How Wellness Programs Reduce Talent Management Costs

Taking care of your employees is vital. After all, no work gets done without them! 

But that doesn’t mean meeting their needs is easy — or cheap. There are expenses associated with every interaction: acquiring new talent, retaining staffers, and offboarding team members when they eventually say goodbye.

Caring for employee wellbeing can make every stage of the employee lifecycle more affordable. There's a reason (many, actually) that 85% of HR leaders say their wellness program reduced their talent management costs.

Here’s why that’s the case, and what your organization can do to kickstart this savings cycle.

Easing Talent Acquisition

The process of finding and recruiting new employees is a huge expense. A successful hire can cost tens of thousands of dollars between job posting fees, applicant tracking software, background checks, and more.

But that doesn’t have to be the case with an employee wellbeing program. Instead of expending significant resources on recruitment and headhunting activities, a robust wellbeing program helps you develop a reputation as an employee-centric organization.

The majority of workers identify employee wellbeing as a key deciding factor when applying for a new job, so having a wellbeing program makes you more attractive to top-tier candidates. This can translate into increased interest in your roles, reduced time-to-hire, and better applicant quality — all of which saves you recruiting costs.

This viewpoint resonates with the upper echelons of the HR world as well. An impressive 91% of Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) say wellness programs are important for talent acquisition.

How To Leverage Your Wellness Program for Talent Acquisition

Getting the word out your employee wellbeing program to potential applicants can kickstart these savings. Here are four ways you can incorporate your wellness program into your talent acquisition strategy.

Incorporate Wellness into Your Company Branding

Employer branding is a crucial step in attracting talent, and incorporating wellness program offerings can help you stand out from the competition. Make your company's commitment to employee wellness public by posting on social media about your marketing team's group yoga sessions, meditation breaks, or which region won your Holiday Steps Challenge. (During Wellhub’ 15-day international steps competition, that honor went to our office in Mexico!) Showing potential candidates that your company is serious about supporting their physical and mental health communicates you're an employer that will meet their wellness needs.

Discuss Wellness in Interviews

Potential hires should know exactly what they’re signing up for when it comes to the perks and benefits associated with joining your team. Encourage recruiters and hiring managers to talk about how employees can take advantage of your wellbeing program and the impact it can have on their lives. If they are comfortable, encourage your recruiters to share how they tend to their own wellbeing, whether it's heading to a class at F45 during lunch or listening to a mediation session on Calm. This makes it clear to every candidate who interacts with your organization that you really do promote a culture of wellbeing.

Mention It in Your Job Postings

When you post job openings, make sure to include information about your company wellbeing program. Nearly 73% workers say they would only consider companies that emphasize employee wellbeing if looking to change jobs, so advertising your wellbeing ensures your benefits meet job seeker expectations. It also helps you attract job seekers who are looking for organizations that prioritize employee health and wellbeing, which adds to your company culture. 

Feature the Program on Your Careers Page

Your careers page is a hub of information about your workplace, and that can include details about the wellness program. List all the generos perks you offer employees — anything from gym membership reimbursements to flexible work hours — and include what employees have said about their experience with the program. This will give prospective hires a better look at culture and working environment they can expect to experience.

Improving Talent Retention

Wellbeing programs do more than appeal to new hires. A proactive approach to employee health can also improve employee satisfaction and engagement, boosting retention. This ultimately helps you avoid the high costs associated with employee turnover.

Employee engagement is the cornerstone of a successful retention strategy. Low-engagement teams have turnover rates up to 43% greater than highly engaged teams, and over half of HR leaders say wellness programs reduce the cost of employee engagement.

Employee satisfaction, another critical aspect of talent retention, is often directly tied to the presence and quality of wellness programs. In fact, every single respondent in our survey of 2000 HR leaders for Wellhub' 2023 Return on Wellbeing Study said wellbeing programs are important for employee satisfaction.

This all drives higher retention rates, helping companies avoid the expensive and time-consuming process of recruiting and training new talent. A considerable 85% of workers would be more likely to remain in their role if their employer prioritized wellbeing. That level of increased retention would amount to major savings when you consider those exorbitant talent acquisition costs.

How To Leverage Wellness Programs for Talent Retention

Maximizing engagement in your wellbeing program is simple. Here are four ways you can get the savings rolling.

Make it Accessible

Finding a way to make sure your team has access to the wellness services you offer is essential. You can look into setting up a gym membership or offering discounts on fitness classes to make it affordable across pay grades. You can also use technology, such as video streaming services, to make it easy for employees to access wellness activities wherever they are located. 

Foster a Wellness Community

Having a community of like-minded individuals can help motivate and inspire your team to stay active. You can create online forums or organize group events and activities for your employees to participate in. This helps strengthen the bonds between team members, as employees with a close friend at work are less likely to look for a new job, according to Gallup. This same research found they’re also likely to recommend their employer to other workers, so this advantage can bolster talent acquisition too!

Leverage an Integrated Platform

To ensure employees can easily access and benefit from everything your wellness program has to offer, look for an integrated, all-in-one digital wellness platform. This type of platform allows you to track and monitor the progress of your team members’ health goals in aggregate. A one-stop wellness solution like Wellhub also provides the variety, flexibility, and accessibility that takes engagement to the next level.

Offer Variety

Since employees are unique, every wellness journey is unique. Offering a variety of activities helps your wellness program appeal to the expansive and ever-changing interests of your employees. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all program. A simple gym membership reimbursement program is simply not enough anymore. You have to consider different classes and activities that appeal to your employee base, such as pilates, rock climbing, or martial arts. Partnering with local businesses to offer discounts on sports products, nutrition plans and other health-related services that your employees can use to stay active can be another great way to inject variety into your offerings. Variety keeps your employees excited and motivated to maintain their wellness journey. 

Cut Your Talent Management Costs Today

Wellness programs can draw in new talent faster (reducing cost-to-hire) while proving to current employees they are cared for (reducing expensive turnover). This can translate into tens of thousands of dollars saved for every employee that stays with your company, every great candidate that joins your organization, and all of the productivity that comes with a long tenure. 

You can save on talent management today with Wellhub. With our all-in-one wellness platform, employees have access to a global network of more than 50,000 fitness providers and dozens of wellbeing apps. This integrated, easily accessible platform boosts retention — our partners see 43% improved retention rates.  

Speak with a wellbeing specialist to find out how we can reduce your talent costs today!

References

• Gallup. (2023, January 7). The Benefits of Employee Engagement. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/employee-turnover-really-costs.aspx
• Wellhub. (2023, May 18). Return on Wellbeing Report 2023. /en-us/resources/research/return-on-wellbeing-study-2023 
• Wellhub (2022, November 8). The State of Work-Life Wellness 2022. Wellhub.com. /en-us/resources/report
• Indeed. (n.d.). What Is the Cost of Hiring New Employees? https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/cost-of-hiring-employees
• Patel, A., & Plowman, S. (2022, August 12). The Increasing Importance of a Best Friend at Work. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/increasing-importance-best-friend-work.aspx