Want to Improve Your Company’s Bottom Line? Start by Boosting Employee Wellbeing

By Livia Martini (Wellhub Chief People Officer) and Bruno Annicq (Wellhub Chief Financial Officer)

As Wellhub’s Chief People Officer and Chief Financial Officer, our objectives have historically been viewed at odds: one is looking to spend and the other looking to save. 

We’ve left that outdated framework where it belongs — in the past. At Wellhub, we know our goals and methods are directly aligned. Investing in the wellbeing of our people improves the health of the business. Because, whether they realize it or not, every company relies on wellbeing. Nobody can pull ahead of the competition without a healthy, engaged, and productive workforce.

This is why the best way to grow your business is by taking care of your workforce first and foremost, not your spreadsheets and presentations. Too often we laser focus on the end result and forget about the employees driving those results in the first place. Thriving employees lift the bottom line because wellness is profitable. Employee wellbeing isn’t an expense — it’s a strategic investment in company performance, and we can prove it.

You don’t have to take our word for it: We surveyed more than 2,000 HR leaders at companies with wellbeing programs in nine countries about the impact of their wellness initiatives for our second annual Return on Wellbeing report, released today.

Here's what we discovered, and what these findings tell us about using wellness as a competitive advantage.

Key Finding 1: Wellness Can Supercharge Your Bottom Line

Employee wellbeing is a powerful lever for any company looking to improve their performance. Spending on workforce wellness is an investment in company performance.

What We Found:

• 95% of companies see a positive return from their wellbeing program, up from 90% last year.
• 56% of companies earn more than $2 for every $1 invested in their wellness program

The Takeaway:

Investing in employee wellbeing is an investment in your company’s financial health.

Key Finding 2: Wellness Programs Tackle Pressing Business Problems 

Like a Swiss Army knife, wellness programs tackle everything from boosting productivity and slashing healthcare costs to enhancing talent acquisition and reducing the out-of-pocket costs employees spend on their wellbeing. They help smooth out turnover rates, ramp up satisfaction, and cut down on sick leave.

What We Found:

• 91% of HR leaders say the cost of their healthcare benefits decreased as a result of their wellbeing program, up 78% in 2023.
• 89% of HR leaders see employees take fewer sick days as a result of their wellbeing program, up 85% from last year.
• 98% of HR leaders say their wellbeing program reduces turnover.
• 97% of HR leaders say wellness initiatives improve talent acquisition.

The Takeaway: 

Wellness programs are more than an exercise in feeling good — they power quantifiable business results.  

Key Finding 3: Employee Engagement at Every Level is Critical to Maximizing a Program’s ROI

The more employees use a program, the larger its ROI. Executives leading by example is a foundational part of maximizing this return, as employee participation in a program mirrors c-suite participation. 

What We Found:

• 97% of HR leaders say increasing participation in wellness programs increases the return on investment.
• The 5% of companies with a negative ROI from their wellness programs have the lowest rates of employee engagement in their programs.
• Higher rates of c-suite engagement drive higher rates of employee engagement.
• Higher rates of employee engagement drive higher returns in wellness programs.

The Takeaway: 

HR leaders need to foster a culture of wellbeing at their company that encourages frequent, public sage of their wellness benefits. 

Application Inspiration:

Both of us walk the wellness walk — we inject wellbeing into our personal and team routines so everyone knows wellness is a priority. Livia, for example, incorporates Wellhub partners into team building activities, while Bruno blocks family time off on his calendar. Both of these actions model prioritizing wellness, encouraging the rest of our departments to do the same. 

Key Finding 4: Holistic Plans Drive Higher Returns

The more a program supports multidimensional wellbeing, the more likely it is to drive positive financial returns. 

What We Found:

• Companies with an ROI between 0% and 50% have, on average, three types of wellness support. Those with an ROI between 151% and 200%, on the other hand, have an average of six wellness supports.
• The 5% of companies with a negative ROI from theri wellness programs have the least holistic programs.

The Takeaway: 

Having a wide variety of wellness offerings is crucial to driving the employee engagement rates in a wellness program that drive valuable returns. 

The transformative power of holistic wellness is why Gympass is now Wellhub. When we launched back in 2012, our focus was entirely on physical wellness — we were a literal gym pass back then, after all. 

Since then, we’ve dug deeper into what wellness truly is. For people to be truly well, all dimensions of wellbeing must be supported. This deepens our mission from helping people find a way to move to helping them improve their quality of life at a fundamental level. That takes a lot more than a jog on the treadmill — it requires helping every company become a wellness company.

If you take one thing away from this report, we hope it is this: Investing in wellbeing is the ultimate win-win. Our People and Finance teams are not at opposing ends of this conversation because wellness is not an expense, it’s an investment. When your employees thrive, and so does your company — there’s no tradeoff required.

Livia Martini                                                             Bruno Annicq

Wellhub Chief People Officer                              Wellhub Chief Financial Officer