Most employers say they plan on maintaining or even expanding their employee well-being programs, but they'll be taking vendors to task.
According to Business Group on Health's 2025 Employer Well-being Strategy Survey, 73% of employers plan to maintain their well-being programs and 20% plan on increasing them.
At the same time, about 94% of employers say they will raise their expectations of well-being vendors in the hope of delivering improved outcomes. They will also turn to well-being dashboards to track and measure relevant data to help evaluate vendors, the survey found.
Fielded in January and February 2025, the survey was completed by 131 employers that collectively employ 11.2 million people worldwide.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT
The survey found that 100% of employers include mental health in their well-being strategy. Forty-seven percent of employers consider mental health as the most important aspect of well-being, while another 44% consider it to be the second most important. Globally, 95% of multinational employers provide teletherapy.
Physical health is a top well-being priority for employers, especially for weight management. Almost two-thirds of employers reported that the growing utilization of GLP-1s had impacted their approach to well-being, by making changes to their well-being offerings or increasing vendor accountability.
Ninety-nine percent of employers include physical health as a component of their overall well-being strategy – a commitment that appears on track to continue into 2026.
Ninety-two percent of employers include financial health as a dimension of well-being strategy, with 100% of employers projected to include it for 2026. Some employers already support financial well-being through subsidies or financial contributions to help with life events such as student loan repayment, tuition reimbursement and emergency savings, the survey found.
More than three quarters (77%) of employers leverage access to nutrition-focused resources to serve employees in their countries of operation, while about three-quarters of employers' well-being strategies include social connectedness and community, through initiatives such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and peer coaching or mentoring.
In the coming years, 59% of employers will expand their efforts in addressing social determinants of health, the survey found.
THE LARGER TREND
Creating a positive, psychologically healthy workplace, addressing equity in workplace mental health and improving access to treatment options are some of the things that are now possible in healthcare, said Sarah Rauzin, associate director at Health Action Alliance, at the HIMSS24 conference held earlier this year in Orlando, Florida.
In a healthy culture, thriving employees are able to be productive employees – which is especially critical in today's workplace, including the healthcare setting, said Rauzin.
"You have to start with engaging leaders, to dispel stigma," she said. "It's part of that top-down culture of mental health support."
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.