No Spare People: Why lean teams need to punch above their weight on wellbeing
Most ops leaders didn't start out as wellbeing experts. But somewhere between headcount decisions, sick day patterns, and retention conversations, it became part of the job. Sickness absence is at a 15-year high, sick pay now kicks in from day one, and keeping people healthy has quietly become an operational responsibility, not just an HR one.
Because on lean teams, keeping people healthy isn't just nice to have. It's how you stay operational.
This is a practical conversation between two COOs. Real experience, honest takes, and things you can actually do, without needing a big budget or a dedicated wellbeing team to do them. 💡
What we'll get into
⚡ Why tracking absence matters and what it quietly costs you when you don't
💡 What changed on 6 April 2026 and why the government is putting employee health on employers
🧭 What it means for your sick pay, absence and wellbeing policies, and which ones to update now
🔧 The levers that genuinely reduce absence and keep good people, without a big budget
What you'll leave with
Practical, honest insight on how to get ahead of the absence and wellbeing challenge before it becomes a crisis, without needing a big HR team or budget to do it.
You should join us if you are...
✅ A COO, head of ops, people ops director, HR lead, or founder at a scaling company
✅ Responsible for workforce planning, sick pay policies, or employee benefits
✅ Trying to figure out what the April 2026 sick pay changes actually mean for your team
✅ Looking for practical, budget-conscious ways to reduce absence and retain good people
You're unlikely to benefit if...
🚫 Employee wellbeing and absence sit completely outside your remit
🚫 You already have a mature, fully resourced wellbeing and absence strategy in place
Agenda (60 mins)
Welcome and intro | 5 mins
Fireside conversation | 40 mins
Q&A | 15 mins
This session will be recorded including the Q&A and shared with all Operations Nation members the week after.
Meet the speakers 👋
Sam Fromson
Co-founder & COO @ YuLife
Sam is the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of YuLife. Before co-founding YuLife, he built out the business development and operations functions at Invoice Cycle, a UK SME lender, bringing a grounded, hands-on approach to scaling businesses from the ground up. A former hedge fund equity analyst with a background in finance, Sam brings a commercial lens to the world of employee wellbeing and operations.
Jonathan Newton
COO @ Venture Forge
After 25+ years leading e-commerce and operations for major retailers, I co-founded Venture Forge to help consumer brands succeed on the Amazon marketplace. As COO, I handle the heavy lifting behind the scenes, namely, tech, infrastructure, operations and of course people. For me, it’s all about keeping things simple, solving complex operational problems, and ensuring our team has what they need to drive consistent, profitable growth for our clients in a workplace that they can truly be happy within.
Co-hosted with YuLife 🤝
YuLife is an employee benefits platform built around prevention, not just protection. Their intelligence layer, Yunity, uses machine learning to give leaders real-time, anonymised visibility into absence risk and benefit usage, so you can act early and employees get support before anything goes seriously wrong.
Interested in learning more? Book a benefit review call with Donny [here] or download the YuLife tech report [here].