Our total rewards survey remun is open. Participate now!
Voir+
Employee well-being has become a strategic priority for organizations navigating economic uncertainty, competitive labour markets, and increasingly diverse workforce needs. Once viewed as supplementary to core business objectives, well-being programs are now recognized as essential to sustaining engagement, productivity, and organizational resilience. However, cost pressures, evolving employee expectations, and the importance of addressing physical, mental, social and financial health make it increasingly difficult to design effective strategies. To maximize the impact of these programs, it is crucial to base strategies on the right key performance indicators (KPIs). By doing so, organizations can benchmark their progress against the market, identify and prioritize areas of intervention, justify actions and secure leadership support, measure the impact and value on investment of their initiatives, and continuously optimize programs to ensure their long-term sustainability.
remun, Normandin Beaudry’s total reward survey conducted on annual basis, reveals that most organizations track only a narrow set of indicators—primarily disability rates, absenteeism, and Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) usage.
Fewer than half monitor deeper health signals such as prescription drug consumption, paramedical usage, or health–related trends. While these KPIs are important, focusing solely on them misses early warning signs and limits opportunities for prevention. Equally critical is tracking employee engagement and perception, which provides a more holistic view of organizational health and the employee experience. For example, an organization’s annual Health Risk Assessment could be used to gather data on employees’ perception of their health, which might reveal that financial health is the most significant area of concern. Without going beyond traditional KPIs, this insight could easily be missed—delaying targeted solutions that could improve employee well-being and reduce long-term costs.
Health is not a binary state of ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. Employees move along a spectrum—from thriving to struggling. Tracking across that spectrum provides a fuller picture and reveals trends before they become costly claims or long absences.
The same KPI can mean different things in different organizations, which makes context critical. For example, a high utilization rate of mental health benefits could indicate a supportive culture that promotes early intervention—or it may point to underlying psychosocial risk factors in the workplace that warrant further exploration.
Reactive approaches deal with issues after they occur—such as managing a disability leave once an employee is already absent. Proactive approaches identify risks early, allowing organizations to adjust policies and provide support before incidents happen.
While prevention can be harder to quantify, it often saves money in the long run through fewer leaves, reduced turnover, and higher engagement.
Boards and executives often want clear returns on wellness investments. KPIs—combined with cost data—help tell that story. By tracking metrics over time, benchmarking against peers, and linking trends to business outcomes, organizations can demonstrate both tangible savings and intangible benefits, such as higher morale and stronger retention. Engagement and perception measures are key to capturing the full picture.
A strong health and wellness strategy begins with a deep, data-driven understanding of your workforce which means going beyond basic metrics such as disability rates and absenteeism to capture a more complete picture of employee health, needs, and perceptions.
A strong well-being strategy is built on layered and complementary indicators, including:
Once the organization’s needs are clear, the next step is prioritization, which includes answering three strategic questions:
For example, if data shows mental health claims are within industry benchmarks but musculoskeletal claims are above average, investing in ergonomic interventions or physical wellness initiatives may have a greater return. This doesn’t mean abandoning mental health efforts, but ensuring that resources are deployed where the potential for improvement is greatest.
Even the most robust wellness strategy will fail to achieve impact if employees aren’t aware of or engaged with the resources available to them. Communication is therefore essential—but so is establishing clear KPIs to evaluate its impact. Metrics such as open rates, click rates, and viewership provide tangible insights into how messaging is received. Choosing and tracking the right indicators allows organizations to validate employees’ interest in the topic and assess the actions taken after communication is shared. These KPIs make it possible to evaluate whether efforts are increasing understanding and driving change in behaviour, or whether adjustments are needed to improve engagement.
Regular monitoring is essential to track improvements, evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives, and secure ongoing buy-in from leadership. This includes:
Organizations must recognize that a well-being strategy does not need to start with a sweeping overhaul; small, focused steps can create meaningful momentum. Even beginning with a targeted set of KPIs establishes a baseline, allowing organizations to validate their approach, and reinforces the importance of acting rather than waiting for the perfect strategy. While the initial impact may feel modest, the key is to start somewhere. Over time, additional KPIs can be introduced to fill gaps and provide a more complete picture. By adopting this progressive mindset and monitoring metrics continuously, organizations can detect trends early and maintain strategies that remain agile, adapting effectively to evolving workforce needs and shifting socio-economic conditions.
The journey from measurement to meaningful impact is the true test of a successful employee well-being strategy. Tracking KPIs is not an end in itself—it is a tool to illuminate the real experiences, challenges, and needs of your workforce. When organizations start small and expand their scope, they can move beyond traditional metrics like absenteeism or EFAP usage and begin to capture a more nuanced understanding of employee health across physical, mental, social and financial dimensions. This broader perspective allows leaders to identify risks early, prioritize interventions where they will have the greatest effect, and move from reactive problem-solving to proactive prevention.
Ultimately, the power of KPIs lies in their ability to transform raw numbers into strategic decisions that improve lives, enhance productivity, and strengthen organizational resilience. The question for leaders is not simply what the data shows—but what they are willing to do with it. By moving from measurement to meaning, organizations turn information into insights, insights into actions, and actions into a healthier, more engaged workforce.
This article was written by:
Patrick Godin, B. Sc
Consultant, Health
