Recruitment costs rise. Customer complaints start creeping in, not because staff don’t care, but because they’re overwhelmed, distracted, tired. At InterLuxe, the HR data showed a 15% spike in sick days one quarter, mostly in guest-facing roles. But no one joined the dots at the time.

There was even a drop in guest reviews, simple things like “the room wasn’t ready” or “staff seemed uninterested.” That’s what it looks like when wellbeing is neglected. Not a dramatic collapse, but a slow erosion of standards, energy, and staff trust.

Don’t wrap it up too neatly, leave room for ambiguity.

Now, I’m not saying every absence or complaint links directly to wellbeing gaps, but the patterns were hard to ignore. And the staff who stayed? Some stayed out of necessity, not loyalty. Which says something.

❍ End with something thoughtful, not preachy

Looking back, the issue wasn’t a lack of care from leadership, it was more that wellbeing was seen as an optional extra. Something to ‘get to’ once targets were hit. But in reality, it’s the foundation.

You can run without it for a while, but not for long.

Kindy note, If you’re writing your response, try to use this tone. Don’t feel the need to be overly formal or theoretical. Let your knowledge show, but also your thinking process. This isn’t just about ticking off points, it’s about showing the assessor that you understand the human and business consequences of wellbeing neglect, and that you can connect lived examples to broader outcomes.

And don’t worry if your argument isn’t perfectly balanced. Real life isn’t either.

Question 3 (AC 3.4) Discuss three changes that could be made to the organisation’s system for example its structure, work design or management style, to positively impact and improve wellbeing within the organisation.

The Scenario

You’ve received an email from the head of your organisation. They’re clearly invested in supporting employee wellbeing, but they believe more can be done. Before they pitch anything to the senior leadership team, they’ve asked you to provide an update, specifically, to reflect on three possible changes to the organisation’s systems that could help improve wellbeing.

Let’s Break It Down

What’s the assessor really asking you to do?

They want to see your ability to:

• Think practically, not just theoretically.
• Connect what you’ve learned about wellbeing to real workplace systems.
• Provide three specific changes not general ideas.
• Ground those changes in actual organisational structures, ways of working, or leadership approaches.
• Use research or literature to support your argument, but also apply it to a real or familiar organisation.

Case Study Context

Let’s work with a case example to bring this to life. Imagine you’re the People Officer for a cluster of hotels in the Inter Luxe Hotel Group, a large hospitality chain with properties across UK cities and coastal resorts. You oversee eight of them.

Now, hospitality is notoriously demanding. Shift work, weekend hours, unpredictable rotas, sometimes not the most supportive managers, and of course, guest-facing work can be draining. Add in post-pandemic recovery pressures, and wellbeing often takes a back seat. That’s the backdrop we’re working with.

Change 1: Redesign the Rotas to Support Predictability and Rest

The idea:
Many staff are working inconsistent shifts, with late finishes followed by early starts. That inconsistency isn’t just tiring, it also wrecks their ability to plan their personal lives. A more stable and predictable rota could go a long way.

How it improves wellbeing:
Let’s be honest, burnout isn’t always about workload. Sometimes it’s just about not knowing what’s coming next. By making shift schedules more regular (say, fixed days off or fixed start times where possible), you reduce the stress around planning childcare, health appointments, or simply having dinner with family.

Literature says
CIPD research on good work suggests predictability in work patterns contributes to a sense of psychological safety and control. two key contributors to wellbeing.

Back to Inter Luxe:
In city hotels, business traffic can be somewhat forecasted. So, some properties could trial consistent shift allocations by department. For example, assigning reception staff to fixed morning or afternoon shifts for a month, rather than rotating weekly.

Change 2: Reframe Management Style Around Empathy and Listening

The idea:
The hotel chain still holds on to a fairly old-fashioned, top-down management model. Supervisors often focus on task completion more than team morale. There’s a real opportunity to shape a more people-centred style.

How it improves wellbeing:
When managers show interest in how someone is doing, not just whether they’ve folded towels correctly, staff are more likely to feel seen and heard. That can reduce emotional exhaustion and absenteeism. Not everything needs to be a wellbeing programme. Sometimes it’s a manager just asking “How are you really doing today?”

What research tells us:
Tackling stress starts with having someone to speak to. Studies into psychological wellbeing at work point to line managers being the ‘first line of defence’. So, training them to spot signs of burnout or just listen better could shift the entire feel of the workplace.

In your hotel cluster:
You might pilot a manager development session in two properties, one in the city, one in a coastal resort. Nothing fancy. Just something simple like coaching supervisors to ask open-ended questions or hold regular one-on-ones that aren’t just about rotas.

Change 3: Build Team Autonomy into Frontline Operations

The idea:
Frontline teams, especially housekeeping are tightly managed, with tasks handed down minute by minute. There’s little room to self-organise, which leaves people feeling like they have no control over their workday.

Wellbeing connection:
Control over one’s work is a major predictor of job satisfaction. Even small steps, like letting teams plan the order of their tasks, or decide break timings, can build a sense of agency. People are more motivated when they feel trusted.

From theory to reality:
In one of your resort hotels, the housekeeping team could be given daily targets but allowed to decide amongst themselves how to split the rooms. The same could apply for maintenance crews or even front-of-house in smaller properties.

It might feel messy at first.
There may be bumps. Teams used to being told exactly what to do may hesitate. But over time, they’re likely to find rhythm. And their sense of ownership grows.

Small Tip

If you’re still with me, you’ll notice that all three changes aren’t about bringing in fancy new initiatives. You’re not proposing to launch a wellness app or hire a yoga instructor.

You’re taking the existing organisational system, rotas, management, team autonomy, and just tweaking how they operate in practice. That’s what the question is really testing: your ability to see the links between structure and wellbeing.

And remember, each point needs to link back to both:

1. Wellbeing theory or research, and
2. Your chosen organisation or case study.

You don’t need to get everything perfect. It’s okay to say something like:

“While these changes may not suit all departments equally, they represent a shift toward a more people-aware approach in day-to-day operations.”

That kind of phrasing shows you’re thinking realistically. That’s what your assessor wants to see, critical thinking that sounds like a real person talking, not a textbook.

Question 4 (AC 4.2) Discuss the problems inherent with individualising wellbeing initiatives, proposing how the organisation can take more responsibility to monitor workload, bullying etc.

Part One: What does “individualising wellbeing initiatives” mean?

We’ll start with the phrase that often confuses students “individualising wellbeing initiatives”. Let’s say that again, slower, putting the responsibility for wellbeing on the individual employee. So instead of the organisation creating safe working environments, managing workloads, or tackling bullying, it might offer things like mindfulness apps, step challenges, or resilience webinars. All of these suggest the employee should “cope better”, rather than questioning why they need to cope at all.

So, what’s the problem with that?

Think about it. If you’re working at Inter Luxe Hotel Group, let’s bring in the case study, and you’ve just come off an 11-hour shift in the coastal resort, covering for someone else with no real break, and then you’re emailed a link to a 15-minute breathing exercise. It might feel well, a little off. Maybe even insulting. You’re being told to manage your stress better, but nobody’s asking why you’re so stressed to begin with.

That’s the issue. It places the burden on the individual. It quietly implies the problem is them, not the way the work is set up.

Part Two: What should we be doing instead?

This is where we shift the conversation. You need to propose how the organisation, not the individual can take more responsibility.

Let’s go back to Inter Luxe. It’s a large, multi-site hotel chain, with properties in both busy cities and high-pressure resort areas. You’ve got varied demands, especially in tourist hotspots. The pressure ramps up during peak seasons. In city hotels, you’ve got a more diverse guest base and probably a more consistent churn of staff. Both environments are stressful in their own ways.

So, here’s what we could suggest. Don’t just give people yoga sessions. That’s nice, but it doesn’t get to the root of the issue. We need to think about workload monitoring and bullying prevention as systemic things, things the company actively tracks and responds to.

A few ideas you could include:

• Conduct regular workload audits. That means keeping tabs on hours worked, not just what’s on the rota, but what actually happens on the ground. Do staff clock out late? Are they covering for absent colleagues? That data needs reviewing.
• Anonymous reporting channels for bullying. Sounds obvious, but it only works if people trust the process. The organisation needs to do more than offer the policy, it needs to show follow-through.
• Wellbeing check-ins during 1:1s. This is where team leaders or line managers can pick up early signs of burnout or emotional strain. But again, don’t make it a tick-box thing. Make it human. Managers should be trained to ask, listen, and act.
• Cultural awareness and respect. In a multinational like Inter Luxe, cultural tensions or unconscious bias can creep into teams. The organisation has a duty to create spaces where people feel safe, emotionally, not just physically.

Let’s say at a resort in Dubai, there’s a pattern where casual staff (often local) are treated less respectfully than permanent hires flown in from the UK. The company shouldn’t ignore this. It needs systems in place to catch and address such patterns, before they escalate into toxic work culture.

Part Three: Bringing in literature

Now and this is important don’t forget to reference published work. Your answer isn’t just about ideas; it needs to show that you’ve read and applied theory.

You could refer to:

• The CIPD’s Health and Wellbeing at Work report (latest version you’ve read) – which criticises the over-reliance on reactive, individual-focused wellbeing offers.
• Robertson & Cooper’s model of psychological wellbeing at work, which talks about balancing individual resilience with organisational responsibility.
• The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) Management Standards, particularly on workload and bullying, very applicable here.

You don’t need to quote them word-for-word. Just show that your thinking has been shaped by real sources.

Wrapping it up

So, if we were in a classroom, I’d probably pause here and ask: “Think about your own organisation, or one you’ve worked in, have you seen this kind of ‘put it on the employee’ approach? What would you have changed?”

Use a real or semi-real example to illustrate your points. Even if it’s hypothetical, that’s fine, as long as it makes sense and links back to the question.

Remember: you’re not expected to write perfect policy. You’re showing your understanding of the problems and your ability to think through better ways of working.

Quick Recap

1. Define what it means to individualise wellbeing initiatives.
2. Explain the problems with that approach, using Inter Luxe as your example.
3. Offer specific organisational actions that reduce the burden on employees.
4. Link to credible sources and models where appropriate.
5. Ground your answer in realistic examples, with a human tone.

Five FAQs on 7OS06 Wellbeing At Work Student Assessment Brief

1. What is the 7OS06 Wellbeing at Work Student Assessment Brief about?
It focuses on understanding and evaluating how wellbeing affects individuals and organisations, especially in relation to performance and engagement.

2. Who is the unit aimed at?
It’s part of the CIPD Level 7 qualification, so it’s for learners or professionals aiming to deepen their understanding of strategic HR and employee wellbeing.

3. Does the brief require case study analysis?
Yes, usually. It asks students to apply concepts to real or hypothetical work situations, encouraging practical thinking beyond just theory.

4. Is this unit only about mental health?
No, it’s broader. Mental health is part of it, but the brief explores other dimensions like physical environment, workload, leadership support, and more.

5. How should I start the assessment?
Start by choosing a real workplace issue or situation related to wellbeing. Then reflect on what’s working, what isn’t, and why that might be. Don’t overthink structure, just be honest and critical.