25 Employee Wellness Statistics Every Manager Should Know + 5 Tips for Promoting Employee Well-being

Are you a manager looking to improve employee wellness in your workplace? 

Creating a positive working environment is critical to keeping employees happy and motivated to perform well. Caring for your employees improves:

• 🚀 productivity;
• 💬 engagement;
• 🔁 job retention;
• 🏅 job performance;
• 😊 job satisfaction;
• 💰 revenue.

Company perks like flexible hours, monetary rewards, fitness programs, and health insurance plans can create a more positive work environment. 

However, fostering such an environment has become increasingly tricky as employees continue to adapt to the pandemic's changes.

To ensure a productive and positive company culture as employees adjust to a post-pandemic workplace, companies must pay attention to well-being statistics and address some of the most concerning findings.

We share 25 eye-opening employee wellness statistics every manager should know and five practical tips for promoting employee well-being. 

Don't miss out on this vital information and actionable advice. Take the first step towards a happier, healthier workforce!

🧘 What is employee well-being?

Employee well-being refers to the overall state of health and wellness of your employees in the workplace. 

To foster a healthy and productive work environment, you'll need to consider your employees' physical, mental, emotional, and financial well-being. 

While your employees' job choices, personal issues, or relationships with co-workers are beyond your control, you can show that you care about their well-being by offering benefits such as fair pay, reasonable working hours, and a safe and secure workplace.

It's important to remember that every employee is unique, and their well-being needs may differ. 

As a manager, it's crucial to keep an open line of communication with your team to understand what they value and what initiatives will help them achieve their goals, both in their personal and professional lives.

🕵️‍♀️ Why is employee well-being important: Key statistical evidence

It increases employee motivation to work

The benefits are twofold when employees receive the support they need to succeed in their job roles. 

Not only does it motivate them to work harder, but it also increases employee loyalty and retention rates.

According to Zippia's research, 85% of employees with access to wellness programs said they would like to stay at their jobs. 

Plus, 80% of those employees enjoyed working at organizations with well-being initiatives, resulting in increased productivity.

It gives the company a significant return on investment (ROI)

Employees with good mental and physical health are far less likely to miss work, resulting in an average six-to-one ROI for employee wellness programs.

Zippia's research has shown that wellness programs can reduce absenteeism by 14 to 19%.

It helps boost the company's credibility and empathy

Gallup reported that less than half of American employees feel their companies are empathetic towards them.

By providing assistance and workplace wellness programs to employees, supervisors can demonstrate an understanding of their needs and bridge the gap between them and the company. 

Tip #1: Remove any barriers preventing employees from feeling heard and understood.

Tip #2: Prioritize providing better rewards and bonuses to showcase empathy. 

74% of workers would be willing to work longer hours if their companies showed empathy.

💡 Check out 12 trends in employee benefits to help strengthen your wellness initiatives.

❗️5 Challenges to workplace wellness you shouldn't ignore

Despite the best preparation for a comprehensive employee wellness plan, some challenges are out of your control, such as the global pandemic that has recently caused much disruption to the workers' well-being. 

As we move into a new post-pandemic era, difficulties in creating a healthy working environment may still arise.

We selected five key challenges you should be wary of. 

Employee adjustment to the shift in work set-up 

Adecco's Disconnect to Reconnect survey revealed that most employers (74%) see the importance of employee well-being. 

Yet, 45% of employees do not feel their companies provide adequate support. 

Providing flexible work schedules and health insurance is essential for employees to feel supported during these trying times: 24% find it harder to disconnect from work when working from the office than from home (vs. 17%). 

Unfortunately, only a third of companies have implemented relevant initiatives.

The pandemic has disrupted the traditional onsite workplace, with many employees working from home, thus increasing the need for support to balance work-personal life properly. 

Lack of effective communication on mental health initiatives 

Nearly 60% of employees suffer from mild anxiety symptoms, and 21% indicated that mental health impacts their productivity in the workplace. 

On the other hand, a survey conducted by Calm for Business revealed that most employees (66%) do not feel comfortable discussing their mental health with their managers. This situation is likely due to the fact that 76% of employees identified their workload as a significant source of negative stress in the workplace.

Here are other workplace wellness statistics from Calm for Business that point out the challenge:

• 1 in 4 employees feels that taking a vacation will disappoint their team.
• Employees don't have the same requests for getting mental health support. 50% are looking for mental health days on top of sick days, while the rest are looking for access to wellness stipends or financial support for therapy. 
• 78% of employees look at their manager's validation to take mental breaks during the workday. 

🚨 Despite employees prioritizing their mental health for improved well-being, there is a discrepancy between their expectations and the reality of what employers can offer them. 

Additionally, many employers find a lack of interest among their employees to take advantage of mental health programs such as mental health days or vacation times, even though these initiatives should support them. 

The use of technology becomes a burden, and data privacy is at risk among employees

The 2022 Thales Data Threat Report revealed a shocking statistic: 45% of companies were victims of a data breach in the past year. 

Data breaches are a major cause for concern, as the threat of cybersecurity can cause fear among employees if digital tools are not safe. 

Even more worrying, according to Thales' Cloud Security Report, 79% of the companies expressed concern about the security risks of those working remotely.

"It's important that employers provide adequate training for all employees on how best to use digital tools so they feel comfortable using them in their day-to-day tasks." Lisa Dietrich, Partner at girokonto.io.

Technology is more important than ever as office work shifts to remote and hybrid work set-ups. 

But suppose your goal is to use digital tools to promote workplace wellness. In that case, some employees may struggle with transitioning without technical skills.

➡️ Train your employees on Data protection and privacy with our data security training templates.

Our ready-to-use templates will equip your employees with tools to help them identify potential threats and minimize the risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches. 

The need to evolve benefits to accomodate remote employees

A survey by Wellable Labs shows that many employers are investing in: 

• Mental Health (88%); 
• Telemedicine (87%); 
• Stress Management/Resilience (81%); 
• Mindfulness, And Meditation (69%); 
• Covid-19 Risk Intake/Wellness Passport (63%) Programs To Meet The Demands Of Employees With The New Workplace Dynamic. 

Moreover, organizations offer allowances for home office set-ups, virtual wellness services, and access to home care and health and wellness services.

Employers must rethink existing office-based employee benefits, such as regular check-ups, travel cards, team lunches, or fitness classes, to accommodate remote employees. 

Also, it is essential to recognize and reward employees to sustain morale and improve their well-being. 

Rising healthcare cost

The Mckinsey & Company U.S. Employer Health Benefits Survey revealed that 63% of respondents anticipate rising healthcare costs to cause financial burdens for employers in the future.

Healthcare costs are predicted to increase by 5% and 5.1% from 2023-2024. 

According to the Workplace Wellness Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit and Research Institute, although 3 in 4 employees believe employers should be responsible for their physical, emotional, and financial well-being, less than half are optimistic about their employer's efforts in this area. 

Health insurance and retirement savings plans are the most important employee retention/recruitment benefits. 

However, only 44% of people are extremely or very satisfied with their benefits package. 

These figures are significant since having healthcare coverage is an attractive perk for potential employees.

💡 5 Tips to improve your employee's well-being

Offering more benefits and activities alone is insufficient when looking after your employees. 

You need to know the difficulties they're experiencing that impact their mental and physical health and determine what you can do to tackle them comprehensively.

Here are some best practices and tips to boost your employee's well-being in the post-pandemic world.

Maintain a consistent but flexible program structure

Although it may be simpler to maintain the same program structure, it is essential to consider the needs of your employees and what will help them succeed in their wellness journey. 

Tip: Offering individualized resources and opportunities can help your employees reach their goals and ensure they benefit from the process.

Consider creating specific corporate wellness programs that: 

• Cater to different workplace environments (remote, hybrid, and office set-ups).
• Identify pain points based on employee resource groups and feedback on existing programs.
• Train managers to emphasize the importance of mental health and serve as role models by building healthy personal habits. 
• Adapt policies and practices that enable inclusion, equity, and transparency.

While the program's specifics may change depending on employee demands, you should set a consistent timeline for announcing the program, registering, providing incentives, and the program length.

Offer personal training and resources 

You are responsible for providing your employees with the resources and tools they find helpful to improve their well-being. Give them multiple options to get practical and accessible solutions to their problems. 

Personalized training and resources are fundamental for your employees to feel that you are considering their needs and building a sense of belonging in the company.

You can give employees access to tools such as: 

• Disease-Specific Data Sheets;
• Wellness Surveys;
• Credible Health Websites; 
• Quick Internal Links To Health Plans And Benefits;
• Training Videos And Courses.

Workplace resilience training is a great tool that you can use to manage your employees' work-related stressors and challenges. 

You can include mindfulness exercises, cognitive behavioral therapy, goal setting, and problem-solving activities to help your employees gain self-awareness and cope with difficult work situations. 

You can also allow employees to customize individual challenges and personalized training and resources to keep them engaged with the program.

Engage employees with regular challenges, reminders, and check-ins 

Create an annual challenge that promotes healthier habits and rewards the participants. Encourage teamwork to engage employees and make them more likely to join each year. Remind your employees to take a break and recognize their hard work to show your appreciation for their efforts.

➡️ Check out these well-being booster templates to foster meaningful connections with your employees. Utilize weekly reminders and recognition to build a positive, supportive work environment.

"I know the popular thing today is fewer meetings, but I believe one-to-one meetings are more important than ever as they give people the opportunity to privately communicate any issues they are facing." Joel Soucy, Employee Experience Specialist at Solink.

Reward your employees based on goals and their motivation

Create rewards and incentives that respond to your employees' goals. You can start by conducting a survey to determine the reward type they consider most valuable.

Tip #1: Include financial rewards, additional days off, or public recognition.

You can get creative with the financial rewards and offer various options, such as gift cards, gas cards, lunch discount vouchers, and prepaid credit cards. Furthermore, consider setting up weekly or monthly challenges with a points system to motivate and engage employees.

Tip #2: To ensure fairness, customize rewards based on job roles. 

For example, the same compensation may not be appropriate for an intern, a spouse, or a full-time employee.

Give access to tools enabling wellness 

Give employees access to a wellness portal with biometrics so you and your employees can both keep track of their progress and help them achieve their goals. You can also have a lifestyle coach on board to assist with their wellness journey. 

Make sure to allow employees to control their biometric screening process, like allowing them to choose where to do the health screening or set their personal goals. Hence, they get a sense of fulfillment by the end of the program.

 ➡️ Start your employees' wellness journey! Find out why including employee well-being in your onboarding strategy can help build a stronger team foundation for newbies. 

➡️ Boost employee well-being with Zavvy 

Team Zavvy is all about supporting employees and fostering a positive work atmosphere and culture. 

So, we have created templates to help build stronger connections among team members and create a calming workspace.

In addition to strengthening relationships, we help organizations enhance employee wellness through our resilience training. 

Our 8-week resilience training program helps employees to recognize their stressors, stay attuned to their feelings, and access resources that help them manage their overall well-being. 

You can also measure psychological well-being in your company with our psychological well-being survey. 

We included 17 scientifically validated questions to determine employees' psychological well-being and establish more mental health initiatives.

Finally, we know how vital employee feedback is to create employee wellness programs suited to their needs. Set up a personalized feedback system easily with our 360 feedback software. All you have to do is select the type of feedback you need, enter the questions, choose the people you want to receive the feedback from, and we'll take care of the rest!

Our employee feedback builder lets you: 

• Build an automated but personalized feedback system.
• Identify employee pain points to improve wellness programs.
• Save time on admin tasks.
• Set goals for your wellness programs.
• Track your company's progress and measure ROI.

Start building effective workplace wellness programs today with Zavvy!

Schedule a 30-minute free demo to learn more about our features.

Data sources

• Wrike What is Employee Well-being and Why Does it Matter?
• People Element Top 20 Employee Wellness Statistics for 2022
• Everfi How to Rethink Employee Well-being in 2022
• Lyra 2022 State of Workforce Mental Health Report
• Champion Health The Workplace Health Report
• SHRM Designing and Managing Wellness Programs
• Accenture A 'Work Anywhere' Workplace is What Employees Actually Want Today, According to New Report by Accenture
• Wellright Best Practices for Workplace Wellness Program Success
• Wellright The State of Employee Well-Being in 2022 (and Key Strategies for Employers
• Zippia 22 TELLING EMPLOYEE WELLNESS STATISTICS [2022]: HOW MANY COMPANIES HAVE WELLNESS PROGRAMS
• Gallup Employee Well-being Is Key for Workplace Productivity
• Adecco Disconnect to Reconnect Global Report 2022
• Calm Business 3 Major Takeaways from Our Workplace Mental Health Survey
• Thales 2022 Thales Data Threat Report
• Thales Cloud Security Report
• Wellable Labs 2021 Employee Wellness Industry Trends Report 
• Mckinsey & Company Employers look to expand health benefits while managing medical costs 
• Employee Benefit Research Institute 2022 Workplace Wellness Survey