Corporate Wellness That Works: 4 Tools for Engagement

According to Gallup, last year in 2025, low employee engagement cost the world economy $10 trillion in lost productivity. Coming up on the latest episode of Your Power Move by PassionFit, we'll be talking about Global Employee Health and Fitness Month in the month of May and how you and your organization can increase employee productivity, engagement, and well-being through corporate wellness programs. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Your Power Move by PassionFit. I am Reena Vokoun, your host, and I'm excited to be kicking off a new episode for you guys. This is all about Global Employee Health and Fitness Month, which is in the month of May. Um, this is an important topic for so many reasons. As we know, there's a lot happening right now in the economy with the job market. There are a lot of budget cuts, layoffs, cost cutting, all sorts of things happening in the workplace, which we've been seeing. And I think it's important to remember that employees' mental and physical health and overall wellbeing are important parts of company performance, even in these tough times. According to the American Psychological Association, 77% of employees who were surveyed were experiencing daily stress, which is no surprise given all of the things that have been happening in the workplace. But again, we really need to focus on how we can help employees to be at their best, to perform well, uh, despite all of the external things that might be happening around them. Um, I do a lot of work in corporate wellness, having worked, um, in sort of corporate America, if you will, for, um, 16 to 17 years. Um, as I've mentioned in the past, I've worked for Google and Yahoo and CNET, uh, Reebok and GE. Um, so I've been in a lot of different industries from tech and digital media to retail, to consumer goods, to financial services, and more. And every industry definitely has its own, um, sort of customized needs, its own responses to the economy, and its own set of employees that are unique in their own way. And what I've learned from going from working in corporate America, um, on the business side to then launching a health and wellness company that's really focused on corporate wellness is that it is something that's very important. And I do believe wholeheartedly that it's worth investing in, again, regardless of what's happening with the economy. And in the external world. So what we're gonna talk about today are 4 tools that companies can use for corporate wellbeing and employee wellbeing to really improve the overall performance of their employees. And it's important to remember that employee engagement is critical. As of last year in 2025, low employee engagement actually cost the economy $10 trillion. This is pretty intense when you think about the costs that are associated associated with employees that are not engaged in their jobs and are producing less and really affecting overall productivity and the bottom line of the companies. So these tools that we're going to talk about can really make a huge difference. So let's start with the first one, which is focusing on a company culture reboot. Um, not every company culture needs to be rebooted, but I do think if you are experiencing employees that are not happy, that are not engaged, if you don't feel that sense of teamwork, um, and collaboration, then maybe it is time to take a look at your company culture. It really does start from the top down, and what leaders and managers are doing are definitely being watched by their employees and can really make a huge difference in how employees feel about their jobs, their own performance, and themselves as parts of the overall company. So getting managers trained is really important, helping them to understand how they can not only take care of themselves, themselves and their own workloads, their own responsibilities, deadlines, revenue goals, all of those things. But how can they also, as part of their role, place an importance on the employees and having open lines of communication, having regular check-ins with their employees to make sure that they really show that they care about them as people. Um, so during those check-ins, obviously you're gonna focus on project deadlines and revenue targets and, and goals that they need to hit all the kind of usual stuff, but it's also important for managers to check in with employees on how they're doing, how their families are doing. You know, how are they feeling overall about the company, about their job, both in the long term and the short term, and maybe what are some of their long-term career goals that their managers can help them with. I think employees want to feel well regarded and respected, and they don't wanna feel like they're a means to an end for their managers. They don't wanna feel like they're just there to get the work done, to make their manager hit their goals and look good. Right? They wanna feel like they're a part of something bigger than, than themselves and a part of, you know, a team and that their contributions matter. And that really does come with their managers taking that time to show again, that they care about them as people, they care about their opinions, their health, their families, and what they ultimately want to do in their careers. And then the managers should help them get there, right? That is part of the role and part of the job. And according to some research by Gallup, again, I quoted the, the $10 trillion in, in lost revenue and cost, if you will, for the economy. But also according to Gallup, a lot of the low employee engagement comes from the managers themselves. So as mentioned, the manager's role is more important than we may even realize. And even at the C-level suite, the C-level executives also have to be thinking about what they do because they're setting the tone for the entire company. So really having a strong company culture can make a huge difference. And it's important to also think about what are things that you can do to make work fun, right? When we are facing a tough economy and a tough job market, um, we wanna remind employees that we're also still there to have fun and be passionate about what we do and have purpose for what we do professionally. Um, so if we can do things to get everybody sort of out of the daily grind, maybe even out of the office or out of their remote offices, if they work remotely, um, to doing different things, whether it's charity runs or walking challenges or offsite, or online, you know, fitness classes and things of that nature. Even having classes onsite is great too. Nutrition workshops, meditation sessions, all of those things can really help to educate employees so that they are able to take care of themselves during, again, times of uncertainty and times of stress, but also in times where things are going well, just giving them those tools, giving them that opportunity to step out of their day-to-day work and do something something for the greater good of themselves and those around them can really make a huge difference. And that sets the tone for what company culture is all about. I'm also, um, very much focused on missions. I'm a mission-driven business with my company PassionFit, and I do think having a very clear mission is something that each and every company should have. They should be communicating that to their employees. So again, everybody is working towards the greater good and the greater goal for that company. Um, and if it needs to be revisited, that's okay too. As the world consistently changes, as company needs change, company outputs change, maybe sometimes it is important to revisit the mission and make sure that everybody's on board and that it reflects what the company is all about and what the company truly stands for. So it's also important to talk about budgets because again, as mentioned, when things are not going well financially for a company, the first thing they think about doing is budget cuts and layoffs and other cost-cutting initiatives. And with employee wellness programs, unfortunately, those are often some of the first to go out the window. Um, as a provider of corporate wellness programs in my own company, I've experienced and seen that firsthand, uh, with companies that I've spoken to about their employee, um, and, and corporate wellness program initiatives. But what's interesting is even though that's the natural instinct to cut, um, employee and corporate wellness programs, those are probably some of the programs that employees need most. And this is the time when things are uncertain to focus on it even more. I'm not saying that you have to increase budgets or spend towards these programs. You can be strategic. And what you can do is re, you know, allocate or shift budgets from somewhere where maybe they're not really making a huge impact anyway, and put maybe a portion of those or all of those budgets towards an employee wellness program. So you're not necessarily spending extra money, but you're taking money that's already being spent and redirecting it or shifting it to something else. So as an example, if you have, um, a lot of administrative costs that are not serving the company well anymore, that might be a place to start. If you have several marketing initiatives that are not producing an ROI, maybe you take a portion of that budget and redistribute that to a corporate, corporate wellness program. And then maybe within the marketing efforts, you change your marketing strategy with the remaining budget that you already have. Um, so again, it's, it's not about spending more money, but just reallocating and redistributing, and then figuring out how you can create these wellness programs that are going to help with employee engagement, employee productivity, and strong performance. If you can focus on the people, which are some of the greatest assets that a company has, then the output might be greater than you expected, and you might start to generate revenue and really see an ROI from the corporate wellness or employee wellness program itself. So I think I think just changing the mindset of anybody that controls the budget, whether it's the finance organization, HR, or others, when it comes to employee wellness programs is key. And really thinking internally inside your organization, how you can be, you know, smart and savvy and strategic and do things a little bit differently, again, while not costing the company more money for an employee wellness program. But again, it's one of the most important important times to focus on it when everyone is facing uncertainty and employees maybe are not feeling appreciated or respected or even in a good positive mental state. Another focus is integrating a hybrid approach to the workplace and to wellness. We've been on a journey when it comes to where and how employees work from the pre-pandemic days when most people in most cases were working from the office. Obviously, there probably were a lot of 100% remote jobs in the IT sector and other areas, even pre-pandemic. Um, but there were many companies that were just naturally expecting employees to be working, um, in the city where they live and going to the office 5 days a week. Then we obviously experienced the pandemic where everybody across the world went virtual and remote, and people were working from home for a period of about 1 to 2, in some cases up to 3 years. And then we kind of went back out into the world in about 2022, '23, '24, um, into By 2025, pretty much a lot of companies were mandating that people be back in the office for at least a few days a week, if not all 5 days a week again. Um, and while, um, I definitely agree that it is important for purposes of company culture and collaboration and team camaraderie and trust and all of those things to have people meet in person on a regular basis. Um, so if there are, um, executive summits, if there are, um, different types of team meetings or other events, um, that need to take place place offsites, that's an important time to bring employees together so that they can brainstorm, they can build relationships and really work together most effectively. And that makes sense. And so I think communication is important of, you know, when and how and where you need to have employees be in the office or at an offsite location. But I think what gets tricky is when companies are mandating that employees need to be in the office for a certain number of hours every day or a certain number of days every week. I think that can be tricky. That can be a place where employees start to feel uncertain. They start to feel like, you know, they're being forced to do something, and that could actually create some conflict and some friction with their need for flexibility if they have other family obligations or long commutes or other personal needs as well. So being flexible with employees and again, communicating when they need to be in the office, in the office or at an offsite location. Um, and for how, how long is important so that they kind of understand some expectations. Um, but it's not again, this mandate where every single day they have to put in this many hours of face time. Um, and then give them some opportunities for remote work. Um, if that is something that will help them to better balance their family needs with their professional needs, um, to help with commutes and other things that ultimately will help protect their overall health and wellbeing. Um, so I think that hybrid approach really is the way to go, not only for, um, the workplace environment and where and how people work, but even with employee wellness programs as well. Um, if you have employees that work remotely part of the time and some that are in the office part of the time, then the wellness programs can have both online and offline components to go along with that. Um, so whether it's online nutrition workshops or meditation sessions or fitness classes, um, as well as then offering the in-person person versions as well. I think that gives employees optionality and really allows them to, um, you know, have those wellness practices and those, um, wellness initiatives as a part of their work life, regardless of where they're working from and where they're located. And again, that builds trust, that it builds engagement, that it builds, uh, builds happiness and so much more for employees. And I think it can really, again, go a long way in giving them flexibility, but also making sure that you are getting that in-person component and that trust building as well. And then finally, it is important to also think about AI. Um, that is something that is very much out there. It's happening, it's affecting workplaces, it's affecting people in their personal lives as well. So when we think about employee wellness, um, AI should be a component of it also. Um, for example, you can leverage AI tools to make the administrative aspects of running an employee wellness program more efficient. So that's, you know, there's so many great AI tools out there that can allow you to, you know, get data and analyze data and capture and track data in a more quick and efficient way. You can also leverage AI in terms of mobile devices. Maybe that can become a part of the program where there are are mobile apps that people can use on their devices to track their steps, to track, you know, their nutrition or their meditation, which also goes hand in hand with wearable devices. So wearable devices and mobile apps and devices kind of go together because you can track them on the device as well as on your phone. And that's just a great way for one, employees to have access to their own personal health data. Obviously, we have to think about privacy. So the company is not necessarily gonna be getting access to that data, but employees employees could maybe self-report some averages of what they're seeing, and then that can be tracked so that companies overall can have a sense of the health of their employees in ways that, again, don't violate any privacy laws, but there's just allow them to see how employees are engaging in, you know, corporate wellness initiatives digitally and also in person as well. So AI can really go a long way. Virtual health coaching could be another great a great option where you can leverage AI to create efficiencies where employees can still get that health coaching, but it's done through virtual means and through AI chats and other things of that nature. So overall, I think these, all 4 of these tools, when we think about company culture, when we think about budgets, when we think about a hybrid approach to work, as well as integrating AI, can really help with employee wellbeing. I think it's just important to bring awareness to this topic since it is Global Employee Health and Fitness Month. And again, I personally am just very passionate about the topic because I lived and worked in Silicon Valley, you know, for 20 years. And I saw a lot of burnout. I've seen a lot of, you know, people get stressed and anxious. I've experienced it myself. When you've got a heavy workload, you've got uncertainty in the workplace and, um, you're just working crazy hours traveling and the impacts that that has on your health and wellbeing. So I do think it is important for companies and organizations of any kind to really focus, um, on those areas because again, as mentioned earlier, your employees are your biggest assets. Um, and again, PassionFit has a corporate wellness program. Feel free to check it out on our website at passionfit.com. Um, if you or your organization are interested in learning more. But with that, I'm going to sign off for this episode of Your Power Move by PassionFit. Again, I'm Reena Vokoun. I hope you can spread the word about the podcast to your friends and family. Rate and review and subscribe, and I will be back with another episode very soon. Take care and thanks so much.