Why Workplace Wellness Matters More Than Ever
Workplace wellness programs continue to be a critical component of a modern benefits strategy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these programs can improve health behaviors, reduce risk factors, and enhance overall employee health while delivering meaningful business outcomes such as lower healthcare costs, reduced absenteeism, and increased productivity. The CDC also highlights the programs’ role in strengthening recruitment, retention, and workplace culture, reinforcing the growing expectation that employers provide accessible, impactful well-being support.1
What sets Workpartners apart?
Partnering with WebMD to Deliver a More Personalized Wellness Experience
At Workpartners®, we understand the critical role brokers play in delivering meaningful, easy-to-implement wellness solutions to clients. That’s why we’re excited to introduce an enhanced digital well-being platform powered by WebMD®. This partnership gives you a more modern, personalized offering to help clients better engage their employees and elevate their overall well-being strategy.
The platform combines personalized content with built-in coaching and challenges, helping drive sustained behavior change and stronger participation. For brokers, this translates into a competitive and compelling wellness solution:
- Personalized member experiences that increase engagement
- Integrated coaching and challenges that support lasting behavior change
- A stronger, more differentiated story to bring to market
The platform is also built for convenience, with a mobile-friendly design that allows members to access support anytime, anywhere. Best of all, this enhancement is included within our current wellness offerings—with options to customize based on clients’ needs—helping you deliver added value without added complexity.
GLP-1 Trends: What Employers—and Brokers—Need to Know
A recent study published in The American Journal of Managed Care highlights the rapid evolution of obesity management and its growing impact on employer-sponsored health plans. The findings show that obesity prevalence among employees continues to increase, alongside a sharp rise in GLP-1 medication use. While only 5.8 percent of employees with obesity used these medications between 2016 and 2023, adoption increased significantly from 3.6 percent to 18.3 percent in that time frame. It now accounts for nearly 30 percent of pharmacy costs within this population.
Employees using GLP-1s also tend to have higher comorbidities and costs, averaging over $11,000 in additional annual spend and slightly more absence days compared to non-users. For brokers and their clients, this underscores a critical balancing act: as demand for GLP-1s grows, so does the need to manage costs, evaluate coverage strategies, and integrate these medications into broader population health and wellness programs to drive sustainable outcomes.
Powered by Data: The Role of Workpartners Analytics
A key differentiator in this study is the role of Workpartners’ proprietary analytics. The research leveraged the Workpartners Research Reference Database, a comprehensive, integrated dataset of employee medical, pharmacy, absence, and disability data spanning multiple years.
This type of person-centric, integrated data allows for a more complete understanding of employee health—connecting clinical conditions, treatment patterns, costs, and workforce outcomes in a single view. By combining these data streams, Workpartners is able to:
- Identify high-risk populations and emerging trends sooner.
- Measure the full impact of treatments on both health outcomes and business performance.
- Provide actionable insights that help employers optimize benefits strategies.
This approach supports more informed decision making, helping brokers and clients move beyond isolated data points to a more comprehensive view of workforce health.
Success stories
Delivering Measurable Wellness Outcomes
A strong wellness strategy is only as effective as its execution. The example below shows how a tailored, well-supported approach can drive meaningful results.
Workpartners collaborated with a client to build a comprehensive well-being program centered on personalization, accessibility, and engagement. The strategy included health assessments, biometric screenings, ongoing wellness activities, and flexible incentives to encourage participation across the workforce. Leadership support helped position well-being as a priority, reinforcing engagement and building long-term momentum.
The impact extended beyond participation gains to measurable health outcomes. In the first year, engagement exceeded expectations, the number of higher-risk individuals declined, and reported stress levels dropped significantly. This demonstrates how a coordinated, personalized approach can improve both workforce health and overall program value.
Key Results at a Glance:
- 10 percent increase in program participation
- 66 fewer high-risk members identified
- 46.8 percent reduction in reported stress levels
Learn more about how we helped our client develop a culture built around employee wellness.
Strengthening Clients’ Workforce with Mental Well-Being Support
As organizations navigate ongoing uncertainty, the need for accessible, comprehensive mental well-being resources has never been greater—and the data reinforces just how critical these programs are. Workpartners has seen how rising stress, anxiety, and substance use challenges can directly impact workforce performance, with nearly two-thirds of adults with substance use disorders actively in the workforce and many employees hesitant to seek help because of stigma or lack of awareness. Supporting employees with timely access to care is not just a benefit but a business imperative. Untreated mental health concerns can lead to increased healthcare use, absenteeism, and lost productivity.
By partnering with clients to deliver a customized, whole-person employee assistance program (EAP) experience, Workpartners helps organizations proactively address these challenges while driving measurable outcomes. Through integrated services like counseling, leadership training, crisis response, and early intervention tools, organizations are seeing real results:
- 27 percent decrease in absenteeism
- 20 percent improvement in presenteeism
- 17 percent increase in life satisfaction across participating populations
In addition, employers are realizing up to a $4 return for every $1 invested, demonstrating how investing in mental well-being supports employees, improves organizational performance and strengthens long-term cost control.
Key Results at a Glance:
- 27 percent decrease in absenteeism
- 20 percent improvement in presenteeism
- 17 percent improvement in life satisfaction
- 8 percent reduction in workplace distress
- 4:1 ROI for every dollar invested in EAP services
Where we’ll be
28th IBI Annual Health and Productivity Forum (Sept. 30 to Oct. 2)
Employers are increasingly overwhelmed by point solution vendors promising measurable ROI, yet few have the tools or methodology to independently validate those results. Jennie Wheeler, Workpartners’ AVP of Analytics, will lead a session on how employers can move beyond vendor-reported outcomes to independently validate program performance using integrated data.
Using matched comparisons and pre/post methodologies, Workpartners can help employers examine the impact of health and wellness programs on musculoskeletal outcomes; cardiometabolic outcomes; and group health utilization, disability, and total lost time—moving beyond siloed vendor reporting to a comprehensive view of workforce health impact.
Where we’ve been
Advancing Data-Driven Well-Being at Empower
Workpartners joined WebMD at the Empower Conference (June 9–11), where we showcased how our partnership is helping organizations unlock the full potential of integrated data. By bringing medical, pharmacy, health assessment, and eligibility data into a single, unified experience, we demonstrated how employers can move beyond siloed insights to more effectively identify, engage, and activate the right populations. The focus was clear—turning data into action to sharpen targeting, increase engagement, and drive measurable outcomes across well-being programs.
DMEC Annual Conference (Aug. 4)
At this year’s DMEC conference, Linda Croushore, AVP of Absence at Workpartners, lead the session “Generational Expectations of Leave of Absence Programs: From Boomers to Gen Alpha” on Tuesday, Aug. 4. Her session explored what employers can do to keep pace as the workforce becomes more generationally diverse and expectations around leave, flexibility, and support evolve.
Thank you to everyone who connected with us during these events. We appreciated the opportunity to share insights and learn more about your priorities. If we missed you at Empower or DMEC, we’d welcome the chance to talk with you about how Workpartners can help support your clients’ goals.
References
1 Workplace Health Model. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 15, 2024. Accessed June 24, 2026. cdc.gov/workplace-health-promotion/php/model/index.html