Corporate wellness initiatives are designed to support and encourage a complete approach to employee well-being by creating an organizational culture of health. Wellbeing services are offered by the companies for the benefit of employees at workplace. These services are offered by employers through technologically advanced employee well-being platforms. A well-being platform is an online platform that provides solutions and support to help individuals improve their physical, mental, and emotional health. These platforms may offer services such as fitness classes, mental health counseling, and stress management techniques. These platforms are becoming popular as more people seek convenient and affordable ways to improve their overall health and well-being. These solutions aid in improving productivity, optimizing human resource investments, and boosting employee engagement. The rise in workplace-associated disorders and reduction in healthcare costs are driving the well-being platform market. However, failure in product positioning and implementation hinders the well-being platform market growth.
Reduction in Healthcare Costs Drives Well-being Platform Market Growth
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, investing in employees’ health may lower the costs of healthcare and insurance claims. Employees suffering from obesity, smoking, and diabetes pose a heavy burden on medical insurance companies to settle frequent and often high-cost healthcare-related claims. A healthy workplace program has the potential to keep both employees and employers in a low-risk category as it focuses on the overall health at workplaces and targets unhealthy employees, ultimately reducing overall health insurance costs. According to the RAND Corporation report, a lifestyle and disease management program helps employers reduce average healthcare costs by US$ 30 per member per month (PMPM). In addition, employees participating in the disease management program managed to save ~US$ 136 PMPM with a 30% reduction in hospital admissions. The RAND Wellness Program Study claims that lifestyle management can reduce health-associated risks such as smoking, obesity, and lack of physical activity. Thus, an effective workplace wellness program can lower an individual’s hospital admission claims and encourage them to opt for clinical preventative services. Johnson & Johnson’s Health and Wellness Program revealed that medical costs decreased annually by ~US$ 225 per participating employee through its policy, environmental, and educational components for addressing health risks, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Well-Being Platform Market
The global economy was severely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Various studies showed that people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and heart disease were highly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and its consequences. This prompted people to pay more attention to their health and raise health awareness at work. Even though mental health initiatives have been a part of workplace wellness in the past, the pandemic has exposed the need to step it up a notch. The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need to prioritize the health and well-being of employees in terms of physical and mental health. The pandemic had a negative impact on the economy, causing financial difficulties for many individuals and significantly affecting their mental health. Employee health service providers utilized virtual techniques to deliver services, such as counseling sessions with health coaches and psychologists, to address mental health issue. Further, businesses faced a need to reduce absenteeism and encourage a positive workplace environment, leading to a new era of personalized employee well-being-focused education solutions and services.
Well-being Platform Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments
Employee wellness solution companies include Virgin Pulse Inc, Limeade Inc, Optum Inc, Vitality Group International Inc, Bravo Wellness LLC, Sonic Boom Wellness LLC, WebMD Health Services Group Inc, Fitbit LLC, Asset Health Inc, Healthcheck360, Marquee Health LLC, Wellright Inc, Wellworks for You, Wellable LLC, Wellness 360 Technologies Inc, WellSteps.com LLC, and CHC Wellbeing Inc are a few of the key companies operating in the well-being platform market. These companies adopt product innovation strategies to meet evolving customer demands, which allows them to maintain their brand name in the well-being platform market.
A few of the recent developments in the global well-being platform market are mentioned below.
- In November 2021, Virgin Pulse acquired Welltok to drive better health outcomes and cost reductions. The acquisition introduced the industry’s first end-to-end engagement and activation platform, supporting clients, members, and consumers across the entire health community.
- In April 2023, WebMD announced the launch of a new brand, namely, “WebMD Ignite” that offers a comprehensive array of healthcare solutions to kickstart healthcare organizations’ efforts to improve engagement and fuel growth through every stage of the healthcare journey from discovery to recovery.