It’s easy to talk about wellness programs like they’re a feel-good perk. But HR leaders know better: these programs are increasingly tied to real business outcomes — from lower claims costs to improved retention.

The challenge? Proving it.

Budgets are tight. Leadership wants to know what they’re getting for every dollar spent. And wellness, with all its human nuance, doesn’t always translate cleanly into spreadsheets. Moreover, as our research has found, simply having benefits isn’t enough.

That’s why measuring the ROI on wellness programs matters — not just for the finance team, but for HR teams trying to protect (and expand) the programs that keep employees healthy, engaged, and productive.

In this guide, we’ll walk through:

• How to calculate ROI and VOI (value on investment)
• What metrics actually matter — and how to track them
• How to connect wellness outcomes to broader benefits ROI
• Tips for framing these results in leadership conversations

Whether you’re justifying an existing program or building a case for something new, this is your blueprint for turning wellness into a data-backed win. And when you’re ready, Selerix can help you track, manage, and optimize it all.

Why Is ROI Important for Wellness Programs?

When wellness programs first gained traction, they were often seen as a way to boost morale or signal a caring culture. Today, they’re under more scrutiny. HR teams are being asked to show impact, not just in participation rates, but in measurable returns.

Defining ROI in the Wellness Context

At its core, ROI (Return on Investment) compares the cost of your wellness program to the savings or gains it generates. In the benefits space, that typically means things like:

• Lower healthcare claims
• Reduced absenteeism
• Improved productivity
• Higher employee retention

More than dollars in vs. dollars out, this shows that what you’re doing works, and is worth continuing or expanding. Good ROI data makes the difference between a “soft benefit” and a strategic advantage.

Why ROI Matters to HR and Leadership

1. Cost Justification During Budget Planning
Wellness programs can be a hard sell when budgets are tight. A clear ROI gives HR leaders the evidence they need to secure funding or protect programs from the chopping block.

2. Building a Business Case for New Initiatives
Trying to launch a mental health stipend or fitness reimbursement program? ROI helps frame it as a smart investment, not just a nice idea.

3. Aligning with Organizational Performance Goals
As our research has shown, wellness also supports broader goals like reducing turnover, improving engagement, and lowering healthcare costs. ROI connects wellness initiatives to the metrics that matter to the C-suite.

How to Calculate ROI on Wellness Programs

Let’s make this simple. ROI is just math, but the story it tells can be powerful. McKinsey research estimates $3.7 trillion to $11.7 trillion potential economic value from improving employee health and well-being globally.

Here’s how to works out the potential value of your wellness programs.

ROI Formula and Example

The standard formula is ROI = (Savings – Costs) / Costs. Let’s say your organization invests $100,000 in a wellness initiative. Over the next year, you see $150,000 in savings from lower healthcare claims, fewer sick days, and reduced turnover. That’s a $50,000 return on a $100,000 investment — or 50% ROI.

Not bad. But where do those savings actually come from?

Key Inputs for ROI Calculation

To calculate a realistic ROI, you’ll want to track a mix of cost-related metrics, including:

• Healthcare Claims Reduction: Are employees using fewer high-cost services? Has chronic condition management improved?
  
• Absenteeism Improvements: Has there been a measurable drop in sick days or unscheduled time off?
  
• Productivity Increases: This can be harder to quantify directly, but many companies use productivity perception surveys, manager feedback, or pre/post metrics.
  
• Turnover Reduction: Employees who feel supported in their well-being are more likely to stay. In fact, our research finds that employees who are satisfied with their benefits are 5x more likely to say they’ll stay and 3.5x more likely to trust their employer. Fewer exits mean lower recruiting and onboarding costs.

Even if you can’t isolate every variable perfectly, directionally consistent trends, tied to wellness program implementation, can build a strong case.

Wellness ROI Benchmarks

There’s no one-size-fits-all number, but studies have shown promising returns across industries:

• Medical claim costs – a 2024 Vitality survey found an average savings of $462 in annual medical claims costs per employee engaged in wellbeing programs.
  
• Absenteeism – Deloitte research finds absenteeism costs $3,600 per hourly employee and $2,650 per salaried employee annually.
  
• Productivity – The Global Wellness Institute has found that companies who prioritize wellbeing report up to 20% higher productivity overall.
  
• Turnover intent – McKinsey research has found employees with mental-health and well-being challenges are 4x more likely than others to want to leave their organizations.

If you don’t have internal numbers yet, you can use these as a directional benchmark while you gather baseline data.

Bonus tip: Even small improvements can add up. Reducing just one unscheduled absence per employee per year can generate meaningful cost savings. 

Understanding VOI: The Strategic Side of Wellness

Not everything that counts can be counted — and that’s where Value on Investment (VOI) comes in. While ROI focuses on hard-dollar returns, VOI captures the broader, strategic impact of wellness programs that aren’t always easy to quantify but are no less important.

What Is Value on Investment (VOI)?

Value on Investment (VOI) refers to the indirect — but deeply meaningful — outcomes of a wellness program that may not show up on a financial statement, but absolutely show up in your people. It includes things like higher employee morale, stronger engagement, better collaboration, and a more supportive workplace culture. You might also see gains in creativity, innovation, psychological safety, and overall trust. While these elements can be harder to quantify, they drive the long-term health and performance of an organization just as much as cost savings do.

Metrics for Measuring VOI in Wellness Programs

While VOI is less formulaic than ROI, it’s not abstract. Here are some indicators you can track:

• Employee engagement and pulse survey scores 
• Wellness program participation rates
• Satisfaction with benefits offerings
• Turnover trends among wellness participants vs. non-participants
• Manager feedback on team performance or cohesion

You can also pair VOI metrics with qualitative data: employee testimonials, focus group insights, or even Glassdoor reviews. These human narratives help round out the story your numbers are telling.

Why VOI Resonates with Leadership

Leaders are always looking for savings, but they implement programs for a reason. So they’re also looking for signals that the organization is thriving with the programs you provide. VOI helps HR teams frame wellness as a strategic enabler of long-term success, not just a line item to be justified.

What Affects the ROI of Wellness Programs?

Not all wellness programs are created equal. Two organizations could spend the same amount and see wildly different outcomes. The difference usually comes down to strategy, design, and execution.

Program Design and Relevance

A wellness program only works if it resonates with the people it’s meant to support. That means aligning it to what your employees actually need — whether it’s fitness support, mental health resources, financial coaching, or greater flexibility. 

Success often comes down to three things: cultural fit, accessibility, and personalization. Is wellness truly embedded in how your organization operates, or does it feel like an afterthought? Are the resources easy to find, understand, and use? And can employees tailor the program to match their goals, life stage, or unique circumstances? Programs that check these boxes tend to see stronger engagement and better outcomes.

Leadership Buy-In and Communication

For employees to take wellness seriously, you will need to start at the top. If your C-suite isn’t on board, a program’s adoption curve will suffer. The most successful programs:

• Have visible executive champions
• Get mentioned in town halls or leadership emails
• Are promoted by managers as part of everyday work culture

Data, Tracking, and Technology

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Tools like Selerix’s benefits administration software make it easier to:

• Track participation and enrollment
• Monitor usage of different programs
• Connect wellness data with health claims, engagement, and absenteeism
• Generate reports that help tell the full ROI + VOI story
• Communicate regularly about benefits
• Help employees make decisions about the best programs for them

How Wellness Programs Fit into Employee Benefits ROI

Wellness programs don’t operate in isolation. They’re part of your broader benefits strategy. When measured and integrated properly, they help drive better outcomes across the board.

Wellness as a Strategic Subset of Total Benefits

Wellness initiatives often reduce the strain on higher-cost benefits, helping to improve your overall benefits ROI over time. Mental health support, for instance, can reduce reliance on costly emergency services, while stress relief and better sleep have a direct impact on productivity, creativity, and teamwork. Preventive care programs can help lower the incidence of chronic disease claims, and financial wellness tools have been shown to reduce stress-related absenteeism. These outcomes don’t just enhance well-being — they strengthen the performance and sustainability of your entire benefits ecosystem.

Bundling Wellness with Other Benefits

Think beyond core benefits or gym memberships. The most impactful wellness strategies bundle voluntary benefits in a way that reflects the full spectrum of employee needs — combining mental health support with EAPs and burnout prevention resources, pairing financial literacy programs with retirement planning tools, integrating telehealth with condition-specific coaching, and offering lifestyle perks alongside personalized benefits. These combinations become even more powerful when employees can clearly see how the pieces work together to support their real lives, not just their work lives.

How Selerix Supports Benefits Optimization

Selerix helps HR teams like yours operationalize your benefits strategy with tools that:

• Automate communication and engagement
• Integrate wellness tracking into enrollment and reporting
• Centralize insights across wellness, healthcare, and compliance
• Make it easier to present ROI and VOI metrics to leadership

Building a Business Case for Wellness ROI

Once you’ve got the data, the next step is turning it into a story your leadership team will care about.

What Decision-Makers Want to See

You don’t need to prove perfection — just a clear, credible connection between your wellness program and its business impact. Decision-makers like CFOs, CHROs, and CEOs are looking for the data points that justify investment. That usually means financial projections that estimate potential savings or outline a range of ROI outcomes, evidence of risk mitigation such as improved compliance or access to mental health support, and clear employee impact, like increases in productivity or reductions in attrition. The more directly you can tie wellness to strategic outcomes, the more traction your case will have.

Presenting ROI and VOI Together

Charts and stats win budgets. Human stories win hearts. The strongest wellness business cases bring both to the table — using ROI to quantify the hard-dollar return and VOI to demonstrate alignment with culture, engagement, and long-term value. Together, they provide a full picture of both efficiency and impact. Support these metrics with real employee testimonials, program participation data, and relevant trends to ground the numbers in lived experience. That combination of data and narrative is often what tips the scales in your favor.

Tools and Templates to Make Your Case

Sometimes the difference between a good idea and a funded one is presentation. To stand out, equip yourself with the tools your leadership team didn’t know they needed — things that simplify the ask and show your team is organized, thoughtful, and ready to execute. That could include an ROI calculator tailored to your wellness program, a before-and-after dashboard screenshot highlighting participation or cost changes, or a short slide deck summarizing ROI, VOI, and recommended next steps. These assets don’t just make your case — they make it easy to say yes.

Take the Next Step: Upgrade Your Benefits Administration with Selerix

Wellness programs don’t create impact by accident. They require the right design, the right tools, and the right data to prove their value. At Selerix, we help you:

• Implement and optimize wellness initiatives
• Track ROI and VOI alongside broader benefits metrics
• Engage employees with smart, targeted communications
• Build a business case your leadership team will say yes to
  

Ready to make wellness work harder for your organization?
Talk to a Selerix expert and see how we can help you nurture a healthier workforce — and bottom line.