Workplace Wellness Trends

Workplace wellness and employee wellbeing are top priorities for corporate benefits executives. We highlight current trends, including using wellness benefits to attract and retain talent, how telemedicine is a game-changer, and priorities for employer wellness programs like mental health, financial health, and sleep.

Forty-five percent of employers view their healthcare strategy as an integral part of their workforce strategy, up from 36 percent in 2019. Employers are increasingly approaching employee health and wellness benefits as a competitive advantage in pursuit of talent that can work from anywhere. The degree of support employers provide is being leveraged as a key differentiator in recruiting.

Employers are taking a holistic approach to employee wellness, reflecting the interconnections among physical, nutritional, mental, social, financial, and environmental health. They are using data input from employees to build their plan and focusing effort on digital transformation of the employee healthcare experience, extending from the employer out to the provider and payer.

As more employers become self-funded, they are focusing on prevention to lower chronic disease rates and limit their impact on healthcare and benefits costs. Preventive benefits is boosting the role of workplace wellness. According to the largest systemic global review into the impact of workplace wellness interventions, “Positive Impact of Workplace Health & Well-being Programs” conducted by Cigna, “When properly designed and implemented, most wellness programs yield positive returns by reducing healthcare costs, absenteeism, and delivering productivity gains. Wellness programs with low investment levels often achieve excellent ROI if they are well designed.

Our trends research highlighted four areas where employers are prioritizing wellness initiatives – behavioral health, financial health, sleep, and social connectedness.

As 2020 and the pandemic took its toll, it has become paramount for mental health support to take center stage for employers.

According to two studies conducted by the Business Group on Health employees are showing significant interest in using employer-sponsored mental health services like stress management programs, mental health apps, mindfulness, and meditation programs.

Currently, 69% of employers surveyed provide access to online mental health support resources such as apps, videos, and articles. That number is expected to jump to 88% this year.

Employers are considering adding financial wellness programs for all employees since 39% of employees surveyed cite finances as their number one source of stress.

Seventy-four percent of U.S. workers say they work while tired with 31% saying they do so very often.

According to the CDC, fatigue and poor sleep contribute to productivity losses, costing employers $1,967 per employee per year and adding up to approximately 1.23 million lost working days annually.

Employers are beginning to promote more social connectedness and community involvement via employee social and charitable activities as well as time off to give back to the community.

Just as all of healthcare accelerated the use of telemedicine in 2020, employers have and will continue to progress their virtual care plans and investments.

On-site clinics continue to grow in popularity with new clinics or service expansions planned. Plus, employers with health centers are looking for ways to reinvent themselves. “Most centers no longer view themselves as a facility to provide merely in-person primary and acute care and now offer additional services, including enhanced virtual care, to complement in-person visits.”

Self-insured employers play a big role in the U.S. health care system, and the number of mid-sized and smaller employers are taking on more risk at the prospect of improving care and health of their employees while controlling cost.

SDLC Partners’ Healthcare Services team works closely with all our other operations, automation, app dev, and technology teams to provide guidance and solutions across the employee wellness continuum of initiatives. From care management to specialized apps to creating a digital front door or implementing a virtual care solution, and automating healthcare administration, we’re poised to jump in.