Age, life stage, gender, health status, occupation, even where we live—these all have a significant effect on what each of us needs from a well-being program. That’s why a personalized approach to well-being truly gets the best results. It sounds challenging to create, but with a bit of strategy and planning, you can design a program that includes workplace wellness options for everyone. Read on for details.
Think about your well-being program. How well are you serving different aspects of your population when it comes to:
Generation and life stage.
Right now, there are five generations in the workforce, which means employees’ life experiences and well-being needs will be quite different—as will their expectations of how employers should support them.
Take financial wellness, an increasingly important part of any well-being program. An employee in her late 20s might be saving for a first home, while someone in his 50s is thinking about whether he’s contributed enough to his 401(k). You may have single folks, families, empty nesters—all with different budgeting and planning needs. So look for a financial wellness program that offers tools and resources to help with every stage of life.
Families and women.
Raising a family is not easy today. Childcare shortages, rising prices, the mental health effects of social media on children, infertility and other factors create real challenges. And, as often happens, many women leave the workforce when these challenges pile up, causing organizations to lose valuable talent.
Evaluate whether you have programs or policies that can take the pressure off—such as childcare locator services, back-up daycare, mental health support and increased family leave. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) can also provide excellent support in this space.
Health status.
Your employees are likely at different points in their well-being journey. Some may be just starting out—learning how to eat better and incorporate exercise into their day. Others may be in maintenance mode, practicing learned healthy behaviors or maybe even training for a big event, like a marathon. Many are managing chronic conditions, like diabetes, and need daily support. So, a good well-being program will have meaningful content and programs for employees with varying health statuses.
Whole-person health.
To be truly personal, today’s well-being programs must focus on the whole person—including mental health, financial wellness, social connections and workplace well-being—and make connections between the dimensions of well-being. For example, if a participant comes to a health coach to lose weight, the coach should ask about all aspects of their life before jumping into a solution. They might consider job role, work and home relationships, mental health, sleep habits, and financial stress and the impact that all of these have on the participant’s ability to lose weight.
Job roles.
Organizations sometimes fall into the trap of offering well-being tools that work well for people who sit at a desk all day—but field employees, sales reps, manufacturing, and healthcare workers need different solutions. Alternate channels that reach non-desk employees include morning huddles, lunch breaks, end-of-day touch-bases, texts, and podcasts they can listen to on their commute. Make sure your well-being program can reach all types of workers.
We also need to consider different roles in the organization. Here I’m thinking specifically of managers. Our 2024 Workplace and Employee Survey found 53% of managers feel burnout at work, slightly higher than employees in general. We also found higher burnout levels among senior managers and director-level employees. Ensure managers know about the mental health support your organization offers—whether that’s through the Employee Assistance Program or standalone mental health apps.
Human-centered support.
Improving well-being is easier when people don’t have to do it alone. Having a well-being program that integrates digital with human-centered support—health coaches, dedicated well-being staff, program managers and well-being champions—gives your people personalized boots-on-the-ground support, helping them navigate their well-being journey and celebrate each step forward.
Social determinants of health.
Where employees live—one of the social determinants of health—has a significant effect on their ability to live a healthy lifestyle. For example, we know that finding fresh produce can be difficult in some urban locations. A well-being program could help here by offering healthy, plant-based meals in the cafeteria, sponsoring a CSA, or hosting an onsite farmers’ market once a week.
Or, maybe an employee’s home environment doesn’t lend itself to regular physical activity. Employers can help by allowing some of the “well-being work” to actually take place at work. For example, consider access to walking trails, calendars blocked for an exercise class at lunch, or walk and talk meetings.
Finally, there may be logistical issues that prevent employees from getting the health care they need—whether that’s preventive care or managing a chronic condition. Well-being programs can play a role by connecting with local transportation resources or with health plans who often provide these services. You can also continue to offer telehealth benefits that don’t require any transportation!
Putting it all together.
We’ve shared some workplace well-being program examples to show how you can provide solutions that will be meaningful to different segments of your population. It’s also important to make sure your well-being provider can support this approach.
At WebMD Health Services, this kind of segmentation is built into our architecture, so well-being personalization is easy. For example, we can segment benefits and communications by age, gender, health risk and conditions, geographic location, health plan option and more. That way, each person only receives recommendations that are personalized to their specific situation.
Of course, we must also note that well-being efforts feel inherently more personal when organizational culture and leadership are aligned with them. When a well-being program feels authentic and true to what the company stands for, people are more likely to engage with it. And when leaders openly support well-being and participate in activities employees feel permission to do the same.
To sum up, take time to analyze your well-being program through the lens of the various segments of your population, as well as your culture. That way, you can be sure your well-being program empowers everyone and offers the right personalized solutions to help employees achieve real results: better health, better happiness and better well-being for all.
Whether you’re creating a corporate well-being program from scratch or looking to improve your current program through greater personalization, we can help. Request a demo to learn more or email us at connect@webmd.net.
