In evolving workplaces, proving the ROI of wellness programs is more crucial than ever. As organisations see the clear link between employee well-being and productivity, HR leaders face growing pressure to demonstrate the value of health initiatives. But without the right metrics, justifying these investments becomes a challenge. It often leads to underfunded programs and a cycle of low engagement and morale. In an exclusive roundtable session at Total Rewards and Wellbeing Conference 2024, senior HR leaders explored how CHROs can champion wellness initiatives, driving a healthier, more engaged workforce and sustainable growth.
The session, hosted with HCL Healthcare, was moderated by Sonali Sardana, Associate Director of Wellbeing at Concentrix. Shikha Saxena, President of HCL Healthcare, highlighted how COVID shifted health to the forefront for employees and leaders alike. Shikha stressed the challenge of ensuring wellness programs go beyond transactions to deliver real engagement and impact. Measuring their ROI, she noted, lies in boosting employee productivity, motivation, and success.
Sudhir Patro, Head of New Vista Business at HCL Healthcare added, “In the real world, wellness means different things to different people. Earlier, it was all about body transformation, but people wanted fun and engagement instead. But COVID shifted that perspective, showing that transformation has many layers. For example, health coaches play a key role in shaping how we think, eat, and live, and their impact on workplace wellness is profound.”
Making wellness programs a success
To address the diverse needs of a large, multi-generational, and geographically spread workforce, an innovative platform for virtual doctor consultations, where employees can connect with doctors from anywhere for counselling, emotional support, or medical advice. Prescriptions are shared via WhatsApp, with health records maintained for follow-ups, enabling continuous care and tracking progress.
During COVID, technology has been leveraged to analyse organisational health data—identifying key health concerns, segmenting by age, and tailoring interventions. For younger employees, programs like marathons to boost physical engagement, while older employees receive targeted support for issues like diabetes or mental wellness.
Beyond physical health, emphasising mind-body mastery, focusing 80 per cent on mental well-being and 10 per cent on physical and tactical aspects. Moreover, added financial health sessions with experts to guide younger employees on investments and prevent mid-life financial crises. Additionally, a post-retirement mental health program offering support to retirees until age 75—an initiative to prioritise care at every stage of life.
Furthermore, a platform that analyses health data to identify trends and key health concerns. Believing that investing in people, not profits—value for men, not money is the real ROI. This perspective stems from the human cost of events like COVID, where one loss impacts entire families. To prioritise prevention, mandating annual health check-ups for all generations, collecting and analysing the data to provide insights and improve overall well-being. These efforts are aimed at enhancing lives, focusing on both physical and mental wellness to build a healthier workforce.
How wellness programs drive meaningful results for people?
Viewing wellness programs not just through an ROI lens but as a key driver of employee experience and organisational growth. For example, emotional intelligence and mental health are critical areas to be tackled despite challenges. As a large organisation with an average employee age of 30, mandating emotional intelligence training is no small feat. Rolling out AI fundamentals programme for all employees, embedding it into their peer experience to ensure completion and assessment. Though pushing engagement in such programs is tough, but it shows promising results. Such approach ties preventive wellness efforts to tangible growth in employee awareness and organisational impact.
In an AI-driven world, wellness ROI isn’t about profits—it’s about healthier, more engaged employees. ROI means increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower attrition, and an available, motivated workforce. Tracking progress through wellness cushioning, focusing on how these initiatives improve employee well-being. By supporting health and life insurance programs, including coverage for retired employees, we ensure long-term care and engagement.
Healthier employees mean reduced insurance claims, leading to lower premiums over time. By improving health, utilisation rates and claim ratios can be reduced, directly impacting costs. Measuring ROI is not just financial—it’s about filling gaps in care through programs like vaccinations, preventive services, and cancer support. Focusing on accessibility to all, ensuring quality through trusted vendors and hospitals, and making it a priority to provide lasting value to employees and their families.
Making wellness cost-effective
At GSK, wellness programs are unique in their continuity and global reach, even through challenging times like COVID. A defining feature is that the entire budget comes directly from the global CEO’s fund, ensuring that no region, regardless of its size, is left out due to budget constraints. Wellness is approached holistically, focusing on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Programs like ‘Healthy Living’ address these areas with support from expert partners, covering mental health, financial planning, and digital health. To measure impact, in addition to dashboards and metrics like input, output, and impact indicators, employee feedback is paramount to guide program effectiveness. The key to success lies in aligning wellness with organisational values, ensuring accessibility, and leveraging data for continuous improvement. Leaders are provided with insights to make informed decisions, balancing program investments with measurable outcomes like reduced absenteeism, improved productivity, and better employee satisfaction.
At the heart of wellness initiatives is the belief that employee engagement and feedback are the truest indicators of success, even more than ROI in numbers. For example, simple programs—like forming teams to track steps—can spark transformational stories. Employees go from participating in small challenges to running marathons, with their enthusiasm creating a ripple effect across the organisation. When leaders, including CEOs, visit facilities and see firsthand how wellness initiatives have inspired employees, it strengthens their belief in the value of these programs. This grassroots impact often makes securing future budgets easier, as the results are both tangible and personal.
The immediate and direct connection between wellness initiatives and individual lives—whether as employees, parents, or community members—makes these programs powerful. Even without quantifiable ROI, the emotional and cultural resonance proves their impact. Employee engagement remains the most significant measure of success, driving both the continuation and growth of our wellness journey.
How to ensure leadership buy-in for wellness?
Earlier, proposals for a well-being program in a cost-sensitive organisation would be shot down, as they felt insurance was enough. But, times changed, as COVID highlighted the importance of employee well-being. Leadership not only saw the rising impact of medical costs but also realised the value of supporting employees. Now, leaders proactively ask for new programs and ways to maximise the return on investment. Keeping insurance costs steady for over two years proves that preventive health checkups and well-being initiatives work. Changing employee demographics posed another challenge; today the average age for the workforce dropped from 45+ to 36. To address this, programs have to be flexible so employees can choose.
To get leadership buy-in, start with preventive health checkups for board and executive members. This creates awareness and shows value at the top. Wellness then becomes a board agenda item, supported directly by the directors on the board, who will consistently emphasise health in business meetings then on. This top-down approach, backed by consistent communication, helps embed well-being into company culture.
Key strategies to measure ROI on wellness:
Shift focus on holistic well-being: The Senior HR leaders suggested that including programs that address physical, mental, emotional, and financial health of employees, creates a comprehensive impact in the workplace.
Interventions with tailored benefits: They emphasised customising initiatives by demographic like age-based initiatives including, marathons for younger employees, and diabetes support for older ones etc.
Making data-driven decisions: The senior HR leaders greatly believed that leveraging health data analytics to identify key concerns, monitor outcomes, and inform strategies, helps improve the workplace wellness initiatives.
Investing in employee wellbeing to boost productivity: All leaders echoed that healthier employees were better engaged at work with increased efficiency and lower absenteeism.
Ways to reduce insurance costs: The leaders pointed out preventive measures to reduce health claims, leading to lower premiums over time such as: an analytical dashboard for input-output indicators, employee feedback, and improved satisfaction rates as measurable outcomes. Additionally, strategic investments in wellness for long-term savings through reduced healthcare and attrition costs.
Top-down approach: To initiate wellness efforts in the workplace, the leaders suggested bringing c-suite leaders and board members on board, by conducting exclusive health checkups for them. This ensures that leadership supports and aligns with wellness initiatives without worrying much about business goals.
Improving flexibility in benefits: The senior HR leaders said that programs like flexi-benefits allow employees to choose wellness options tailored to their needs. Therefore, offering customisable and flexible benefits will better and improve employee experience as well. Additionally, they echoed offering emotional intelligence training, post-retirement mental health programs, and financial wellness sessions in the workplace.
Leveraging tech: The senior leaders shared examples for creating platforms where employees can access virtual doctor consultations, guidance, and mental health support tools that enhanced accessibility and engagement.
By implementing these strategies, CHROs and senior HR leaders can effectively measure and showcase the ROI of their wellness programs, driving employee engagement, reducing costs, and ensuring sustained growth.