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Cognitive wellbeing and performance
We build programmes that enhance organisational performance and wellbeing through the application of the latest cognitive science.
AWA Home › Services › Cognitive wellbeing
Every organisation is buying brainpower
Organisations are communities of connected brains. Each brain has energy, knowledge and know-how, and the job of leaders is to create the understanding, personal habits, practices and conditions under which knowledge flows, brains flourish and energy is directed efficiently at the things that make a big difference to organisational performance.
Poor cognitive performance shows up in burnout, absence and poor performance.
Elite sports teams have managed their players’ sleep and recovery for decades.
Absence, attrition and engagement scores show that something is wrong, but not what is causing it.
“In the end your organisation is buying brainpower and the way in which that brainpower works is, we think, directly associated with business performance.”
Trusted across technology, insurance, energy, the public sector and not-for-profits
An independent workplace consultancy, advising on the workplace since 1992 across the private and public sectors.
What is cognitive wellbeing and performance?
We define cognitive wellbeing and performance as a balanced state in which people and organisations deliver their best work consistently. In this state the brain has the capacity to focus attention, regulate stress, process complex information, make sound decisions, recover from effort and undertake all the background processes that keep us healthy and safe.
In an increasingly pressured and changing world, we think it is important to create the conditions under which everyone is on their ‘A’ game, healthy and energised.
It changes from day to day, and it depends on three things. Our programmes work on all three.
Lifestyle
The person
How well they have slept, eaten, moved and recovered, and how much load they are carrying.
Culture
The team
Whether people trust each other, share what they know and are clear about what they are working towards.
Workplace
The place
Light, air, noise and temperature, and the interruptions that come with meetings and notifications.
When do you need a cognitive wellbeing and performance programme?
Most of our work starts with one of these six situations.
Burnout
People are running on empty, and sickness and attrition are rising. You want to know what is draining them, and to fix the causes.
Wellbeing spend with no measurable result
You have the apps, the assistance programme and the calendar of initiatives, and the engagement and performance numbers have not moved. You want something built on evidence, with a measure attached.
Teams working apart
Your people work across offices, homes and time zones, and you want to know whether the six factors behind team performance are holding up.
AI changing the work
As AI takes on more routine work and analysis, more of your people’s day goes on judgement, such as deciding which questions to ask and what to do with the answers. That work depends on attention, working memory and emotional regulation, and you want your people in a condition to do it.
A new workplace
You are designing or moving into a building and want it to support concentration and recovery, with light, noise, air and temperature set for the work people do there.
Engagement scores
The survey says people are tired, distracted or disengaged, and it cannot tell you why. You want to find the causes and measure them.
Not sure which fits?
Talk it through with us
Book a call
What an AWA programme delivers
Our programmes give you:
- A thorough grounding in how the individual and collective brain works, and its link to organisational performance
- Education and coaching on how to maximise brain performance and manage mental workload
- A thorough and independent assessment of your organisation’s current cognitive assets
- Practical steps to enhance cognitive performance and wellbeing
- A solid understanding of the underlying science, and of the role leaders play in creating ‘A’ game performance
- An understanding of the critical job leaders have in role-modelling and coaching their own teams
- A way to create a cognitive performance culture
The tools behind it
A personal score for cognitive performance
Cognitive Performance Index · Free, online
A ten-minute assessment for leaders and knowledge workers, scored out of 100, that shows which of four layers is costing the most.
A measure of what changed
Body Budget Diagnostic · Built, in use
A baseline at the start of a programme and a re-test later, built from validated instruments. Each run gives a score for each domain and the two or three things worth changing first.
Where leaders and their teams see things differently
Six Factors Diagnostic · Built
A leader’s own assessment of their team, set against an anonymous survey of the team itself, on the six factors behind team performance. It reports the gap between the two views.
How well people sleep and recover, day by day
Headroom Smart Ring · In pilot
Wearable technology that measures sleep, recovery and strain continuously, against each person’s own baseline. The organisation only ever sees anonymous results for groups of ten or more.
Leaders who understand how the brain works at work
Certified Development Programme · Live, certified
Seven live, interactive online modules over three months, for leaders in HR, people, workplace and facilities roles.
New habits built into the working week
Habit Change · Live
Built on the habit loop of cue, craving, response and reward, so the changes a diagnostic recommends become part of the normal week.
Anyone can take the index or register for the certified programme. The other tools come with an organisational programme.
Start with the Cognitive Performance Index
The Cognitive Performance Index is a ten-minute online assessment for leaders and knowledge workers. It scores, out of 100, how much of your cognitive capacity is reaching your work, and shows where the rest is going.
What you get
- Your score out of 100, with a performance zone
- A body budget analysis showing where capacity is being lost
- Every factor ranked across the four layers
- Your top five evidence-based recommendations
- A Productivity Loss Calculator that estimates what the gap costs
- A PDF copy of your report
It is free. Take it yourself or with your leadership team.
Four layers that multiply
Foundations × Environment × Culture × Workload = Your score
- Foundations sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress and health
- Environment noise, temperature, air quality, light and technology friction
- Culture psychological safety, trust, autonomy, purpose, social connection and supervisory support
- Workload interruptions, information volume, time pressure, emotional demands and always-on culture
Because the layers multiply, a weakness in any one of them reduces the benefit of all the others.
The Human Performance Framework
What is the Human Performance Framework?
The Human Performance Framework looks at the condition of the individual brain, the culture of the team it works in and the workplace together. Improving one on its own is held back by the other two.
Certified development programme
Applying neuroscience to managing the workplace
The Cognitive Wellbeing & Performance certified programme applies the neuroscience of attention, stress and habit to leading people and designing workplaces. It gives HR and people leaders a better grasp of wellbeing, burnout and engagement, and gives workplace and facilities leaders the evidence to design space for focus and collaboration. You learn it live online and interactively, alongside leaders from other disciplines and organisations.
- 90-minute sessions
- live online
- interactive
- 3 months
- AWA-certified
Underpinned by our research with the Centre for Evidence Based Management.
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Brains & Organisations
Human brain structure and function.
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The Brain’s A-Game
How neurochemicals affect us at work.
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Burnout & Mental Workload
The science of stress, burnout and flow.
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The Collective Brain
The six factors of high-performing teams.
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Changing Brains
How habits form, and how to change them.
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Physical & Virtual Environments
How workplace design helps or hinders.
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Consolidation Case Exercise 120 min
An interactive, end-to-end case study.
The research behind our thinking
The newest is our AI Impact Report, published in May 2026. The foundation is four research reports published between 2015 and 2021, three of them with the Centre for Evidence Based Management. Our framework, diagnostics and Headroom are built on them.
May 2026
AI Impact Report 2026
Our model of 412 UK occupations, task by task, estimates that AI could free 10.9 hours per worker per week of routine cognitive work.
The foundation, 2015 to 2021
First published 2015, updated 2020
Cognitive Fitness Guide for Organisations
118 academic studies, screened from over a thousand, graded for the thirteen factors that change how well a brain works.
2020
Managing the Virtual Workforce
The six factors linked to effective individual and team performance, studied in teams that work apart.
2021
Managing Mental Workload
Why the same task costs different people different amounts, and how small loads add up.
2019, Advanced Workplace Institute
Eating for Optimal Cognitive Function
A systematic review of 420 studies on food, drink and the brain. Whole dietary patterns and hydration carry the largest effects.
The six factors of high-performing teams
Our research shows that there are six principal factors linked to effective individual and team performance. These factors are consistent whether working together, alone, in the office or remotely. They are what the Six Factors Diagnostic measures.
Hover or tap a factor.
Perceived supervisory support
“How people feel the supervisor helps them in times of need, praises them for a job well done, or recognises them for extra effort.”
Read: The proven science behind managing high-performing hybrid teams
Information sharing
“The extent to which a team utilises the expertise and knowledge of its individual members for the team’s benefit.”
Vision and goal clarity
“Vision refers to the organisation’s objectives and purpose – what it is trying to achieve. For people’s work to have meaning, it is important that they understand how their efforts contribute to that overall mission. This is referred to as goal clarity.”
External communication
“The ability and desire to seek information and resources from people outside the team through fostering positive relationships.”
Read: Using the 6 factors to make a difference in workplace productivity
Trust
“An expectation that someone else’s actions will be to our benefit, or at least not to our detriment (and not just based on their self-interest).”
Definitions from Managing the Virtual Workforce, 2020.
The science
What changes how well the brain works?
We screened over a thousand academic studies with the Centre for Evidence Based Management, read 118 of them, and graded every factor that measurably changes how well a brain works, both for the size of its effect and for the weight of evidence behind it. In the updated 2020 grading, overheard speech and task interruptions carry medium-to-large negative effects, and both come from the environment rather than the individual.
Individual factors
Nutritional breaks · positive · medium-to-large effect
Glucose drink · positive · medium-to-large effect
Caffeine · positive · medium-to-large effect
Breakfast · positive · small-to-medium effect
Daytime naps · positive · small-to-medium effect
Physical activity · positive · small-to-medium effect
Acute exercise · positive · small-to-medium effect
Mental training · positive · small-to-medium effect
Cognitive stimulation · positive · small-to-medium effect
Lack of sleep · negative · small-to-medium effect
Dehydration · negative · small-to-medium effect
Alcohol · negative · small-to-medium effect
Environmental factors
Scent · positive · small-to-medium effect
Biophilia · positive · small-to-medium effect
Lighting · negative · small-to-medium effect
Temperature · negative · small-to-medium effect
Noise · negative · small-to-medium effect
Music · negative · small-to-medium effect
Air quality · negative · small-to-medium effect
Overheard speech · negative · medium-to-large effect
Task interruptions · negative · medium-to-large effect
| Graded effect | Group | Direction | Effect size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutritional breaks | Individual factors | positive | medium-to-large |
| Glucose drink | Individual factors | positive | medium-to-large |
| Caffeine | Individual factors | positive | medium-to-large |
| Breakfast | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Daytime naps | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Physical activity | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Acute exercise | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Mental training | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Cognitive stimulation | Individual factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Lack of sleep | Individual factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Dehydration | Individual factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Alcohol | Individual factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Scent | Environmental factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Biophilia | Environmental factors | positive | small-to-medium |
| Lighting | Environmental factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Temperature | Environmental factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Noise | Environmental factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Music | Environmental factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Air quality | Environmental factors | negative | small-to-medium |
| Overheard speech | Environmental factors | negative | medium-to-large |
| Task interruptions | Environmental factors | negative | medium-to-large |
In practice
Hydration and interruptions are usually the simplest places to start.
Mental workload
The same task puts a different load on every person
Task load is what a piece of work asks for. Mental workload is what it costs the person doing it, and that depends on their experience, their emotional state, how alert they are and the conditions around them.
Our research with the Centre for Evidence Based Management found that the loads from different factors add up, and can compound. Several small ones together bring a significant fall in performance and wellbeing. Too little load does similar harm to too much.
Much of this load is invisible: a leader passing work on rarely sees what it will cost each person, or what is already landing on them from elsewhere.
The same task
2 + 3 × 10
Same task load for all three
Too little
About right
Too much
A
- Well practised, reduces load
Too little load
Performance and wellbeing fall
B
- Tight deadline, adds load
- A say in how it’s done, reduces load
About right
Performance holds
C
- New to the task, adds load
- Interruptions, adds load
- Noisy room, adds load
- Financial worry, adds load
- Tired, adds load
Too much load
Performance and wellbeing fall
| Person | What changes the load | Result |
|---|---|---|
| A | Well practised (reduces load) | Too little load: performance and wellbeing fall |
| B | Tight deadline (adds load); A say in how it’s done (reduces load) | About right: performance holds |
| C | New to the task (adds load); Interruptions (adds load); Noisy room (adds load); Financial worry (adds load); Tired (adds load) | Too much load: performance and wellbeing fall |
Fewer interruptions, a say in how and when work gets done, and a team that trusts each other all lower mental workload.
Headroom measures how your people sleep and recover
Headroom adds a direct measure of sleep and recovery to what staff surveys tell you.
Headroom pairs a smart ring with an app built on our research. It measures heart rate and its variability, sleep (light, deep and REM), skin temperature, steps and blood oxygen around the clock, and turns each night into one number: the person’s capacity for demanding work that day.
Each person sees their own Capacity every morning and the part of the day to protect for their hardest thinking. Sleep and physical activity, two of the thirteen cognitive fitness factors, are measured every day.
Headroom is in pilot.
Who sees what
The individual owns their data and sees all of it.- AWA holds and processes it.
- An organisation receives anonymous aggregates only, and never for a group smaller than ten.
The individual owns their data and sees all of it.Headroom is a general wellness and fitness product. It does not diagnose, treat, cure or monitor any medical condition, and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
- Capacity One number for the day, built overnight from Sleep and Recovery and scored against your own baseline.
- Sleep The night, staged into light, deep and REM, read against what is normal for you.
- Recovery How far the body recovered overnight, read from resting heart rate and its variability against your baseline.
- Strain What the day takes out of the body, tracked separately. It never lowers Capacity.
- Mind The week at a glance: Capacity, Sleep, Recovery and Stress, each against your own baseline.
- Body Resting heart rate, heart-rate variability, blood oxygen and skin temperature, each shown as a change from your own baseline.
- Day Shape How capacity is likely to run between 08:00 and 18:00, and the window to protect for demanding work.
A fair day for demanding work.
Good
Good
Fair
STRAIN
18
Mind · the week
vs your baseline
- Capacity 72Fair
- Sleep 66Good
- Recovery 78Good
- Stress Normal
FSSMTWT
Body · vitals · 7 nights
vs your baseline
- Resting HR −2 vs baseline
- HRV +6 vs baseline
- Blood oxygen +2 vs baseline
- Skin temp near baseline
Protect 10:00–12:30
- ANALYTICAL10:00–12:30
- CREATIVE15:30–16:30
- RECOVERY16:30–17:00
An independent workplace consultancy that applies cognitive science to how organisations work
We have advised organisations on the workplace since 1992, including on activity-based working, and our cognitive wellbeing work is built on published research.
For your organisation
- Engaging and innovative programmes that evolve your culture and keep your people happy, healthy and on their ‘A’ game.
- An organisation that takes constant change and tough workload challenges in its stride, while maintaining employee mental health and delivering on your duty of care.
- A tangible demonstration that your people’s brains are the most important resource you have.
For your people
- A friction-free workplace where they can deliver their true value to the organisation.
- A framework of work and life habits that help them manage their workload and be on their ‘A’ game every day.
- Data, support and updates on their personal cognitive performance and the latest science.
Credentials
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Independent and global, advising on the workplace since 1992.
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Science and research led: every programme starts with a measured baseline.
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AWA’s three research reports with the Centre for Evidence Based Management, on cognitive fitness, the six factors and mental workload, underpin this work.
Tell us what is draining your people
If one of the situations on this page sounds familiar, talk to us. The first conversation is about your organisation and what you are seeing.
Frequently asked questions about cognitive wellbeing and performance
What is cognitive wellbeing and performance?
We define cognitive wellbeing and performance as a balanced state in which people and organisations deliver their best work consistently. In this state the brain has the capacity to focus attention, regulate stress, process complex information, make sound decisions, recover from effort and undertake all the background processes that keep us healthy and safe. It depends on the person’s own condition, on the culture of the team they work in and on the physical and virtual workplace around them. Our framework works on all three.
What is Cognitive Wellbeing & Performance at AWA?
Cognitive Wellbeing & Performance is AWA’s programme for improving how well the brains in an organisation work. It rests on our published research with the Centre for Evidence Based Management, and it combines measurement (the Cognitive Performance Index, the Body Budget Diagnostic, the Six Factors Diagnostic and the Headroom smart ring) with a certified development programme for leaders. The aim is a system the organisation can run itself, with AWA staying on only if asked.
What does an organisation get from a cognitive wellbeing programme?
We build programmes that enhance organisational performance and wellbeing through the application of the latest cognitive science. The Body Budget Diagnostic gives a baseline and a re-test that shows what changed. The Six Factors Diagnostic shows where a leader’s view of their team differs from the team’s own. Leaders take the certified development programme, and habit work makes the changes part of the normal week. Headroom, our smart ring, is in pilot. Anyone can start with the free Cognitive Performance Index.
Why does cognitive performance matter to a business?
Because an organisation is buying brainpower, and how well that brainpower works depends on sleep, hydration, workload, interruptions, noise, the trust inside a team and the state of the workplace. As AI takes on more routine work and analysis, more of your people’s day goes on judgement, such as deciding which questions to ask and what to do with the answers. That work depends on attention, working memory and emotional regulation.
What is the Human Performance Framework?
AWA’s Human Performance Framework sets out the three layers that determine how well people think at work: Lifestyle, the individual brain and the body budget it runs on; Culture, the collective brain and the six factors of high-performing teams; and Workplace, the physical and virtual environment the thinking happens in. Improving one layer on its own limits the result, so our programmes work on all three.
What are the thirteen factors of cognitive fitness?
AWA and the Centre for Evidence Based Management screened over a thousand academic studies, read 118, and identified thirteen factors that measurably change how well a brain works: breakfast and nutrition, caffeine, glucose, hydration, sleep, lighting, physical activity, temperature, scent, cognitive stimulation, mental training and mindfulness, task interruptions and noise. Each is graded for the size of its effect and the weight of evidence behind it. In the updated 2020 grading, overheard speech and task interruptions carry medium-to-large negative effects.
What are the six factors of team performance?
AWA’s research with the Centre for Evidence Based Management identified six factors linked to effective individual and team performance: social cohesion, perceived supervisory support, information sharing, vision and goal clarity, external communication and trust. They hold whether people work together, alone, in the office or remotely, and they are what the Six Factors Diagnostic measures.
What is the Cognitive Performance Index?
The Cognitive Performance Index is AWA’s free online self-assessment. It scores, out of 100, how much of a person’s cognitive capacity reaches their work, across four layers that compound rather than add: the condition they bring to the day, the environment they work in, the culture around them and how the work itself is structured. It is designed for leaders and knowledge workers, takes about ten minutes and ends with a personal report and five recommendations.
What is Headroom, and who sees the data?
Headroom is wearable technology built on AWA’s research: a smart ring paired with an app. It measures heart rate and its variability, sleep, skin temperature, steps and blood oxygen continuously, and turns them into a daily capacity number scored against the person’s own baseline. The individual owns their data and sees all of it. AWA holds and processes it. An organisation receives anonymous aggregates only, and never for a group smaller than ten. Headroom is a general wellness and fitness product. It does not diagnose, treat, cure or monitor any medical condition, and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
What is the certified programme, and who is it for?
The Cognitive Wellbeing & Performance certified programme is seven live, interactive online modules, run over three months, that apply the neuroscience of attention, stress and habit to leading people and designing workplaces. It is for HR and people leaders who want a better grasp of wellbeing, burnout and engagement, and for workplace and facilities leaders who want the evidence to design space for focus and collaboration.