Resources
Blog Posts
Holistic employee wellbeing vs a point-based solution

Holistic employee wellbeing vs a point-based solution

Date posted

Jan 31, 2022
Estimated reading time

4.5 minutes

How you approach employee wellbeing is an important decision. It's one that will impact your people—and your budget—for years to come. But there’s some confusion in the marketplace on which method is the best.

Shortlister has found that the demand for an all-in-one wellbeing provider is roughly equal to the number of companies looking to stitch together resources through point program vendors. These approaches are not the same, but the differences aren’t always clear if you’re just getting started.

To help, we broke down the two wellbeing strategies and shared our recommendation on what to consider when making your own decision.

A holistic approach to employee wellbeing

The most effective employee wellbeing programs go beyond one or two areas of wellbeing. They can help you achieve a number of wellbeing goals from improving retention with mental health resources, encouraging more benefits usage, engaging employees in physical wellbeing programs, and more.

Focusing on all the areas of wellbeing that make your employees healthy, happy, and whole can help you build a program that makes a real impact. At Navigate, our team exclusively recommends a holistic, people-first approach to employee wellbeing.

A holistic approach to wellbeing considers all the things that lead to a healthy, happy life and offers resources to support each of these areas. With the right employee wellbeing partner, you can address all of these areas and significantly lighten your workload.

What is an employee wellbeing point solution?

When compared to a holistic wellbeing strategy, point solutions set their sights on much narrower goals. A point solution typically aims to address a single use case or challenge.

Point solutions throw all their weight behind a single problem or solution. Many find this approach limiting, since employees need support in all the parts of life that contribute to their overall health.

Not sure which approach to employee wellbeing is the best fit for your goals? We broke down a few key considerations to help you on your way.

Is your employee wellbeing strategy flexible?

During COVID-19, employers had to adjust on the fly to accommodate the changing needs of their employees. Mental health resources, the ability to work from home, and more empathy and understanding in the workplace were rightfully emphasized.

As the world of work continues to evolve, it's important to keep an open mind and stay flexible in order to attract and retain top talent. Point solutions narrow your focus (and budget) to one or two trendy areas. This makes it harder to help your team as their needs change.

Employees know this, which is why 75% say “a personalized, customizable approach” is important to a health and wellbeing program. With comprehensive tools, like Navigate’s one-of-a-kind Total Health offering, you can help everyone along their wellbeing journey while maintaining the freedom to focus on whichever topics are most important to your people, year-in and year-out.

Can your employee wellbeing strategy combat healthcare costs?

According to a report by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, the average employer-sponsored health plan premium for single coverage and family coverage rose by 3% between 2020 and 2021. This portrays a modest, yet notable, increase.

The same report found that over the past two decades, the cost of employee-sponsored health insurance (ESI) premiums rose 2.5 – 3 times as fast as the overall cost of living.

This is where a holistic solution can help.

More than 60% of employers said workplace wellness programs reduced their organizations’ health care costs.

US Chamber of Commerce

With a combination of strategy and features, such as Navigate’s Wellbeing Survey, biometric data display, and comprehensive resources, participants can identify and address health risks before they get worse.

You can even address social determinants of health with a holistic wellbeing strategy. Our partnership with America’s leading social services network, findhelp connects employees to a network of over 608,400 free or reduced-cost services—all from their wellbeing program.

How does your employee wellbeing strategy address retention?

Holistic wellbeing programs are another way to show your commitment to your employees, because employees who feel valued are more likely to stick around.

70%

of employee participants feel their company’s offering is an indicator that their employer cares about them.

With healthcare costs on the rise, and more employees invested in wellbeing support at work, leaders need a strategy that attracts top talent—without breaking the bank. The key isn’t cutting back benefits or narrowing in on one area of wellbeing.

Employers must incorporate preventative care and wellbeing initiatives into company-wide strategic planning. Consider where you can activate the employee population with existing benefits, cut benefits that aren’t hitting strategic goals, and find the right balance.

Can you measure the ROI of employee wellbeing at work?

Healthy and engaged employees are more present and productive. This leads to financial results for businesses.

According to a study from Gallup, engaged employees are more in tune with the needs of their customers and have greater intelligence when it comes to navigating internal processes or systems. This leads to a 23% difference in profitability when compared to companies without a successful employee wellbeing and engagement strategy.

Employers relying primarily on an independent health and wellness vendor experienced 83% higher engagement rates across core programs than did employers relying on health plans as their primary health and wellness provider.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

In fact, this Navigate client found that combining industry expertise, individual client goals, participant incentives, and flexible technology boosted their engagement—even during the chaos of COVID-19.

To measure and prove the success of your unique program, make sure you have a holistic and robust reporting tool in place, like Navigate’s dynamic Admin Dashboard. This will allow you to track real-time progress and know your strategy is working.

Why does a properly strategized wellbeing program increase engagement more than a point solution? Because it’s designed to! Simply offering resources isn’t enough.