New survey reveals the best employee benefits to beat stress

By Lee Hafner September 23, 2025, 2:00 p.m. EDT 3 Min Read

Woman sitting at desk thinking about vacation, wearing hat and sunglasses

Key insight: Discover how reclaiming PTO improves workforce resilience and innovation.
What's at stake: Unused PTO undermines well-being, productivity and talent competitiveness across organizations.
Expert quote: "Real vacations recharge employees and benefit employers," says Dr. Tim Church.
Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

Employees are stressed out and need a break, but they're not taking advantage of available time off. Benefit managers can help them make the switch from time-off trepidation to triumph.

Digital weight management and wellness solution Wondr Health's recent survey found that nearly one fourth of respondents listed time off for vacation and mental health days, followed by flexible or remote work schedules, as the top ways they shed stress. But separate data from fintech platform Sorbet shows that 62% of employees don't use all of their PTO, indicating that while they know what they need, something is keeping them from stepping away.

"We have this weird view that it's almost irresponsible or a break we don't deserve when we take a real vacation," says Dr. Tim Church, Wondr's chief medical officer. "In reality, the employee and the employer win, because the employee comes back recharged, and likely has some new ideas or some reformulation in their head about how they can do things differently."

How employers can back up their PTO benefits

Common reasons for the divide are heavy work loads, self-imposed pressure and organizational culture, Church says. Employers can help reverse these trends, starting with leadership speaking out and setting a good example for wellness, including taking time off.

"Regardless of what you institute as a company, if you don't have leadership support, it's going to fail," explains Church. "[They need to say:] 'We care about this.'"

Another important step is allowing workers to unplug from the "electronic leash" of emails and virtual meetings while they're away, Church says.

"No other generation in history has had to deal with this; you can't get away," he says. "And that is combined with the philosophy or cultural belief that it's okay to bug somebody on Saturday night, or while they're on their vacation."

Church notes that many employees also avoid taking time off because of the massive catch-up they have to play upon return. Team policies that allow them time to focus on emails and other tasks can make being away less concerning, and getting up to speed much quicker.

Where behavioral change support comes in

Wondr's coaches provide services including how to deal with stress and anxiety, how to ask for help and set boundaries, and how to build resilience and healthier work habits.

"These are skills you just don't get good at on your own, particularly in the really challenging environment between the news cycle, the emails, the texts, and the Zoom meetings," Church says. "It is constant stimulation, and you have to help people develop skills that deal with it."

Employees should feel good about making themselves a priority, and leadership, company culture and supportive wellness benefits play a huge role in this mentality, Church says.

"There's ignoring something, there's giving something lip service, and then there's really walking the walk," he says. "There are ways to really step into this, [and] it's going to be more concrete moving forward [with] more emphasis at the employer level."

Read more about PTO benefits and support:

Lee Hafner

Editor, Employee Benefit News