When it comes to wellness in companies, most companies get it wrong. I recently did a podcast on this topic, calling BS on Wellness Programs, with help from my friend and colleague Robin Schooling. We have seen some programs that succeed, but most fail. Why? Could it be that we are trying to put in programs that folks don't care about or want? Are we making assumptions again in People and HR that are wrong? Why not ask employees what they think? Even better, why not tap into a member community of US consumers that can provide their thoughts?

So, that's what we did, we went out to the Suzy member community and asked full-time and part-time employees what causes the most stress in their work-life and what programs they'd like to see established by their employer.

Here is what we found:

We asked Suzy's member community, "Which of the following areas creates the most stress in your work life?"

What we found was pretty revealing as to where people had the most stress. The member community said that "feelings of stress or being overwhelmed" and "concerns about finances" were the top two areas that created the most stress in their work lives. Physical health and family planning were the last two concerns, with family planning being the least level of stress for employees.

In our second question to the same group of consumers, we asked: "Which type of wellbeing program would you be most interested in seeing developed at your company?"

In this response, we see a little shift in the consumer's thinking. In the first question, stress and finances were the most significant concerns, but in terms of programs, employees are pointing to mental resilience/wellbeing as the top program. Mental resilience programs match the need identified in the first question, but physical/health wellbeing tied with mental resilience.

When we pull age demographic, we see similar trends, though concerns about finances become a more dominant source of work stress for folks 46+.

So what story does this data tell?

First, we need to focus on programs that reduce the feelings of being stressed or overwhelmed. These are programs like mental health, yoga, mindfulness, and others that cater to helping folks manage stress. It also means training your employee experience team to help people manage these stresses. I would also consider designing roles and work arrangements that reduce stress or at a minimum allows an employee to manage their stress. These can include a remote work arrangement or even opportunities to work from anywhere when necessary.

The Suzy member community mentioned finances as a significant contributor to work stress, in fact, a close second to feelings of stress or being overwhelmed. Now when asked about programs, finance fitness came in 3rd at 23%. This result could mean that you may want to focus with an outside vendor on financial wellness, instead of using internal resources. Maybe give employees an option to find different training and financial health vendors that you can provide to them at a discount.

Lastly, physical wellbeing came in 3rd in stress causes, but 2nd for programs expected by your employees. Physical wellness is an area that has already been explored by many companies, whether internal yoga programs access to wellness programs or corporate discounts for gym memberships. An option here is to survey your teams and understand what programs work and what plans don't work. There are options here to install physical wellbeing into simple experiences your employees have at the office. Like having healthy choices in your snack closet, healthy options during company lunches or events, and even having a regular delivery of fruit and healthy snacks. You can also think about how you can install physical wellbeing into your job designs. Standup desks, regular walking meetings, and other avenues allow employees to drive physical wellbeing "in the flow of work."

The main point, whatever decisions you make, is to think differently about how you customize and segment your wellness programs. Typically we would offer different plans based on an employee's part-time and full-time status. Instead, think of age demographics or direct need and customize your offerings to what folks want versus a meaningless demographic. You must also iterate and evolve your programs since some won't work, and others will be mildly successful.