The Forgotten Workforce: Why Corporate Wellbeing Must Work Beyond Office Hours
Corporate wellbeing should not depend on where employees work or what time their shift begins. For organisations operating around the clock, designing inclusive wellbeing programmes is becoming an important HR priority.
The employees who don't work 9 to 5
At 9 AM, one employee is opening their laptop in an office. At the same time, a nurse is finishing a night shift, a warehouse operator is preparing for the next delivery cycle, and a hotel employee is already several hours into their working day.
They work for different organisations, follow different schedules and face different daily demands. Yet many corporate wellbeing initiatives are still designed around a traditional office routine.
A lunchtime yoga session, an afternoon wellbeing workshop or an activity scheduled during standard business hours may be convenient for office employees. For people working nights, rotating shifts or operational roles, participation can be considerably more difficult.
This raises an important question for HR leaders:
Is your corporate wellbeing programme designed for your entire workforce, or mainly for the employees who are easiest to reach?
Why shift workers need a different approach
Shift work is essential to industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, hospitality and transportation. However, irregular working hours can create challenges for sleep, recovery and everyday routines.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has highlighted how shift work can disrupt biological rhythms, affect sleep and contribute to fatigue.
Research reviewed by EU-OSHA also identifies increased injury risks associated with night shifts and extended working hours, although risks vary according to working conditions and scheduling arrangements.
The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) similarly identifies nonstandard schedules, long working hours and demanding tasks as important contributors to work-related fatigue. These findings underline an important principle: wellbeing initiatives need to reflect how employees actually live and work. A programme designed for a predictable daytime schedule may not be equally practical for someone whose working hours change every week.
One workforce, different wellbeing needs
Consider two employees working for the same company. The first works in administration, with relatively consistent hours and regular access to a computer. The second works rotating shifts in a distribution centre, alternating between early mornings, afternoons and nights.
Both may benefit from greater awareness of their activity, sleep and recovery. But the way they engage with a wellbeing programme will probably be different.
The office employee might join a lunchtime activity or attend a scheduled wellbeing session.
The shift worker may prefer an experience that fits around changing working hours, without requiring attendance at a particular time or location.
This is why flexibility matters.
Corporate wellbeing becomes more inclusive when employees can participate according to their own routines rather than adapting to a single company-wide schedule.
How wearable technology can support flexible participation
Wearable technology offers an interesting opportunity for organisations with diverse working patterns.
Instead of requiring employees to attend a specific session, wearables can provide personal information about everyday habits regardless of where or when someone works.
Employees can explore indicators related to physical activity, sleep and recovery, helping them become more aware of their routines. For shift workers, this flexibility can be particularly relevant.
A night-shift employee may sleep during the day. Another may have rest days in the middle of the week. A third may alternate between physically demanding and less active shifts. Their wellbeing experience should not depend on following the same timetable.
Technology cannot eliminate the health and safety risks associated with poorly designed schedules. Employers remain responsible for appropriate working conditions, rest opportunities and fatigue-risk management.
But accessible digital tools can complement these organisational measures by supporting voluntary personal awareness and participation.
Where Vitality+ fits
Vitality+ is designed to bring different aspects of employee wellbeing into one connected experience.
Employees can use supported wearables, including Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Oura and WHOOP, or a Vitality+ Ring or Band. Through the Vitality+ app, they can explore personal information about activity, sleep and recovery, without needing to follow a traditional office schedule.
Challenges, points and rewards add an engagement dimension, encouraging employees to participate in wellbeing activities as part of their everyday lives.
For organisations with diverse roles and schedules, this creates opportunities to make wellbeing programmes more accessible. A company might, for example, introduce an activity challenge that employees can join across different shifts rather than at a fixed time.
Participation can become part of an ongoing experience instead of depending entirely on scheduled events.
The goal is not to encourage employees to compete at the expense of adequate rest. Wellbeing initiatives should remain voluntary, realistic and appropriate to different working patterns.
What HR can learn from a more inclusive programme
Providing access to a wellbeing initiative is only the first step. HR teams also need to understand whether different parts of the organisation are engaging with it.
A programme may attract strong participation from office employees while struggling to reach operational teams. Without a broader view, these differences can be difficult to identify.
Vitality+ provides companies with anonymous, aggregated wellbeing and engagement insights through its HR dashboard.
These insights can help organisations evaluate participation and broader trends without exposing individual employee health profiles.
Where privacy requirements and sufficient group sizes are met, aggregated information can provide useful context for understanding how a programme is being adopted across the workforce.
For example, if an initiative receives limited participation among certain eligible groups, HR can investigate practical barriers through employee feedback.
Are activities accessible across different shifts? Are communications reaching frontline employees? Do participants have enough flexibility to engage?
These are questions that can lead to better programme design.
Importantly, wearable information cannot determine whether an individual employee is fit for duty, diagnose fatigue-related conditions or replace professional occupational-risk assessments.
Four ways to make wellbeing more accessible to shift workers
1. Design activities around flexibility
Choose initiatives that do not depend exclusively on attendance during standard office hours. Allow employees to participate when their schedules permit.
2. Offer different ways to participate
Not everyone owns the same wearable, and not every employee wants to use a particular device. Providing compatible options can help reduce unnecessary barriers.
3. Make recovery part of the conversation
A wellbeing programme should recognise the importance of rest, not only activity. Avoid designing challenges that encourage employees to sacrifice sleep or recovery to achieve a higher score.
4. Listen to employees and adapt
Use voluntary feedback alongside appropriately aggregated programme information to understand which initiatives are accessible and relevant. A programme that works for one department may need adjustment for another.
Corporate wellbeing should reach beyond the office
The most effective wellbeing strategy is not necessarily the one offering the greatest number of activities. It is the one designed around the people expected to participate.
For companies with night shifts, rotating schedules and operational teams, this means moving beyond traditional office-based initiatives. Flexible digital experiences, personal wearable insights and engaging activities can help make wellbeing more accessible to employees with different routines.
At Vitality+, we believe that technology should help organisations create a more connected and inclusive wellbeing experience, while giving HR a clearer understanding of programme engagement.
Because employee wellbeing should not end when the office closes.
Discover how Vitality+ brings wearable technology, employee engagement and aggregated wellbeing insights together.
Sources used
The article draws on the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, The Effects of Shift Work on Health, which examines the relationship between nonstandard working hours, sleep disruption, fatigue and occupational risks. Additional European guidance is available through EU-OSHA, Working Time.
Further information comes from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatigue and Work, updated in July 2026, which outlines the causes and potential consequences of work-related fatigue and emphasises the shared responsibility of employers and employees in managing fatigue risks.