What is the Average Company ROI for Well-Being Programs?

Livia Martini, Chief People Officer of Gympass, conducted a survey that elicited responses from more than 2 thousand human resources professionals around the world. Her aim was to collect data on the financial impacts of wellness programs at thousands of companies for the purpose of developing a formula to measure how much companies are saving on average as a result of implementing wellness programs. 

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Of course, there are many factors that will impact exactly how cost effective a wellness program is at any given company, including level of buy-in and utilization on the part of employees, but the formula developed in order to conduct this analysis and evaluate wellness program ROI focuses on 4 main areas: increase in productivity, savings on health care expenses, savings on talent management costs, and wellness program cost.

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According to the ultimate findings, about 9 out of 10 companies that invest in wellness programs ultimately see a positive return on that investment, which is comparable to the expected ROI on other benefits such as health insurance coverage. Not only can businesses expect direct savings that exceed wellness program costs more than 90% of the time, but about 85% of respondents attribute their investment in wellness initiatives with lowering recruitment expenses and reduced employee absences for sick leave, as well.

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Further, 100% of the HR leadership that were surveyed agreed that there’s a positive link between employee satisfaction and wellness programs, which helps move the needle in the right direction in terms of retention numbers, too. In fact, a separate study indicates that more than 3 out of 4 employees will consider leaving a company that doesn’t prioritize well-being, and more than 8 out of 10 believe well-being to be equally important as salary when weighing job opportunities. 

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As previously noted, however, not all wellness programs are created equal and this analysis indicates that the best approach is a holistically-grounded one that incorporates physical and mental health in a traditional sense, and also supports and prioritizes other core values and feelings that are integral parts of the human experience, including maintaining positive, constructive relationships; engaging actively with both work and life outside work; having a sense of purpose; and feeling appreciated in general as well as for making a contribution though exemplified competence in a role. 

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Of course, when health is involved - especially mental health issues revolving around values and feelings - there can be a great deal of personalization required in order to enable each employee to customize an approach that best suits their needs. Because of the degree of individual tailoring required to optimize the effectiveness of wellness initiatives for as many employees as possible, companies would be well served to provide a wide variety of different offerings in type and commitment-level to allow employees a comfortable entry point from wherever they may be starting their wellness journey.

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Beyond strategizing and developing the holistic wellness program that is ideal for their companies, HR professionals can really drive home the commitment behind the wellness initiative investment through their own lived and advocated support on behalf of employee wellness prioritization. There may be no more effective means for increasing wellness program adoption and utilization than for management and human resources leadership to lead by example, role modeling personal well-being and appropriately balanced work and life interests for employees to emulate. 

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Ultimately, the data makes clear that just about every company that launches and invests in these kinds of wellness initiatives can expect to see a positive return, whether measured in savings on healthcare and recruitment/retention or through gains in increased productivity and reduced absences. 

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You can read more about the ROI for companies on well-being programs here.