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The burnout epidemic is upon us, and many workplaces are hoping to gain ground in the battle over employee mental health by offering well-being programs. While well-intentioned, the success of these initiatives can vary widely depending on how thoughtfully they’re constructed and monitored. But a new study suggests that managers who meaningfully integrate and measure their wellness benefits reap major rewards.
About 99% of HR leaders who track their company’s well-being program say it increases employee productivity, according to a new Return on Wellbeing report from Wellhub, a global corporate wellbeing platform formerly known as Gympass. Around 47% saw “major” improvements in productivity, and around 87% of HR leaders say their wellness program is essential.
“When somebody does not have a good state of well-being they’re not sleeping right, they’re not eating right, they’re not exercising, they’re not working on their mental health. It’s easy to see how unproductive a person can be if they have these troubles,” Livia de Bastos Martini, chief people officer at Wellhub, tells Fortune. “If you are healthy you can be productive, and have actual excitement about what you’re doing.”
Previous data on corporate well-being programs has been mixed. Some studies have found their offerings reduce sick days and improve retention, while others found employees still struggled. One study published earlier this year, which surveyed hundreds of companies with and without wellness programs, found that nearly all well-being initiatives didn’t benefit staffers’ health. It determined the root cause of this problem is that many companies offer low-level perks without making any genuine structural or people strategy changes. The Wellhub report specifically surveyed HR leaders with established wellness programs that they actively monitor.
HR managers who are serious about building a successful well-being program can start by listening to what their staffers actually want. About 33% of employees ranked addressing emotional issues as their most important wellness need, according to a different report from Wellhub published earlier this year. That was followed by 23% who said their most critical wellness issue was financial, 13% who said it was physical, and 8% who said it was social.
For the most part, managers agree with workers on which well-being needs are crucial, according to the report. But HR leaders put less emphasis on the urgency of each issue. “[They’re] still aligned, but companies’ perceptions are still a little bit lower,” says de Bastos Martini.
To develop a well-being program that engages high levels of worker participation, de Bastos Martini advises HR leaders to do three things: survey employees and tailor offerings to what they want, have a high-level executive take part in and role model the wellbeing initiative, and design a company culture around supporting well-being in general.
“If a program is not well structured, and doesn’t have the three conditions we talked about, people are not going to be consistent or engaged, and you’re not going to see transformation.”
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
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