The old ways of managing employee health are quite literally making us sick. We live in stressful times with work, money, and health concerns piling up. But most employee wellbeing programs only offer disconnected, one-size-fits-none solutions.

Employees need unified, personalized solutions that treat them as the wonderfully complex and unique humans they are – not just as isolated medical conditions.

And that’s why leaders from top companies discussed holistic health at bswift’s 2024 Idea Exchange conference in Palm Springs. Here’s what we learned…


1. Value-Based Care Models: Cut Healthcare Costs and Improve Employee Wellbeing

Despite all the plan tweaking and cost-shifting, healthcare costs are up. Premiums jumped up to 10% in 2024. Families are paying an average of about $24,000 a year just for health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The usual culprits are driving costs:

  • New medical technologies and treatments
  • People skipping preventive care
  • Poor health habits
  • Inflation

But value-based care models are emerging as a solution. Value-based care focuses on:

  • Eliminating preventive care barriers
  • Leveraging virtual care and digital health tools
  • Enhancing care quality through coordinated teams
  • Focusing on overall wellbeing, not just medical issues

“You should be able to get a customized solution that treats the entire person – from physical therapy to behavioral health to nutrition to sleep,” said Goodpath CEO Bill Gianoukos.

The goal is to address issues before they snowball into expensive, chronic conditions. It’s a win-win for employees and employers.


2. Whole Person Care: Treating People Not Conditions

Finding ways to help people avoid chronic conditions is a big deal. Six in 10 adults are living with a chronic condition, and 4 in 10 have two or more, according to the CDC. Chronic condition management drives a mind-boggling $4.1 trillion in annual U.S. healthcare spending.

This fragmented, one-condition-at-a-time approach doesn’t drive real health improvements. A more effective strategy treats us not just as a collection of conditions, but as the beautifully complex individuals we are.

And that holistic health approach requires an integrated healthcare ecosystem that covers:

  • Physical health
  • Mental health
  • Financial wellbeing
  • Social factors

This involves building a benefits strategy flexible enough to meet employees’ needs with a robust ecosystem of partners offering solutions for each employee.

“It has to extend from the top down to what you’re serving in your cafeterias, how you’re rewarding people, how you’re encouraging work-life balance,” said Kim Evans, bswift’s VP of Partner Ecosystem, stressing the importance of this holistic shift.

RELATED: bswift Elevate™: Empowering Holistic Employee Wellbeing, Anywhere and Anytime


3. Employee Mental Health Benefits: Strategies to Reduce Burnout and Stigma

If there’s one area where that fragmented, condition-centered approach is clearly failing, it’s mental health.

The statistics lay bare a crisis for HR leaders:

  • 77% of employers report increasing mental health needs
  • 80% of people say it’s too expensive or difficult to access support
  • 62% of people feel ashamed to get help
  • 60% of psychologists say they have no openings for new patients
  • 42% of Gen Z has a diagnosable mental health condition

Untreated mental health issues directly impact workplace productivity, engagement, retention, and healthcare costs. And the financial burden of healthcare can exacerbate mental health struggles. Households with medical debt have triple the rate of mental health conditions.

“Debt equals stress equals poor health,” said John Halloran, CEO of Mobile Health.

Mental fitness must be core to any holistic wellbeing strategy worth its salt. The mind-body connection is just too fundamental to ignore.

RELATED: Unlocking the Power of Employee Benefits


4. Financial Stress: How Financial Wellness Programs Boost ROI

Money tops the list of stressors, according to the American Psychological Association. And Gen Z and younger millennials report being “completely overwhelmed” by stress.

“One of the top causes of bankruptcy in the U.S. is when somebody has an illness in the family,” said Halloran. “We’re a first world country. That’s not okay.”

A whopping 86% of employees report financial worries due to medical debt, inflation, stagnant wages, and soaring costs per a SoFi report. This financial stress worsens preventable, stress-related health issues.

Despite the availability of financial wellness programs, utilization languishes at 20%-40%.

“The primary problem we’ve discovered at that level of underserved and underrepresented and lower-paid employees is that they don’t trust lawyers,” said LegalEase CEO Bob Heston, whose company focuses on legal and financial wellbeing. “I’m a lawyer, and I certainly understand that.”

Key barriers include:

  • Lack of trust in advisors
  • Low awareness of available programs
  • Perceived complexity of accessing support

Better employee communication is part of the solution, according to Heston. Employers need to overcome these internal communications barriers to promote wellbeing solutions. Financially stressed employees are less productive and suffer higher healthcare costs.

RELATED: Solving the Employee Communication Puzzle: Tips for Better Engagement


The Common Thread: Unified, Personalized Solutions

These trends highlight the need to look at wellbeing as a whole.

bswift’s Alliance and Integration Partners offer a complete set of solutions for physical, emotional, financial, and personal health, making it easy to set up and maintain.

Ready to embrace a holistic health approach to employee wellbeing?

Let’s talk about what that looks like at your organization. Your people and business deserve a 360° path to thriving.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PARTNERS

Related Insights

Woman managing diabetes in the workplace, wrapping up yoga mat
The Rising Impact of Diabetes on Workplace Productivity and Employee Health

Support employee health and reduce costs with effective diabetes management programs that promote workplace wellness and enhance productivity.

Learn More
hand shake icon
Values in Action: How Company Culture Drives Business Success

Here's how strong company culture, driven by core values, improves employee engagement and business success. Learn how to strengthen culture.

Learn More
AI for Health Plan Administration: 3 Ways It’s Transforming Benefits Management
Learn More
Annual enrollment HR Everest
Conquer Annual Enrollment: 7 Steps to Scale Your HR Everest

Master annual enrollment with our checklist. From HR tech to communication planning, streamline your HR process and improve your employee benefits rollout.

Learn More
AI for HR: 4 Key Trends You Need to Know Now

​​Cut through the hype. From Mindful AI to people analytics, these 4 trends in AI for HR boost employee engagement and attract top talent.​

Learn More
Harnessing the Power of AI for HR

Unlock AI’s potential in HR with bswift: Automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and focus on strategic goals. Discover AI’s role in recruitment, onboarding, and more

Learn More
bswift Idea Exchange panel on Employee Healthcare Cost Containment Strategies and Employee Benefits Education
Employee Healthcare Cost Containment Strategies:
A Guide for HR

Rising healthcare costs got your HR team down? Discover 4 data-driven cost-containment strategies from bswift's IX to reduce healthcare spending & improve wellbeing.

Learn More
Hermes Creative Awards 2024 Gold Winner Employee Communication Strategies
The Gold Standard in Employee Comms: bswift Communication Agency

bswift Communication Agency wins 2 Gold Hermes Awards for creative employee benefits communication. Learn more about our award-winning work!

Learn More
Emma, bswift's AI employee benefits assistant
Introducing the AI Supercharged Emma™: Your Employee Benefits Guide

Empower your employees with bswift's Emma, an AI-powered benefits assistant. Personalized recommendations, plan comparisons and more.

Learn More
Illustration showing benefits headaches and HR hassles
Simplify Benefits, Unlock HR’s Potential: bswift Has You Covered

Simplify benefits administration and empower HR with tools to streamline enrollment, optimize benefits use, and free HR for strategic work.

Learn More
employee communications puzzle
Solving the Employee Communication Puzzle: Tips for Better Engagement

​​Effective employee communication is crucial for HR. Learn best practices to improve benefits utilization and employee engagement.​

Learn More
Optimize Benefits Enrollment: HR Best Practices for the 'So-Called' Off-Season bswift ​​benefits enrollment best practices for benefits utilization data, the employee benefits portfolio, and employee benefits communications
Optimize Benefits Enrollment: HR Best Practices for the ‘So-Called’ Off-Season

Benefits enrollment best practices for HR. Improve employee communications strategies, analyze benefits utilization and enhance benefits portfolios.​

Learn More
Support Workforce Heart Health and Wellness for American Heart Month with bswift and Hello Heart
American Heart Month: How to Support the Heart Health of Your Workforce

February is American Heart Month – the perfect time to focus on workplace wellness and heart health through personalized digital tools and connected capabilities.

Learn More
The Future of HR: 4 Trends Reshaping Employee Benefits in 2024

Let's look at the future of HR, from AI and automation to cost containment, tailored well-being initiatives, and adapting to remote work.

Learn More
How to Improve Employee Benefits Engagement with HR technology
How to Improve Employee Benefits Engagement

Boost employee benefits engagement with proven HR strategies like clear communication, feedback loops, and AI chatbots to empower employees

Learn More
bswift Elevate™: Empowering Holistic Employee Wellbeing, Anywhere and Anytime

bswift Elevate is reimagining the employee well-being journey and simplifying the employee experience with hyper-personalized messaging to drive deeper engagement in employer wellbeing programs.

Learn More
HR professional on the phone talking about employee engagement and total compensation statements
Want Engaged Employees? Show Full Value with Total Compensation Statements

​​A smart way to boost employee engagement is to create a total compensation statement that details the value of their salary, benefits and other rewards.

Learn More
bswift Mobile App thumbnail
bswift Mobile App: Empower Your Employees

The bswift Mobile App offers your employees seamless access to their benefits. Download the app now via the App Store or Google Play Store.

Learn More
HR pro mapping out Annual Enrollment plan
Ace Annual Enrollment: 4 Solutions to Common HR Challenges

Make annual enrollment frictionless and empowering, These tips will help you optimize the employee experience and drive talent retention.

Learn More
Illustration of two heads with well-being concepts
Prioritizing Employee Wellbeing for Business Success

Explore the core connection between employee benefits, employee wellbeing, and business success. Get a roadmap for reviewing your organization's current offerings to ensure they're relevant, accessible and effectively supporting workforce health and productivity.

Learn More
Idea Exchange banner with palm trees in background
Insights and Highlights: A Recap of bswift’s Idea Exchange 2023 Conference

bswift's Idea Exchange 2023 Conference brings you insights on employee benefits engagement and benefits administration. Access session videos and more. Perfect for any HR professional looking to stay up-to-date.

Learn More
Emma the AI HR assistant and virtual decision support tool works for you
Hire Emma: bswift’s AI HR Assistant That Pays for Herself

Meet Emma, the AI HR assistant who resolves benefits questions, provides enrollment guidance, and improves the employee experience.

Learn More
HR professional working on employee benefits communication on her computer
Here’s How to Create An Engaging Employee Benefits Communication Strategy

Great employee benefits communication is crucial for employee satisfaction. Get tips for effective benefits communications that engage all stakeholders, using a multi-channel approach, incorporating empathy, focusing on timing, highlighting total rewards, and broadening the conversation on employee wellbeing.

Learn More
​​Maximize Employee Benefits Utilization and Retention​
The Power of Effective Employee Benefits Utilization: Tips to Boost Benefits Engagement and Retention

Improve retention, engagement, wellbeing and productivity with an effective employee benefits utilization strategy. Boost benefits engagement with these tips.

Learn More
​​Maximizing Employee Benefits Utilization: Challenges and Solutions​
Maximizing Employee Benefits Utilization: Challenges and Solutions

​​Improve engagement and retention with effective employee benefits utilization. Learn common challenges, solutions, and the importance of prioritizing employee wellbeing.​

Learn More
High Cost of Low Employee Benefits Thumbnail
Forrester Research Reveals the High Cost of Low Employee Benefits Engagement (And What You Can Do About It)

Discover how HR pros can improve employee benefits engagement with insights from Forrester Research. Boost morale, productivity and retention, and cut healthcare costs. See the survey results and actionable strategies now.

Learn More
The Top 5 Employee Benefits Thumbnail
The Top 5 Employee Benefits to Boost Satisfaction, Retention and Recruitment

Learn which employee benefits matter most to employees, and how these top employee benefits boost satisfaction, retention, and recruitment. A must-read for HR professionals.

Learn More
A robot hand selecting an icon of a person, representing AI in HR
​​How to Use AI to Improve HR: bswift Experts Answer CHROs’ Most Pressing Questions​

bswift experts answer CHROs' questions about using AI to improve HR. Learn how to avoid pitfalls, partner with CTOs, and create a better employee experience.

Learn More
AI board
How to Successfully Implement AI in HR: The CTO and CHRO Partnership

Let's look at the benefits and the risks of AI in HR. From data privacy to legal liability, CHROs and CTOs can partner to safely implement AI for business.

Learn More
employee happily engaged with work
Boost Benefits Utilization with a Great Employee Benefits Communication Plan

Unlock the full potential of your employee benefits communication. Benefits U helps you save time and effort and boost employee engagement.

Learn More
Happy, active employees reflecting a Culture of Health
Cut Costs, Not Benefits: Establish a Culture of Health in Your Workplace

Learn how to reduce healthcare costs and improve employee satisfaction with a culture of health in the workplace. Follow these 6 easy steps.

Learn More
Diverse workplace conversation
Celebrating Black History Month with Benefits Equity

How you can make the most of this celebration by incorporating employee benefits into your diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy.

Learn More
Question mark illustration
6 Great Questions To Help You Measure Annual Enrollment Success

With the dust settling on annual enrollment, it's time to look back and learn. Here are a few simple questions you and your HR team can ask.

Learn More
Woman with glasses working on computer
The Top 5 HR Trends of 2023: Leveraging Tech to Put the ‘Human’ Back in HR

In 2023, technology will continue to play a major role in how we adapt. Here are the top five HR trends we’re watching in 2023.

Learn More
Solving Great Resignation Thumbnail
Solving the Great Resignation: The role of employee-centric benefits, tech & culture

Struggling to navigate the Great Resignation? Here are a few ways to improve and develop a more employee-centric-culture.

Learn More

Boost Your HR Strategy: Connect with bswift

Ready to make HR better? Our team of experts is here to help you find the perfect solutions to meet your goals and empower your team.

  • Simplify Your Workflow: We’ll take on the heavy lifting so you can focus on what really matters—your people.
  • Tailor Your Benefits: Our customizable solutions help you build benefits packages that foster employee personalization and engagement.
  • Lead with Innovation: Stay ahead of the curve with HR tech that turns benefits into your competitive edge.