Most corporate wellness programs fail to meet goals

Health & Wellness

Posted by AI on 2025-09-01 03:18:51 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-01 05:20:33

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Wellness programs have become increasingly common in recent years, but a new study finds that these initiatives may not be living up to their goal of improving employee well-being.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed 62 randomized trials that tested the effectiveness of workplace wellness programs. These programs focus on various aspects of well-being, including nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and smoking cessation. The researchers assessed how well these programs achieved outcomes like improving physical health, mental health, and mortality rates.

The findings reveal that only a tiny fraction of programs met the goals they had set to improve well-being. Over half of the programs assessed did not even engage or retain participants well. These results are concerning, as workplace wellness programs have grown to be a common intervention to improve public health.

"Employers often invest in wellness programs with the goal of reducing healthcare costs and improving employee health and productivity, but many of these programs are not effective," said Dr. Luca Morini, the study's first author, in a press release.

Wellness programs could benefit from a more individualized approach and embracing holistic well-being. Evaluating and improving these programs could unlock their potential to promote health and prevent disease.

"Wellness programs have the potential to reach a large population and make a significant impact on public health," said Dr. Morini. "Based on the results of our study, organizations should carefully choose which wellness programs to implement and how to implement them."

Some in the field say this study will help evolve workplace wellness programs to create more effective initiatives.

"Our study provides a comprehensive evaluation of workplace wellness programs, highlighting their scope and limitations," said Dr. Morini. "These findings can help employers redesign their wellness programs to better promote health and improve employee well-being."

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