Does Your Wellness Program Work? 3 Ways to Track ROI in 2024

When you implement a wellness program in your office — especially on a tight budget — you need to show company leadership that it produces measurable results. This is tricky, but it can be done! Below, we’ve laid out three ways to track your return on investment (ROI) and answer the inevitable question, “Does our wellness program work?”

Before we dig in, though, we have to talk about time.  

Wellness Is a Journey

As you track the ROI on your wellness program, keep in mind that it typically takes about two months for employees to form new healthy habits and even longer to see them pay off. Ideally, you should test out new initiatives meant to encourage healthy habits (like fresh fruit and wholesome snack delivery) for at least 12 months before making decisions based on their effectiveness. 

According to the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, “Increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and lower turnover can generally be seen within the first year of a program’s implementation. Measurable health plan savings may be seen in as little as two years if effective wellness initiatives are implemented and if employee participation is significant. Full savings may take five years or longer.”

Be sure to share this data with leadership when they ask whether your wellness program works to ensure they view your progress with the right perspective. 

Now, let’s dive into those three ways to track ROI. 

Employee Surveys 

Employee surveys are incredibly valuable. It’s wise to survey your team before, during, and after implementing wellness program initiatives. 

• A “before” survey will show you which benefits your team values and give you a benchmark of their health and satisfaction. 
• “During” surveys will help you collect feedback on specific initiatives and gauge improvement in key areas. Was your February Heart Health Challenge a hit? Did the team like the winter citrus tasting you hosted in the break room? Has the meditation app you shared helped with your team’s stress levels? You won’t know unless you ask.  
• An “after” or “end-of-year” survey will help you measure your team’s overall gains in health and happiness throughout the year. You can compare their answers to the “before” survey benchmarks, and ask them to rate or rank all of the year’s wellness initiatives. 

This is a great way to find out which initiatives they took advantage of and whether, for example, they enjoyed the free healthy office snacks more than the gym membership discount you offered.

Participation Rates

Keep a close eye on your various wellness initiatives and programs and note which ones are the most popular. Ask questions like: 

• How many people signed up for our company’s 5K team? 
• How quickly does the fresh fruit in our break room disappear after each delivery? 
• Does offering an incentive to encourage employees to join the wellness program work? 
• How many employees attend our weekly Take a Breather workday wellness sessions? 
• How many people submitted health reimbursements, and is that number climbing?
• Does the whole team show up for scheduled group snack breaks?

By examining participation rates, you can identify which programs are the most successful and tweak future offerings to fit your team’s needs. 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

In addition to tracking ROI directly with tools like surveys and participation rates, you can look at indirect KPIs related to health, happiness, and productivity. The wellness platform Wellable calls these “value-on-investment” (VOI) metrics and says they’re a more comprehensive tool for tracking wellness program success than typical ROI metrics. 

Here are a few KPIs that you should watch. Try comparing them at the beginning and end of the year, or checking in on them quarterly to track your progress. 

• Employee retention 
• Absenteeism/sick days taken
• Healthcare costs
• Number of projects completed
• Sales numbers 
• Overtime hours worked

As we noted above, it will take time for these metrics to shift. Watch your KPIs from day one but expect slow and steady improvement — not to see your new wellness program work overnight. 

Ultimately, achieving better employee health and happiness is a marathon, not a sprint. But for companies like yours that care deeply about their teams, the results are well worth the wait.