When organizations don’t see positive results from their well-being program, it’s likely not because the program is poorly designed or employees don’t want to improve their well-being. Often, it’s because, after they sign up, employees find the options too generic and disconnected from what’s really going on in their lives. Consequently, participation drops, and leadership inevitably asks, “Why are we investing in well-being?” Yet, even amidst these doubts and mounting cost pressures, most employers remain firmly committed to investing in their team’s health and wellness.
The challenge is then bridging that gap. How can you deliver a program that provides relevant, actionable guidance for employees, ultimately shifting the leadership conversation from questioning the cost to asking, “What would happen if we stopped well-being initiatives?”
In this article, we’ll explore creative program ideas that push participation past initial registration by targeting physical fitness, emotional balance, financial wellness and social connections. Read on to discover practical examples, evidence-backed strategies and a proven framework designed to engage employees in your well-being programs for the long haul.
Participation rates tell only part of the story.
If your organization has implemented a well-being program, chances are you paid close attention to registration rates and enrollment numbers. And while the number of people who register for the program is important, it should not be the only metric equated with program success. Genuine engagement with a well-being program requires employees to regularly interact with resources, adopt healthier habits and return over time. Let’s explore what this looks like in practice.
The difference between enrollment and genuine engagement.
If enrolling in a well-being program is a poor proxy for engagement, what does engagement with a well-being program look like? Similar to the overarching concept of employee engagement, someone who is engaged in a well-being program is intrinsically motivated to participate and experiences an emotional connection to the improvements it promises.
Consider someone planning an active vacation who wants to walk several miles a day and climb stairs with ease. This person is intrinsically motivated to build stamina through exercise and feels emotionally connected to the outcome.
Extrinsic motivation, such as a health coach offering gentle support and encouragement, is often the perfect catalyst to get started. However, when you pair that external support with a participant’s personal, intrinsic drive, it creates a powerful combination. This blend of internal desire and external support is the ultimate key to keeping participants actively engaged with your offerings over the long term.
To sum up, what we don’t see when we look at registration rates alone is whether participants are using resources, building new habits or experiencing health improvements over time—like our traveler above.
What low engagement costs your organization over time.
When you offer a well-being program but employees don’t take full advantage of it, what are the likely outcomes?
- Lost investment in program spend. Implementing a well-being program requires an upfront investment that pays off over time. When employees don’t utilize the program, that spending doesn’t generate a return on investment (ROI). WebMD Health Services has found that when organizations do the hard work of engaging employees in the program, long-term strategic investments in employee well-being, especially when utilizing best practices and sustained over a decade or more, can translate into a 3:1 wellness program ROI.
- Missed opportunities for reduced healthcare spend. Industry data, alongside our Book of Business data and our best practices, has long supported the idea that organizations taking a comprehensive approach to well-being often see measurable improvements in employee health, including reduced claims and reduced healthcare risks.
WebMD’s Center for Research examined outcomes for employees of a manufacturer client between 2021 and 2024. We found:- Employees who participated in the company’s well-being program experienced meaningful reductions in health risks compared to those who did not participate.
- On average, individual health risks declined by nearly 15% over the three-year period, with favorable migration of participants from high- to lower-risk classifications.
- Lower productivity. Employee well-being and productivity at work are interconnected. In fact, it’s estimated that chronic disease is on pace to cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion annually in medical costs and nearly $900 billion each year in lost productivity by 2039.1
- Increased turnover. SHRM research finds replacing an employee can cost between 50% and 200% of their annual salary, depending on their level and role. Turnover also reduces productivity, can lead to burnout among the remaining employees, and results in a loss of institutional knowledge that is difficult to quantify and even harder to rebuild.
Creative wellness program ideas that drive real results.
Now that we understand the distinction between well-being program enrollment and true engagement, and the missed opportunities that result when employees don’t take full advantage of program offerings, let’s explore ways to move employees from casual participants to genuinely engaged individuals. The next few sections offer a practical, real-world menu of program ideas that go beyond step challenges and gym discounts. And because well-being is multidimensional, we share creative programming that addresses physical fitness, financial security, emotional balance and social connections.
Team-based wellness challenges that build connection.
Team-based wellness challenges are high-profile activities that combine physical activity with social connection. The combination is powerful. When employees participate on teams with colleagues, they not only benefit from increased physical activity but may also help combat the negative effects of social isolation, which can impact overall well-being. Examples of wellness challenges include step challenges, nutrition check-ins or movement targets. Wellness challenges are a particularly good way to engage teams with members who work a hybrid schedule or are completely remote.
Financial wellness workshops tied to real-life goals.
Financial well-being is an increasingly important dimension of well-being and one that employees are looking to employers to support. A PwC survey found over 50% of respondents cited financial stress as their top stressor—more than their job, health concerns, or relationship issues. Financial wellness benefits can help address this stress, but to convert passive participants into active learners who return to the resources consistently, they need to be relevant. Financial wellness workshops that connect to employees’ concrete personal goals—whether that is reducing debt, building an emergency fund or planning for retirement—drive stronger engagement than generic financial literacy content.
Mental health resources integrated into the workday.
According to the APA’s 2025 Work in America™ survey, “government policy changes, concerns about an economic downturn, and general concerns over job security” have had a significant impact on a majority (54%) of U.S. workers’ stress levels. In this environment, it’s critical to ensure that employees not only know about the mental health resources available through your well-being program, but also that they are integrated into the workday versus something employees must seek out on their own time. What does this look like in practice?
- Reminders to take mindfulness breaks and use stress management and resilience-building tools.
- Digital coaching tools employees can download to their mobile device and use throughout the day.
- Onsite counselors from your company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
- Most importantly, leadership support for taking breaks and time off to recharge.
Your employees aren’t navigating one challenge at a time. Employees often manage multiple, overlapping factors that impact their health and performance every day. When their mental health is impacted through stress, loneliness or other factors, it has a ripple effect on the other well-being dimensions. So, ensuring your well-being program is integrated and supports the whole person is important for stronger engagement.
Social well-being activities for hybrid and remote teams.
Research has shown that loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of developing mental health challenges and lead to premature death. For organizations that are still remote or hybrid, this means your employees may not experience the same degree of social connection as those in the office. Over time, this isolation can undermine well-being across all dimensions and lead to a decrease in engagement. A program can offer employees opportunities to connect with peers, regardless of location. Programs like virtual volunteering events, peer recognition platforms and group wellness challenges bring employees together and foster that all-important social connection and improve employee engagement.
Five levers that increase employee wellness engagement.
WebMD has identified five proven ways to make well-being programs more relevant, accessible and engaging for today’s workforce while driving real behavior change. What’s notable about this framework is that each lever addresses a distinct driver of sustained engagement rather than one-time participation, which we know is the key to lasting behavior change. We’ve found that companies deploying more of these fundamentals see measurably better participation and twice the improvement in employee health risks.
1. Design for the whole person.
Employees don’t experience their lives in silos, and they don’t engage with well-being that way either. The most effective strategies recognize this and create connected experiences that support employees holistically—not through disconnected moments of engagement. For example, our well-being approach recognizes that employees may be managing financial stress while also experiencing anxiety, burnout, caregiving responsibility or chronic conditions at the same time. The realities of everyday life influence our ability to prioritize our health. And this is why well-being strategies must address the whole person, not just a single dimension.
2. Build an integrated program.
More solutions do not automatically create more engagement. In fact, employees tend to disengage when solutions feel fragmented, difficult to navigate or disconnected from their everyday experience.
The best well-being programs offer an integrated experience leveraging the program’s solutions and services and the partner ecosystem into one seamless experience—simplifying access to resources, communications, support and even broader benefits.
3. Prioritize reach and accessibility.
Even the best programs fail if they’re not easy to use. True engagement requires designing across roles, generations, cultures, work environments and levels of health. This means delivering experiences that are accessible whether employees are in the field, on the manufacturing floor, in the office, or working remotely. It also means keeping the program visible through ongoing communication and outreach, across the platforms and spaces your employees already use. Finally, offer experiences that are mobile-friendly, inclusive and easy to navigate.
4. Embed well-being into culture.
Engagement is not driven by programs alone—it’s driven by culture. Employees are far more likely to participate when well-being is reflected in leadership behaviors, organizational values and the day-to-day employee experience. When well-being is positioned as a business and a people strategy, not a check-the-box initiative, employees feel empowered to prioritize their wellness and engage with offerings regularly.
5. Leverage rewards and incentives.
Incentives and rewards can play an important role in motivating participation and encouraging healthy behaviors, especially when they are thoughtfully designed and aligned to broader well-being goals. Reward high-impact activities that are most likely to drive behavior change, such as completing a health assessment or a one-on-one session with a health coach—and provide rewards as close to the desired behavior as possible so employees connect their actions with the positive outcomes.
How to measure engagement beyond registration numbers.
Now that we’ve explored the difference between well-being program participation and engagement; discussed ways to better engage employees for the long-term; and explored how to design a program that makes well-being more relevant, accessible and engaging for today’s workforce, let’s take a look at how to measure the success of a well-being program. Any HR or benefits leader can relate to the pressure to demonstrate ROI to leadership, making meaningful measurement both a program management tool and a business justification. The sections below guide you through the exact metrics that reflect real impact and how data can inform ongoing program refinement.
Metrics that reflect real behavior change.
Here are examples of metrics that indicate genuine employee engagement trends rather than surface-level activity.
- Health risk improvement rates. Data supports the idea that comprehensive workplace well-being programs can meaningfully improve healthy behaviors and reduce health risk factors for employees who participate.2 A large, long-term WebMD client achieved $207 million in cumulative healthcare cost savings over 15 years alongside significant improvements in health risk prevalence and shifts toward lower-risk health status across their population.
- Repeat usage of coaching or digital tools. Ideally, we want participants to engage with lifestyle coaches and digital tools repeatedly, over the long-term. This indicates that employees are invested in the outcomes of their participation and have an emotional connection to improvement.
- Health assessment completion rates. A health assessment helps individuals learn where they stand when it comes to health and well-being—and which solutions and resources they should take advantage of to make positive changes. It offers participants a built-in mechanism to direct their activities moving forward, so measuring completion rates is a good way to gauge continued engagement with the program. And more than completion rates, it gives a baseline and compares changes year over year.
- Changes in biometric screening results over time. Biometric screenings help individuals uncover potential health risks early and point employees to well-being resources to manage them. When biometric screenings are repeated, the hope is that through increased engagement with well-being program offerings, these health risks will decrease.
Using data to refine your program over time.
Much like using regular pulse surveys (offered through TINYpulse) to measure employee engagement versus conducting one annual engagement survey, it’s important to continuously monitor engagement with the well-being program. The best way to do this is to combine quantitative data, including changes in health risks, claims data and platform analytics, with qualitative insights from employee feedback, testimonials and focus group findings. Be sure to segment your population to uncover insights into which populations are underserved, which program elements are underutilized and where communication or incentive design may need adjustment. WebMD provides clients with ongoing strategic reviews to help you evolve your program based on outcomes, not assumptions.
How WebMD Health Services supports program engagement.
At WebMD Health Services, we know that well-being isn’t just a program—it’s a strategy that drives healthier employees, stronger teams and measurable results. We offer a collaborative partnership model, personalized program design, dedicated well-being services and the WebMD ONE platform as the infrastructure that makes sustained engagement possible. With the trusted WebMD brand that drives employee adoption from day one and more than 25 years of leadership in this space, we bring evidence-backed guidance and a human-centered, whole-person approach that meets people where they are to support real behavior change.
Ready to build or strengthen your wellness program strategy? Request a demo today and our team will be in touch.
