Implementing a Wellness Program in 2025
As we move through the first quarter of 2025, now is the perfect time for employers to refine their approach to employee well-being and set the stage for a successful year ahead. The past few years have highlighted the importance of mental, physical, and emotional health in the workplace, with employees increasingly seeking a supportive environment that nurtures their holistic wellness. Implementing a wellness program is not just a trendy initiative—it's a strategic investment in your workforce that can lead to higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and improved employee satisfaction. In this article, we’ll explore why and how employers should prioritize wellness programs for the new year, and the benefits that go beyond just physical health. From reducing burnout to fostering a culture of care, a comprehensive wellness program is essential for long-term success.
What do you offer already?
Before we think about the different program ideas that exist, it would be helpful to take a look at what you currently offer. Programs you may have could include health screenings, gym memberships or reimbursements, flexible work schedules, smoking cessation programs, nutritional education sessions, stress management workshops, mental health support, financial wellness programs, employee assistance programs (EAPs), wellness challenges, or healthy food options in the office.
It's possible that your health insurance or 401(k) provider, for instance, already offers free resources you're unaware of. The first step in planning new wellness programs is to assess the existing resources you have, so you can determine the available space and budget to introduce additional initiatives.
Why implement a Wellness Program?
Not only because you care about your employees- but a wellness program can significantly improve your business. Reasons include:
Improved Employee Health & Attendance: Wellness programs promote physical fitness and healthy lifestyle choices, leading to fewer sick days and a healthier workforce overall.
Increased Productivity: Employees who are physically and mentally well tend to be more focused, engaged, and productive in their work.
Reduced Healthcare Costs: By supporting employees' health, employers can reduce long-term medical costs, including insurance premiums and worker compensation claims.
Enhanced Employee Engagement: Studies show that highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their employer. A well-designed wellness program fosters a sense of care and commitment from employers, increasing overall employee morale and job satisfaction.
Attraction and Retention of Talent: Offering a comprehensive wellness program makes an organization more attractive to top talent and helps retain existing employees who value work-life balance and holistic support.
Stronger Company Culture: Promoting wellness fosters a positive and supportive workplace culture, where employees feel valued, creating a more cohesive team.
Increased Employee Loyalty: When employees feel that their well-being is prioritized, they are more likely to remain loyal and committed to the company, reducing turnover and associated costs.
Compliance with Legal Requirements: In some regions, offering wellness programs may help meet occupational health and safety regulations, contributing to a safer and more supportive workplace.
Now more than ever, as we continue into 2025, wellness should be top of mind. Currently:
The U.S Surgeon General has declared an Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.
Employers have the lowest rating of employee engagement. According to recent Gallup data, as of 2024, approximately 30% of U.S. employees are considered engaged in their work, while 17% are actively disengaged - marking a decline in engagement levels compared to previous years, with some reports noting this as an 11-year low for employee engagement in the United States.
Employees are under significant financial stress compared to previous years, impacting productivity. According to recent data from the "Wellness Barometer Survey" by Brightplan, employees experiencing financial stress can lose an average of seven hours of productivity per week due to their worries, significantly impacting workplace performance; with 78% of leaders recognizing this as a factor contributing to higher employee turnover.
A holistic wellness program focuses on multiple aspects of an employee's well-being, recognizing that health includes mental, emotional, and even financial components. The key pillars of a comprehensive holistic wellness program are:
Physical Wellness
This pillar focuses on maintaining and improving employees’ physical health. It includes initiatives like gym memberships, fitness challenges, access to on-site health screening, ergonomic work stations, and healthy eating options in the workplace.
Other Physical Wellness initiative ideas include standing challenge, high protein recipe exchange, weight lifting education, 50k steps per working week challenge, nutrition lunch and learn, calorie tracking challenge, gym challenges, etc.
Encouraging regular physical activity and promoting overall fitness can reduce healthcare costs and improve productivity.
Mental Wellness
Mental health is a critical part of overall well-being. This pillar emphasizes support for employees’ psychological and emotional health. It can include access to counseling services, stress management workshops, mindfulness practices, and mental health days.
Other ideas for Mental Wellness initiatives include sleep tracking challenge, meditation or yoga challenge, updated bereavement policy, mindfulness app subscription, psychological safety trainings, etc.
Creating a workplace where employees feel comfortable discussing mental health is vital in reducing stigma and improving support.
Social Wellness
Social wellness addresses the relationships employees have with their peers and communities. Building strong interpersonal relationships and a sense of belonging is essential. Employers can encourage team-building activities, employee social events, mentorship programs, and volunteer opportunities to improve social connections among employees.
Other Social Wellness ideas include community volunteer community service, team building scavenger hunts, company retreats, walking meetings, digital happy hours, personality assessment sessions, digital micro-communities on certain topic i.e pets or board games, credit card tips, restaurant recommendations (personalized slack channel groups?), share weekend events, parenting group, etc.
Financial Wellness
Financial stress can have a significant impact on an employee’s health and productivity. This pillar involves offering financial education, planning tools, retirement planning support, and even access to financial advisors.
Other Financial Wellness initiatives include budgeting workshops, financial advisors, HSA account trainings, debt payoff workshop and challenges, etc.
By addressing financial concerns, employers can help alleviate stress and increase overall employee satisfaction.
Occupational Wellness
Occupational wellness refers to creating a work environment that is fulfilling, aligns with personal values, and promotes career development. Offering professional development opportunities, mentoring, recognition programs, and a healthy work-life balance are essential components. Helping employees achieve career goals while ensuring a positive work environment is key to maintaining job satisfaction.
Spiritual Wellness
Spiritual wellness focuses on aligning with one’s purpose, values, and beliefs. This pillar is about creating an environment where employees can explore their sense of purpose and connection. For some, this may involve supporting work-life balance, encouraging reflective practices like meditation, or offering flexible time for religious observances.
Environmental Wellness
This pillar emphasizes the impact of the physical environment on employee well-being. It includes creating a safe, clean, and sustainable workspace, as well as encouraging eco-friendly practices. A well-maintained and aesthetically pleasing work environment can boost morale and enhance focus and productivity.
Each of these pillars works together to support the comprehensive well-being of employees, ensuring that they are not only productive but also happy, healthy, and engaged in their work.
Steps to building a wellness program:
Take a pulse - collect data. First, you’ll need to know what employees may be struggling with currently and where to focus your efforts. Survey employees to understand their wellness needs. Ask questions based on different types. For yes or no questions toward the Social pillar, you could ask: “I have a good relationship with my manager” or “I feel connected to others throughout my company”.
Other questions to consider include: “What would you like to see changed at work?” or “Are there any other benefits you would like to see offered?” Ask employees to rank wellness program ideas in order of importance to them.
Use that data to make a plan for the calendar year. By mapping out initiatives based on survey results, you can create a wellness strategy that resonates with employees and addresses their most pressing needs for the year ahead. Perhaps you connect with your HR representative to make a 1x monthly event per each month of the year. If a year is too much to plan at once, map out each quarter or 6 month period at a time. This could include themes that tailor to each pillar. For example, January could be a 401k info session that is geared toward the financial health pillar. February could be a virtual book club that meets monthly that is geared toward social wellness. And so on.
Ongoing Initiatives. Emphasize Social Connection, Reevaluate Recognition Efforts, Include Educational Resources, Consider Incentive and Reward Participation, & Centralize communication to drive participation.
Once you’ve gotten the feedback from your employees and now have a sense of what is most important, you can begin brainstorming initiative ideas. When creating your list of options, the 4 most important aspects to get the most out of these initiatives are: i) implement with a social connection as a key component, ii) re-evaluate how you are recognizing employees now and how they can be incorporated into the wellness program, iii) think about educational resources- especially free or already existing resources you’ve not tapped into, iv) centralize communications to drive participation. Reminding employees of wellness initiatives will aid in gaining higher participation and will also help in building excitement. This helps keep wellness initiatives in the forefront as opposed to getting forgotten. And last- as humans, employees are more likely to show greater participation if there is a reward of some kind. Be creative! This can be a lunch and learn for educational topics, gifts for milestones such as work anniversaries or birthdays, a small prize for the competition winner or simply public recognition. Everyone likes to be recognized!
Measure it and Track it
Last but not least, maybe you’ve hesitated in the last year to implement a wellness program because they are thought to be too expensive. While some initiatives can be costly, there are also many that are free and simple to execute. By budgeting and planning realistically, you'll find that the cost of not prioritizing employee wellness far outweighs the investment.
Another challenge is tracking program effectiveness. To address this, designate a team to monitor key metrics such as invitations, attendance, budget, and other relevant data. This will make it easier to analyze and predict outcomes. Lastly, if past participation has been low, following these steps will help boost engagement, and your employees will appreciate the effort you put into their well-being.
Make sure your program makes an impact in 2025 - give it time. Health is not overnight- it is consistent actions over time that make a difference. As an employer, your focus needs to be supporting employees to make healthy habits over time that will lead to great success overall.
As always, please reach out to the team at Renewed HR for any HR help or wellness initiative planning. Let us focus on the people programs so you can focus on your business!
Resources:
Gallup - Employee Engagement Inches Up Slightly After 11-Year Low – Article - 2024
US Dept of Health & Human Services - Impact of the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation in the US – 2023
Bright Plan – Wellness Barometer Survey - 2024
