You may be investing in the wrong wellness benefits

Organizations are boasting an endless array of wellness benefits, but the reality is that they're doing very little to improve employees' health.

Investment in wellness benefits is only anticipated to grow. The current market for these offerings — which includes employer spending on mental health platforms, gym stipends, stress management resources and financial wellness programs — is $68.41 billion, according to data from market researcher Fortune Business Insights, up from $65.25 billion in 2024. By 2032, that number is projected to reach $102.56 billion. 

Yet 66% of employees are experiencing some sort of burnout in 2025, according to new research from online education platform Moodle and market research firm Censuswide. Twenty-four percent say they don't have enough resources or the right tools to do their job properly.  

Read more: Monitoring employee productivity with AI? Better benefits can restore trust

"Companies see rising burnout rates, rising turnover, and they want to do something, so they invest in wellness benefits," says Caitlin Collins, organizational psychologist and program strategy director at Betterworks. "If those investments aren't tied to the actual causes of stress in the organization, they're not going to move the needle."  

Collins shared common missteps organizations and benefit leaders are making when it comes to their approach to wellness, as well as some strategies for keeping efforts as effective as possible. 

Why aren't organizations' corporate wellness programs working? 
A lot of wellness programs miss the mark because they treat symptoms instead of causes. They offer meditation apps or gym discounts while ignoring what's actually driving stress — things like unrealistic workloads, unclear expectations, or lack of recognition. If your day-to-day experience at work is overwhelming or disorganized, no amount of yoga is going to fix that. Wellness can't be a perk that's bolted on after the fact. It has to be built into the culture and the way work is structured and supported through performance expectations, feedback loops and team dynamics.

What are the consequences of investing in ineffective programs? 
The biggest consequence is employee cynicism. People know when a company is putting a Band-Aid over a bullet hole. If you're promoting mindfulness workshops while still rewarding burnout or ignoring feedback, people lose trust — and that's hard to rebuild. You also risk wasting resources on programs that don't solve the problem, while missing the opportunity to create real, systemic change that actually improves employee well-being and performance.

Read more: How this Google exec is approaching mental health benefits in today's world

How can benefit leaders fix their approach? 
Start by asking better questions — not just "what benefits do people want," but "what's getting in the way of people doing their best work?" Are managers having regular check-ins? Do employees feel valued? Are goals realistic and aligned? Is there space for feedback and coaching that actually helps employees grow in a meaningful way? These are structural questions, and answering them helps create a work environment that supports wellness by design, not just by benefit offering. When performance enablement is built into the rhythm of work, people feel supported and secure, and that's the foundation of real wellness.

What is the future for corporate wellness?
I think it'll be about how work itself is designed. We'll see more companies investing in manager training, continuous feedback systems and AI tools that help teams prioritize better and spot signs of burnout earlier. The most effective wellness strategies won't live in the benefits portal, they'll live in team meetings, one-on-ones, and daily workflows. At the end of the day, people don't burn out from lack of perks, they burn out from broken systems. The future is about fixing those systems.