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Josh Lambert | WHS Show Melbourne 2025
Wellbeing is no longer a side initiative. It’s a core part of workplace health, safety, and performance. But while the intention is there, many leaders still face the same blocker: where do we even begin?
That’s the challenge Josh Lambert tackled head-on at the WHS Show in Melbourne.
With more than 15 years working across workplace health and wellbeing, and now helping guide strategy for some of Australia’s largest organizations at Medibank, Josh didn’t just talk theory. He laid out a structured, scalable way to turn complexity into clarity.
Meet ‘Sally’: A familiar face in every organization
Josh kicked off with a story that felt uncomfortably close to home. Sally is a wellbeing lead responsible for 4,000 employees, spread across multiple sites. She’s coordinating flu vaccinations, juggling next year’s budget, and trying to prove ROI on various programs, all without the right data to guide her.
“Sally’s story is typical. She cares, she’s doing a lot. But she’s flying blind.”
It’s not a lack of effort. It’s a lack of visibility and it’s costing organizations more than they realize.
The numbers behind the noise
Two statistics stopped the room:
- 39% of working Australians live with a chronic disease
- $5,000 per employee is the annual cost associated with chronic disease risk factors
From back pain to diabetes to mental health concerns, the risks are real—and so are the operational impacts. Absenteeism, presenteeism, and productivity drag all trace back to these invisible burdens.
“If you’ve got 1,000 employees, that’s a million-dollar problem and a real reason to measure.”
Measuring what matters
Josh broke down wellbeing data into two core categories, each powerful on its own, but far more meaningful when viewed together:
- Workforce metrics: Health checks, digital assessments, skin screenings, EAP usage, absenteeism, injury data
- Workplace metrics: Psychosocial audits, wellbeing policies, engagement surveys, participation rates
“Where the real power lies, is when you bring these two together. That’s how you inform strategy.”
In other words, measuring in silos only gets you so far. True insight comes from connecting the dots across the system.
A shift from scatter to structure
One case study illustrated just how quickly organizations can turn things around. A major employer came to Medibank with low program engagement, fragmented efforts, and no recent health checks.
After conducting a workplace audit and survey, Josh’s team uncovered clear health risks—nutrition and sleep were top concerns. That data shaped a new, targeted direction:
- Launching baseline health checks
- Establishing a wellbeing champion network
- Co-designing a 12-month program based on real needs
- Tracking progress year-on-year to demonstrate ROI
“They moved from reactive to structured. Now they can justify spend, plan ahead, and engage their workforce with purpose.”
Where to from here?
Josh closed his session with two questions leaders should be asking today:
- Are you actually measuring health and wellbeing?
- Are you using that data to guide your strategy?
If either answer is no, you’re not alone, but now’s the time to change that.
“Even just pulling together the data you already have can make a difference. Don’t wait until you have a perfect system – just start collecting and learning.”
Because when it comes to wellbeing, clarity is a leadership responsibility. And the sooner you start measuring what matters, the sooner you can move from effort to impact.
About Josh Lambert
Josh Lambert is a workplace wellbeing strategist with over 15 years of experience helping Australian organizations, from SMEs to government and large corporates, turn good intentions into structured, measurable wellbeing outcomes. Now working with Medibank, Josh continues to lead impactful wellbeing strategies, drive program engagement, and advise on health-focused workplace design through his role with the WELL Building Advisory Team at the International WELL Building Institute.
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