A question many organizations eventually face is this:

If employees give our program great feedback, why don’t we see meaningful improvement in claims data?

The answer lies in understanding that employee sentiment and risk migration are two very different outcomes.

Positive feedback tells us something valuable. It tells us that employees like the experience and find the program engaging.

But claims data reflects something entirely different.

Claims only improve when health risks actually migrate—when high-risk individuals change behaviors long enough to shift biometric risk and long-term health outcomes.

Most well-being programs today are designed to drive participation and positive sentiment, not necessarily financial or health risk movement. When that’s the case, a program can be very popular without meaningfully affecting claims.

When claims remain flat despite positive feedback, three explanations are common.

First, the program may not have been in place long enough.

Meaningful claims impact typically takes 18 to 36 months to emerge at scale. Some level of patience is required to see the change within the population.

Second, the program may not be engaging the right segment of the population.

In most employer health plans, 10–20% of members drive the majority of claims costs. If that cohort is not materially improving, overall claims will remain largely unchanged—even if the broader population is satisfied with the program.

Third (often the most significant factor), the program may not have been engineered specifically for financial impact.

Many well-being programs focus on participation metrics, engagement campaigns, or incentives designed to drive activity. While those elements can create a positive experience, they do not necessarily create the conditions required for meaningful risk reduction.

If leadership expects claims movement, the program must be architected for risk migration.

That means identifying the organization’s specific risk profile and designing programming that intentionally targets the health risks most closely tied to future claims costs.

When well-being programs are structured around participation alone, they can succeed at engagement without changing outcomes.

But when they are designed around risk movement, participation becomes a means to a different end: improving the underlying health trajectory of the population.

And that is where claims improvement begins.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

One of the most common realities organizations face is senior leaders saying they support well-being, when they aren’t actively championing it.

It’s easy to believe this lack of support is resistance towards the program. More often, it is a framing problem.

Senior leaders typically operate under what behavioral scientists call negativity bias and downside risk orientation. In practical terms, leaders are constantly asking themselves two questions:

What am I accountable for?

What could go wrong that I’m responsible for preventing?

Because of this, leaders are trained—formally or informally—to focus more on preventing failure than on optimizing positive outcomes.

That mindset shapes how they evaluate programs.

When well-being is framed as something that improves engagement, happiness, or culture, it may sound positive—but it does not register as something that protects the organization from risk. As a result, leaders may approve it but not actively prioritize it.

The key is to move well-being into leadership’s accountability lane.

Instead of presenting well-being primarily as a culture initiative, it should be framed as something that stabilizes the areas leaders are responsible for managing.

For example:

• A stabilizer of workforce volatility

• A reducer of preventable safety incidents

• A hedge against spikes in health costs

• A lever to minimize productivity leakage

When well-being is presented through this lens, it becomes relevant to the issues leaders are already thinking about and discussing.

Most leaders are not anti–well-being. They are just pro–risk management.

So, the goal is not to convince leaders that well-being is beneficial. Instead, the goal is to demonstrate that a well-designed well-being program protects the outcomes they are accountable for.

When well-being is connected to operational stability and risk reduction, leadership support tends to deepen.

And when that happens, programs move from being viewed as optional initiatives to being seen as infrastructure that supports the organization’s success.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Many well-being leaders struggle with an important communication challenge.

How do you shift leadership conversations from participation metrics to risk reduction when you do not yet have a clear ROI?

The good news is that perfect ROI data is not required to change the conversation.

What leaders are really looking for is directional movement tied to the risks they care about.

Most well-being programs report surface-level metrics such as:

• Platform registrations

• Incentive completion rates

• Challenge participation

• Content engagement

These metrics are useful and necessary for program management.

However, they rarely capture leadership attention because they do not connect to what leaders are accountable for.

Senior leaders are constantly thinking about issues such as workforce stability, safety performance, health cost volatility, and productivity. Reporting needs to align with those priorities.

Instead of only reporting participation metrics, organizations can begin reporting indicators that suggest risk stabilization.

Examples include:

• Changes in preventive screening participation

• Engagement with musculoskeletal programs in high-injury divisions

• Trends in absenteeism or turnover stability

• Uptake of sleep or metabolic health resources among safety-critical roles

At this stage, the goal is not to claim savings.

The goal is to show that the program is moving in the direction of reduced exposure.

Directional indicators demonstrate that the organization is addressing risk factors that ultimately drive financial and operational outcomes.

When well-being is reported this way, it becomes aligned with the areas leaders are responsible for managing. This alignment changes the internal conversation.

Instead of being viewed as a participation initiative, well-being begins to look like infrastructure that stabilizes people risk.

And when leaders see a program connected to the problems they are responsible for solving, that is when attention increases and well-being programs begin to move from the margins of the organization toward the center of strategic decision-making.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

It’s one of the most familiar patterns in workplace well-being. Launch participation looks promising. Early activity feels encouraging. And then, gradually, engagement fades.

By midyear, only a fraction of employees are active. By year-end, participation becomes transactional and rushed.

The usual explanation is motivation. The real explanation is timing.

Human behavior is heavily influenced by present bias. We naturally give more weight to what costs or benefits us now and far less to what might help us later. This matters because most well-being behaviors carry immediate friction. They take time, attention, or effort today, while the payoff feels distant.

So, when employees disengage, it isn’t because they don’t care about their health. It’s because the program asks them to absorb immediate cost for future value that doesn’t feel concrete yet.

Many programs unintentionally reinforce this problem. Annual goals, year-end incentives, and long timelines quietly signal that effort today won’t be rewarded anytime soon. From a behavioral perspective, that’s a difficult proposition to sustain.

Programs that maintain engagement work differently. They compress time. They make progress visible quickly. They reduce the psychological distance between action and benefit.

Shorter program cycles help. Early milestones matter. Visible progress reassures people that their effort is producing something tangible. Our natural behavioral patterns are reflected in this continuation of effort. Once someone feels they’ve already started, walking away feels like losing progress rather than opting out. The brain doesn’t like walking away from something that we already have.

This isn’t about willpower. It’s about a better design that specifically places human timing in mind.

If engagement fades over time, the issue is rarely commitment or interest. It’s that the program delays the experience of progress. Leaders should treat time as a behavioral lever, designing programs that reward early effort and make benefits feel immediate rather than distant.

At Propel, we spend a lot of time working with organizations that see this exact pattern. The program itself is sound, but the design unintentionally asks people to wait too long to feel progress. When timing is treated as a behavioral variable rather than a calendar decision, engagement patterns often begin to make more sense.

If this pattern feels familiar, it may be worth a conversation. Sometimes it helps to step back and diagnose where effort and reward are misaligned. Schedule a strategy session explore an exploratory strategy session to talk it through with our team.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Different employees have different needs, interests, and goals. Offering more activities seems like the most inclusive approach. Choice may feel generous, but it can have unexpected consequences that hurt decision making.

In theory, it improves participation and satisfaction. In practice, it often produces the opposite effect.

Programs with long lists of actions, rules, and point structures frequently struggle because of choice overload. When people face too many options, decision-making slows, mental effort increases, and when friction rises, the most common response is delay.

“I’ll look at this later.” “I’ll figure it out when I have more time.”

Most never do.

From a behavioral perspective, complexity erodes engagement early. If employees can’t quickly understand what to do first, attention drops. Interest fades when the path forward feels unclear.

Past experience compounds the issue. Employees remember when they were confused by programs. They remember missing incentives despite effort. That memory reframes new programs as high effort with uncertain payoff.

Loss aversion quietly takes over. Opting out feels safer than trying again.

Programs that work consistently follow a different principle: clarity before variety.

Effective design starts with a clear behavioral goal. When the purpose is obvious, the program feels intentional rather than cluttered. Choice still matters, but in moderation. A small number of paths preserves autonomy without overwhelming people.

Simplicity is non-negotiable with . If a program can’t be clearly explained in under a minute, it’s likely too complex to spread through word of mouth, which is how engagement often really grows.

This isn’t about offering less value. It’s about reducing cognitive load.

Low participation does not mean employees want more options. It usually means the program asks them to think too hard. Leaders should prioritize clarity of purpose and simplicity of design before expanding choice, ensuring the first step is obvious and easy to explain.

We regularly work with organizations that assume low engagement means they need more options. Often, the opposite is true. When programs are simplified and aligned to a clear behavioral goal, participation improves not because employees are more motivated, but because the design respects how people actually decide.

If this resonates, it may be helpful to reflect on where complexity has crept into your program. Schedule a strategy session with our team to discuss your program and where you may be losing engagement due to choice overload.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Enrollment often feels like a minor administrative detail. Behaviorally, it’s one of the most influential design choices.

How people enter a program shapes whether they ever engage with it. We believe defaults matter more than intentions.

When employees must opt in, participation requires a conscious decision that competes with dozens of daily demands. Each extra step adds friction, and friction quietly suppresses action.

Automatic enrollment changes the psychology. Instead of asking, “Should I join?” employees experience the program as something they’re already part of.

That shift activates loss aversion. Once people feel they already have something, disengaging feels like giving it up rather than simply declining. And we don’t like to give up what we have.

This affects every stage of engagement. Attention improves because there’s no barrier to entry. Interest increases because the program feels intentional. Desire builds when people realize something has been set aside for them. Action becomes easier because the hardest step has already been removed.

This design doesn’t force participation. It reduces unnecessary friction in busy environments to help people begin their journey instead of keeping them at the trailhead.

We should be clear, not every program is the ideal candidate for auto-enrollment and there are exceptions. However, for incentive-based designs, default enrollment often aligns better with how real decisions are made at work.

Leaders should examine where defaults, enrollment steps, or opt-in requirements unintentionally add friction, and consider whether making participation the path of least resistance better supports engagement.

In our work with organizations, we often find that engagement challenges trace back to small structural decisions like enrollment. These details shape behavior more than messaging ever could. Looking at defaults through a behavioral lens often reveals opportunities that were hiding in plain sight.

Curious about what default opportunities might exist in your program? Let’s talk strategy - schedule a free, 30-minute session with us to explore further.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Many organizations build well-being programs with solid educational content, helpful tools, and supportive resources. Yet participation remains stubbornly low.

Leaders often think the solution is more reminders, more incentives, or more simplification. What they rarely consider is the influence of social modeling. Employees often need to see others succeed before they feel safe stepping into something new.

This is especially true in health behavior change, where people fear being judged, being the only beginner, or discovering the program was not worth the time after all.

Social proof reduces these fears by demonstrating that others have already had positive experiences. When employees feel confident that people like them have succeeded, participation no longer feels risky. It feels normal.

Why Psychological Safety Matters More Than We Realize

Trying anything new comes with emotional risk. Employees wonder whether they will fall behind, whether the experience will feel uncomfortable, or whether the program will be another time-consuming task that does not deliver much benefit.

The hesitation is not laziness. It is self-protection.

Psychological safety plays a central role in well-being participation. People are far more likely to engage when they believe that others within their own environment have tried something and found it valuable. This is why the absence of social proof becomes a barrier.

The program might be excellent, but without visible evidence that peers trust it, employees hesitate.

Why Tools Alone Do Not Build Trust

Many leaders assume that sophisticated tools, rich content, or generous incentives will persuade employees to participate. These may help, but they do not create trust on their own.

Employees place more weight on the experiences of colleagues than on polished communication. A tool can describe value. A peer can prove it.

This pattern is well established. Whether shopping online or choosing a service, people look for evidence that someone similar to them has already had a good experience. A well-being program that does not highlight real employee stories unintentionally feels untested. It may be backed by science and good intentions, but without social proof, credibility remains fragile.

How Social Proof Transforms Behavior

Social proof works because it changes what employees believe is possible, safe, and normal. Its impact shows up in three powerful ways.

1. It Reduces Uncertainty About Results

When employees see that others have gained energy, improved habits, or experienced positive outcomes, the program feels less like a risk and more like a smart choice.

2. It Normalizes Participation Within the Culture

Participation looks unusual when no one is talking about it. When employees see peers with similar workloads or life situations engaging successfully, the program becomes part of the cultural rhythm.

3. It Builds Hope Through Relatable Stories

Humans learn best through lived experience. Hearing that someone from the same organization made progress creates a sense of personal possibility. It moves participation from “maybe someday” to “maybe today.”

How to Use Social Proof Intentionally

Social proof does not appear on its own. It must be cultivated. Leaders can embed social modeling into communication by:

• Sharing short testimonials from employees who have participated

• Highlighting small wins, such as improved consistency or reduced stress

• Making success visible in team meetings, your well-being portal, or marketing materials

• Pairing programs with leader involvement to signal cultural importance

Small, repeated examples build trust faster than any one-time announcement.

Propel helps organizations bring social proof to the forefront by elevating real employee stories, making progress visible across teams, and aligning communication with cultural norms. Our customized well-being platform supports participation through community modeling, relatable examples, and personalized program design that removes fear and increases trust.

To speak about how this might look within your organization, click here to schedule a free strategy session with us.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• Social proof is essential because it reduces fear, uncertainty, and the emotional risk involved in trying something new.

• Employees trust relatable stories from colleagues far more than they trust tools, incentives, or corporate messages.

• When success becomes visible and normalized within the culture, participation becomes a natural and confident choice.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Most leaders believe low well-being engagement comes from lack of interest, lack of time, or lack of discipline. In reality, the strongest force working against your program is something far more universal.

Employees default to inaction because it is familiar, emotionally safe, and requires no psychological effort. Even when people want to change, the pull of doing nothing often feels more comfortable than the uncertainty of starting something new.

Understanding the psychology of inaction allows leaders to rethink how they design and communicate well-being.

When employees feel that the reward is worth the effort, and when the first step feels achievable, participation shifts quickly. The goal is not to force action. The goal is to make action feel like the natural next step.

Why Information Alone Does Not Drive Change

Many employers assume employees need more facts, more education, or more detailed instructions. Yet advocacy-based communication rarely produces sustained behavior change.

Knowing the right thing to do does not always translate into doing it.

Your employees experience the same gap that shows up in everyday life. For example, most people know they should floss, but compliance tends to spike only in the hours before a dental appointment.

Employees already understand the general benefits of health. The issue (generally) is not awareness. It is motivation. Information must connect to an emotionally relevant outcome before it influences behavior. Without that connection, the Knowing and Doing Gap remains firmly in place.

Why Access Alone Is Not Enough

Enablement strategies assume that if we remove barriers, people will naturally take action. Access does matter, but access alone cannot overcome internal states such as exhaustion, low confidence, low self-efficacy, or impulsivity. Research shows that these psychosocial factors strongly predict unhealthy behaviors even when external barriers are removed.

This means that handing employees more tools does not guarantee engagement. If the program does not feel personally meaningful, the tools simply sit unused. Engagement comes from a sense of purpose, not just convenience.

The Effort Versus Reward Problem

Human behavior is guided by a simple internal calculation. People constantly ask themselves whether the effort required is worth the reward. If the effort feels too high, employees discount the value of the outcome. However, the opposite is also true. When the effort becomes too low, people assume the reward is insignificant.

This is particularly relevant to well-being programs. Many leaders respond to low participation by reducing effort requirements. They shorten challenges, focus on easy activities, or remove structure entirely. Although this feels helpful, it often reduces the perceived value. Low effort communicates that the experience will not produce meaningful results.

Behavioral psychology shows that effort becomes motivating when it is paired with a clear, desirable, and believable outcome. When people believe, “If I put in this work, I will receive this benefit,” motivation rises. This sense of personal influence is essential for forming long-term habits.

Three Ways to Help Employees Overcome Inaction

1. Make the Future Feel More Desirable Than the Present

Encourage employees to use Episodic Future Thinking, which invites them to imagine the version of themselves who has more energy, greater emotional bandwidth, or more consistency in their routines. When a healthier future feels vivid and relevant, employees become far more willing to start.

2. Design Effort That Feels Meaningful

Programs should require meaningful action. Effort should feel like an investment, not a burden. When employees feel that their work is essential to the outcome, effort justification increases their satisfaction and strengthens habit formation.

3. Remove Confusion and Invisible Friction

Even simple obstacles can stop momentum, such as confusing instructions, unclear expectations, or cumbersome processes. Removing friction helps employees feel capable of beginning, while meaningful effort keeps them engaged once they start.

Propel helps organizations overcome the psychological gravity of inaction by pairing meaningful effort with meaningful value.

We use behavioral science to help employees imagine their future, commit to purposeful action, and experience real progress. Our fully customized well-being platform removes friction, reinforces habit formation, and guides teams through sustainable behavior change.

If you want to learn more about how we combine your custom program with strategies backed by science, schedule a time to speak with us here.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• Inaction is the strongest competitor to your well-being program because it is comfortable and requires no psychological effort.

• Employees take action when the perceived reward feels personally meaningful and directly connected to their effort.

• Programs that establish future value, purposeful effort, and low friction make action feel natural instead of forced.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Many organizations invest heavily in well-being programs, only to be met with lukewarm engagement. Leaders often assume that employees are uninterested, too busy, or simply resistant to change. In reality, the issue is far more straightforward. Most well-being programs do not communicate value in a way that feels personally relevant to employees.

Employees want to make healthy choices. They want more energy, less stress, and better routines. What they do not want is another corporate task that feels disconnected from their real lives. Understanding why employees struggle to see value is the first step toward building a program that truly engages them.

The Limits of Modern Health Promotion: Advocacy

Advocacy focuses on education. It assumes that if you tell employees what they should do and why, they will act. The problem is that people rarely change behavior because they received more information.

Even in clinical settings, where patients have detailed guidance, behavior often does not improve. Many people know they should sleep more, eat differently, or manage stress more effectively. Knowing does not cause doing. This is the Knowing and Doing Gap, and it affects everyone.

Advocacy increases awareness, but awareness alone does not change behavior.

The Limits of Modern Health Promotion: Enablement

Enablement is the second common strategy. It focuses on removing barriers and offering tools. Although access is important, access alone does not explain behavior.

Even when time, cost, or convenience barriers are removed, people still hesitate. Internal factors such as fatigue, low trust, and perceived lack of control often matter more than external resources. A program can have excellent tools and still feel irrelevant if the internal motivation to use them is missing.

Employees act when they feel something is personally meaningful. Tools alone cannot generate meaning.

The Real Driver: Perceived Value

Employees evaluate well-being programs by asking, often subconsciously, three important questions.

1. What do I get out of this

2. Why should I choose this program instead of doing nothing

3. Can I trust that this will be worth the effort

If a program does not answer all three clearly, participation will remain low. Fortunately, each question can be addressed with simple, research-backed strategies.

1. Clarify the Value Proposition

Employees need to know what they will gain and why it matters. This should be communicated in clear, human language rather than corporate phrasing. For example:

• Build small daily habits that increase your energy

• Learn practical strategies that reduce stress during the workday

• Take simple actions that support long-term heart health

A clear value proposition creates immediate relevance.

2. Give Employees a Reason to Overcome Inaction

Inaction is effortless. To overcome it, employees must feel that the effort will be worthwhile.

Invite employees to imagine the future version of themselves who benefits from consistent healthy habits. Visualization of a better future increases the perceived payoff. At the same time, ensure that the effort required feels meaningful but not overwhelming. When employees see that effort is linked to real results, they become more willing to start and more likely to continue.

3. Build Trust Through Social Proof

Employees feel more confident when they know others have succeeded. Sharing stories, testimonials, or lived experiences from colleagues helps reduce uncertainty and build credibility. When someone hears that a peer gained energy, slept better, or established a routine, the program becomes more believable.

Propel helps organizations remove the barriers described above by designing well-being programs that are rooted in value, meaning, and trust.

We use the three strategies in this newsletter to shape communication and program design, supported by a fully customized well-being platform that aligns with each organization’s culture.

If you want a program that feels relevant, trusted, and worth an employee’s time, our approach can help you build it. Schedule some time with us here.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• Employees often ignore well-being programs because the personal value is not communicated clearly enough to feel relevant or worthwhile.

• Advocacy and enablement alone do not drive action, because knowledge and access cannot replace the need for emotional meaning.

• Engagement increases when organizations clarify value, provide a reason to act, and build trust through relatable stories and experiences.

Want more? Check out our full library of past issues here.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Big news, The Well-being Wire is going live! Tomorrow, December 11th, we’re leading a LinkedIn Live session titled Why Employees Choose to Engage: The Psychology Behind Well-being Engagement.

This session will answer questions like:

• Why don’t employees engage with well-being programs, even when the programs are well-designed and well-intended?

• What signals do employees need to see, feel, or believe before they choose to participate?

• How can leaders communicate and structure well-being programs in a way that increases participation and supports real behavior change?

We’ll also be answering your questions, live!

Join us at 11am ET to catch the action.

Click here to register for the event and learn how to instantly improve your well-being engagement.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

The Well-being Wire Team

You Don’t Have a Participation Problem—You Have a Messaging Problem

If you’ve ever wondered why only a small fraction of employees engage with your well-being program, you’re not alone. Most well-being leaders have solid programs but struggle to cut through the noise. The secret? It’s not about more incentives or more reminders—it’s about how you guide employees from awareness to action.

Let’s look to the AIDA model—a timeless marketing framework that, when applied to well-being initiatives, turns passive employees into enthusiastic participants. At Propel, we help organizations implement this model to drive measurable behavior change and participation that actually sticks.

The AIDA model is a foundational concept in marketing that outlines the cognitive stages an individual goes through when interacting with a marketing message. AIDA stands for:

• Awareness

• Interest

• Desire

• Action

It serves as a roadmap for crafting effective marketing strategies that guide potential participants through a journey from initial awareness to taking action.

In the context of a corporate well-being initiative, understanding and applying the AIDA model can significantly enhance employee engagement and participation.

Let’s go through each of the stages in detail.

Awareness: Stop Assuming They Know

Awareness is where engagement begins—and where most well-being strategies fail.
Just because you sent an email doesn’t mean employees see it, much less absorb it. You must break through competing priorities and distractions.

Think:

• Dynamic, eye-catching visuals on digital signage and intranet banners.

• Champion-driven communication from trusted peers.

• Vibrant, emotionally charged headlines that make people stop scrolling.

Your goal here is simple: make the invisible visible.

At Propel, we help clients design awareness campaigns that balance “top-down” messaging from leadership with “bottom-up” energy from well-being champions and teams across locations.

Interest: Make It Relevant or Lose Them

Awareness gets attention—interest keeps it.
Once employees know about your program, you must show them why it matters.

That means moving beyond generic “get healthy” messaging. Employees want to know:

• How does this fit my goals?

• What’s in it for me right now?

• Will this actually help me feel or perform better?

We’ve seen engagement skyrocket when organizations share authentic employee stories—real colleagues talking about real wins. Propel often assists clients to embed testimonial-style videos or peer spotlights in their campaigns to take advantage of this concept.

Desire: Build the Emotional Spark

Interest informs. Desire inspires.

This is where emotion drives momentum. Whether you tap into the joy of success or the fear of missing out, emotion is the catalyst for change.

Emotional appeals use positive and negative emotions to stir up this sense of desire. Try using positive emotional appeals such as pride, peace, joy, and love when you create your marketing materials.

For example, showcasing a video of employees enjoying a mindfulness workshop and talking about its positive impact on their daily lives can evoke in participants a desire to achieve that kind of peace. Negative appeals can be just as powerful as positive emotional appeals when used properly. Whether you are aware of or not, you are exposed to dozens, if not hundreds of negative emotional appeals every day (think about the fear advertisers seek to generate for home security products, computer virus protection, auto insurance, heart health, cancer prevention, etc.).

As we consult with clients to get the most out of their campaigns, we provide recommendations to help organizations to balance positive aspiration with the right touch of prevention messaging.

Action: Make the Next Step Effortless

The final stage—action—is where engagement becomes measurable. Yet this is where friction often kills momentum.

A confusing sign-up process? Too many clicks? Employees drop off quickly.
The fix is simple: clear Calls to Action and minimal barriers.

• “Click to register.”

• “Join your team now.”

• “Log your first challenge today.”

The key is to make the process of participating as easy as possible, to remove any barriers that might deter employees from engaging. Note that this does not mean the activity itself ought to be easy. Building habits often takes longer than one initially expects and requires a cost of some type, whether that be time, energy, or money.

The AIDA model isn’t just marketing—it’s behavioral psychology in motion.
When applied correctly, it turns your well-being program from a passive offering into an active movement inside your organization.

Propel partners with employers to bring this framework to life—integrating it into communications, incentive design, and even digital experiences to deliver consistent, predictable engagement growth.

Ready to Turn Awareness into Action?

Your employees are busy. Your message has seconds to matter. Let’s make every second count.

Contact Propel today to see how our evidence-based engagement model can transform participation across your workforce.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• Most well-being programs don’t suffer from lack of value—they suffer from lack of attention, and the AIDA framework provides a proven roadmap to turn awareness into sustained participation.

• By strategically guiding employees through the stages of Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action, organizations can transform passive communication into powerful engagement that drives real behavior change.

• Propel helps well-being leaders apply the AIDA model with precision—crafting campaigns, messages, and experiences that cut through the noise and inspire employees to take meaningful action.

If you like this content, share it with other well-being administrators.

We’re committed to discussing challenges common to well-being leaders and presenting practical solutions that increase the wisdom of all well-being professionals.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Why is setting a clear vision for a well-being program so difficult?

Too often, the focus is placed on executing minute details rather than steering towards a broader vision. The “squeaky wheel gets the grease,” so the program continues to hop from one detail to the next.

This narrow focus can derail the program’s long-term success and leave leaders feeling frustrated that they can’t seem to make any progress. Some who run well-being programming also struggle with a lack of ownership over the vision, having to simply run a program that was planned by another team several years ago.

Without a clear path, achieving a cohesive and meaningful direction becomes next to impossible, with many organizations defaulting to simply “making a change” every few years to see if a new direction will stick.

We see too many organizations make this mistake. They wonder why, after 10 years of a well-being program, they’re no better off…

What happens when vision is absent.

The absence of a clear vision leads to a fragmented approach. Without cohesion, efforts become scattered, and tasks that do not contribute meaningfully to an organization's goals may be overprioritized. Leaders can struggle with trying to satisfy others and veering towards the loudest request.

Monetary waste also occurs when vision is absent. Instead of putting all investments towards a specific direction, funds are wasted on duplicative services and benefits that are underutilized.

As a result of a lack of vision, the outcomes of the well-being program are muted, employees feel no sense of stability, and the program fails to deliver the desired impact.

The Framework to Set an Effective Well-Being Program Vision

To combat these challenges, Propel created a framework that we have begun using with our clients to establish specific yet long-term visions for their programs. Our Vision Pyramid offers a structured approach to crafting a well-defined vision for a well-being program.

The pyramid is built on three essential pillars: Culture, Care, and Metrics.

In over two decades of developing well-being strategies for clients, we have found a combination of corporate, individual, and quantitative goals creates a program that can last. Every vision statement must include at least one element in all three of these categories in order for it to be successful.

Let’s briefly explore each of these pillars.

Culture

The cultural aspect of the Vision Pyramid examines how the well-being program influences interpersonal dynamics and becomes integrated into the organizational fabric. It involves several critical components:

• Leadership Buy-in: Securing commitment from organizational leaders is crucial, as their support can drive participation and ensure the program aligns with broader business objectives.

• Impact on Recruiting: A robust well-being program can enhance the company’s attractiveness to potential employees, serving as a unique selling point in talent acquisition.

• Well-being Champion Network: Establishing a network of champions within the organization can help promote and sustain the program, leveraging peer influence to drive engagement.

• Visual Changes in Behavior: Observing tangible shifts in employee behavior indicates that the program is effectively altering workplace dynamics.

• Sustainability of Program: Ensuring the program is designed to endure over time, adapting to evolving needs and challenges.

Care

The Care component focuses on the personal benefits individuals derive from the well-being program, addressing key areas of personal development:

• Physical Well-being: Programs should promote active lifestyles and healthy choices to enhance physical health.

• Mental Well-being: Initiatives must support mental health, offering resources and support to manage stress and promote resilience.

• Social/Emotional Well-being: Encouraging social connections and emotional support can foster a more engaging and supportive workplace environment.

• Financial Well-being: Providing tools and education to help employees manage their finances can reduce stress and improve overall life satisfaction.

• Workplace Well-being: The program should enhance the overall work environment, making it a more positive and productive place.

Metrics

Metrics provide the quantitative backbone of the Vision Pyramid, allowing organizations to measure the impact of their well-being programs:

• Participation and Engagement Percentages: Tracking participation and engagement can help assess the reach and effectiveness of the program.

• Incentive Participants and Challenge Engagement: Monitoring these aspects can show how incentives and challenges drive behavior change.

• Education Engagement and Event Attendance: These metrics highlight how well educational initiatives are resonating with employees.

• ROI/VOI and Claims Reductions: Understanding the return on investment and value of investment, along with reductions in claims, can demonstrate the program's financial impact.

• Absenteeism Improvement and Accidents/Injuries: Reductions in absenteeism and workplace accidents indicate the program’s efficacy in promoting a healthier work environment.

• Employee Retention: A successful well-being program can improve employee retention by developing loyalty and satisfaction.

Our recommendation is to select one component in each of the three pillars and set a 1, 3, and 5-year goal. This helps you to create a true S.M.A.R.T. vision statement that provides long-term direction while also demonstrating short-term success.

You can download a copy of the Vision Pyramid by clicking here.

If you want to walk through this process with an expert, schedule a strategy session with us by clicking here.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• A well-defined vision is crucial for the success of a well-being program. 

• The Vision Pyramid provides a structured approach, focusing on Culture, Care, and Metrics to guide program development.

• Effective well-being programs require leadership buy-in, focus on individual care, and measurable outcomes to ensure sustainability and impact.

If you like this content, share it with other well-being administrators.

We’re committed to discussing challenges common to well-being leaders and presenting practical solutions that increase the wisdom of all well-being professionals.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Ever since employee well-being became a common component of organizational people strategy (circa 1995), the question has been raised: should employers be responsible for the well-being of their employees?

It’s a fair question, and one that we believe every well-being professional and benefits leader must have an answer to. If no answer can be given, why put in the effort in the first place?

Undergirding the formally structured well-being program, biometric screenings, and incentive payouts is a fundamental understanding that healthier employees create healthier organizations. However, there have been many organizations throughout history where employees were not particularly healthy, yet the organization had pronounced success.

Sports franchises are a great example. Marcus Freeman is the head football coach for Notre Dame. In a recent interview, he described his work-life balance this way:

Marcus Freeman gets compensated very well. Notre Dame has one of the most successful and recognizable brands in college sports. However, most employees would not describe this work-life balance as healthy.

There must be some understanding of a responsibility for employee well-being within an organization to truly make it a priority; a positive financial outcome is simply not enough.

However, now we are sailing into difficult waters. What can an organization say is their responsibility?

Is an employer responsible for an employee’s heart disease that was 25 years in the making? Are they responsible for mending broken relationships in an employee’s life? Are they responsible for the spending habits of their staff?

When it comes down to it, we need to see well-being in three distinct levels of responsibility.

Employers are directly responsible for workplace well-being.

What happens within the workplace and their direct effects are the responsibility of the employer. This includes everything from the way work is assigned to the way employees treat each other.

Workplace well-being has often been confused with well-being in general. At Propel, we define it as the well-being of an employee within the habits, interactions, and stressors of the workplace.

Employers must be responsible for this form of well-being because they have the power to enact change. A psychologically safe workplace, managers who treat their employees with respect, and work patterns that enable employees to put forward their best products can be developed by each and every employer.

Employers can influence holistic well-being.

An employee’s physical, mental, financial, and social well-being can be influenced by their employer, but are not direct responsibilities. Holistic well-being, as we see it at Propel, constitutes anything that comes into the workplace but is not caused by the workplace. An employer cannot assume responsibility for these factors as they do not have complete control over them.

This should in no way deter well-being professionals and benefits leaders from influencing them, however. Employees spend the bulk of their time awake at or around the workplace. Employers have immense resources that can ignite change and positively affect those who work within their four walls (or on their servers, as it may be). There is no greater influencer than an employer.

A holistic well-being strategy does indeed help an employer, both from a cost standpoint and a personnel standpoint. It is worth pursuing and has incredible impact. Just take this piece of feedback we received recently.

Organizations should use their influence to improve the holistic well-being of their employees. Many of the topics we discuss in this newsletter pertain to using this influence to the greatest extent. We believe that employers ought to and do use their influence for good in the lives of their employees.

Employers can enable personal achievement and fulfillment.

For most people, work is a means to a greater end. That end might be achievement in the world of work as well as resources to use towards achieving another goal. Employers have the ability to facilitate this achievement through compensation, professional development, and creating confidence in their employees.

This facilitation enables employees to pursue the long-term goals in their lives and achieve true fulfillment. Employers cannot guarantee this fulfillment, but they can support and facilitate the process through the resources they provide.

So, should employers be responsible for employee well-being? The answer really depends. However, the question we ought to be asking is: should employers be concerned about employee well-being?

The answer to that question, is a resounding yes.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• Employers have the ability to directly control, influence, and facilitate well-being within their organizations.

• Understanding the various levels of responsibility allows all well-being programming and actions taken to be oriented towards the proper goals.

• Employers have an immense opportunity to positively affect their employees, and it is that opportunity that we believe well-being leaders should be the most excited about.

If you like this content, share it with other well-being administrators.

We’re committed to discussing challenges common to well-being leaders and presenting practical solutions that increase the wisdom of all well-being professionals.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

Employee well-being programming tends to be like the wild west – it’s rarely consistent and frequently reactive.

Industry, employee traits, leadership experience, and regional dispersion cause programs to vary considerably. Nearly every organization has a unique take on what employee well-being looks like. Far too many of them lack a consistent and deliberate strategy to build a sustainable well-being program for their people.

However, the highest performing programs exhibit one or more of the following habits.

These habits have been deliberately integrated into strategic planning and have often become the cornerstone of the program’s success.

None of these habits have a direct cost, only requiring deliberate planning and thoughtful integration into the way each organization approaches well-being.

What traits do the highest performing well-being programs exhibit?

1. They are cohesive

The most effective programs know they must start at the top. They deliver a unified experience that aligns with their values as an organization. Well-being becomes directly related to how they accomplish their mission and is not in conflict with what employees know to be true about their organizational identity.

Cohesive programs prioritize clear communication and demonstrate strategic alignment. The programming doesn’t feel disjointed because it fits within a well-thought-out strategy. Employees feel comfortable buying-in because there is no dissonance between what they know to be true about their organization’s identity and what the well-being program is promoting.

Well-being that exhibits cohesion also excels in accessibility. Instead of telling employees, “Go over here for this, then go over there for that,” they make resources easy to access from a singular place. The dependability and consistency of the program improves an employee’s willingness to engage.

2. They are compelling

Good well-being programs inform. Great well-being programs inspire. Instead of simply offering information, they also inspire change by emotionally connecting with their employees. Leaders of compelling well-being programs know that information by itself often fails to motivate healthy habits. They figure out what matters to employees and try to connect on a human level.

Compelling programs use peer success as a source of inspiration. They allow employees to share their success publicly, amplifying the voice of regular employees who were successful in improving their well-being. Seeing a colleague in a similar situation succeed can be a very powerful motivator for employees, particularly if they felt they could not achieve positive outcomes due to their own circumstances.

The organizations who can successfully inspire their employees towards healthy living often do so by directly connecting the behavior to what the employee finds valuable.

We see many employers struggle with this, particularly when it comes to how their initiatives demonstrate value. A walking challenge is not as valuable for distribution center workers who are on their feet all day. However, these employees would find real value from learning how to improve their daily aches and pains through changes to their posture.

3. They are connected

The pandemic highlighted our need for a genuine community. Forward-thinking organizations have built this into the way they approach employee well-being. Community has become a central focus in their well-being programs and is often the basis for every initiative. They have created a “we’re in this together” mentality that translates to a true movement within the organization.

Connected well-being programs focus on creating true connections between colleagues through interactive and collaborative experiences. Sharing is key to the growth of their program, allowing employees to develop deeper relationships and learn from each other’s experiences.

Companies who exhibit a connected program view well-being as key to creating a sense of belonging. Employees who have shared experiences and a sense that their peers are with them on the journey towards healthier living feel a part of something much bigger than themselves, and certainly bigger than just a job.

4. They are continual

Prioritizing our well-being shouldn’t happen occasionally, it should be a continual way of living. Organizations who establish consistency in their programs see consistency in their results. Instead of running episodic initiatives, high-performing well-being programs look for ways to embed well-being in the daily routines of their employees.

Whether it’s the way a manager responds to an employee who recently lost a loved one or the foods offered in the organization’s cafeteria, daily emphasis on well-being creates an atmosphere where employees are building healthy habits continually. Well-being moves from being just a program to how employees do their jobs.

When well-being becomes continual, it also changes the way systemic challenges are overcome. Episodic initiatives may spark contemplation, but a continual focus on improving well-being leads to true changes. Leaders become much more aware of the root causes that are affecting the well-being of their employees and have more motivation to do something to solve them.

5. They are collective

A small team can only do so much to promulgate well-being within an organization. High-performing programs know this and turn well-being into a shared responsibility across the organization.

Instead of HR owning the responsibility for the organization’s well-being, leaders across the organization are tasked with doing their part. Culturally, the standard of caring for colleagues is set and employees look for ways to improve their teams.

Organizations that choose a collective approach to well-being often rely heavily on their upper and mid-level managers to lead the way. High-performing programs add incentive for managers by tying key performance indicators and objectives back to well-being. Strong programs also ask for constant employee feedback. The programming and initiatives that are prioritized do not originate from the minds of a small team, but from the concerns of the collective.

If you aren’t getting help from your well-being platform partner with instilling these habits into your well-being program, consider what Propel’s full service, customized approach could do to increase your impact and reduce your workload.

Click here to schedule a strategy session with us to speak about your program in more detail.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• The highest performing well-being programs don’t focus solely on what they offer, but how they deliver well-being in the first place.

• Organizations that make well-being cohesive, compelling, connected, continual, and collective set themselves up for sustained success.

• Your organization should be getting help from your well-being vendor partners to establish and strengthen these habits.

If you like this content, share it with other well-being administrators.

We’re committed to discussing challenges common to well-being leaders and presenting practical solutions that increase the wisdom of all well-being professionals.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel

For far too long, employee well-being has rested squarely on the shoulders of the HR department.

It has historically been thought that the well-being of employees largely concerned personal matters that did not spill over into work. Therefore, human resources was tasked with improving employee well-being through programs that were designed for individuals to take the action they felt they needed.

Many HR leaders went beyond this, however. They became aware of the interconnectedness of employee well-being and workplace success, seeing the effect of struggling employees on their teams, their work, and the culture at large. Forward-thinking leaders began working hard to address the whole employee, intentionally building relationships with them and finding ways to speak about total well-being in many areas. The work is rewarding, but very time-consuming and difficult to execute within even a small organization.

The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Many HR teams confess to having more priorities than time and are responsible for dozens of functions beyond the well-being of employees. Their teams can only do so much to build strong well-being within their culture before they become burnt out and in need of assistance themselves.

Why top organizations are shifting their strategy

Increasingly, employers are making well-being a priority.

A 2024 survey found that 46% of leaders plan to make well-being a central component of their human capital strategy over the next three years. To effectively do this, organizations have begun thinking about two things: the quality of their programming and the scale at which they can offer it.

The traditional way of running well-being programs has been easy to scale because of its emphasis on the individual and their personal needs. It has prioritized offering a wide range of benefits and education that employees could self-select from depending on their needs. We’re quickly finding out that this way of doing well-being may not be the most effective.

The same 2024 survey also found that two-thirds of employees continue to experience moderate to major problems with their well-being. Why hasn’t the traditional way of doing well-being worked?

The focus on the individual largely ignores their circumstances, background, and what they do daily. Programming could theoretically be the same across dozens of industries, job types, and regions. Top organizations are recognizing this presents a challenge. Every organization is different, with a unique culture, diverse teams, and nuanced external factors. These must be considered and integrated into well-being strategies in order for organizations to see real progress.

When these nuanced external factors are considered, the burden on a small team of HR leaders grows exponentially. How can a small group of people, no matter how talented, deliver programming that is integrated into a unique corporate culture and optimized for the many variances that exist in daily life?

This challenge is prompting a shift into the way well-being is structured.

Instead of it belonging to a small group to exclusively influence from the top down, it must become a responsibility of all employees. A collective approach to well-being does not ignore the need for strategic, top-down planning. Rather, it extends the accountability and responsibility for carrying out a well-being strategy to all employees. Collective responsibility for well-being not only becomes more effective, it becomes more sustainable.

What collective well-being practically looks like

The progressive organizations that implement collective well-being do so at two specific levels. First, they elevate the responsibilities of leaders to watch over and promote the well-being of their employees.

Top organizations are tying key performance indicators and annual objectives to employee well-being. Quantitative and qualitative data is gathered to assess the state of well-being within different segments of the employee population and managers are evaluated on their results. Some organizations are actually tying bonuses to these numbers to motivate ownership and incentivize the prioritization of well-being.

Second, organizations are increasing the value of peer level relationships and providing unique opportunities for employees to influence each other’s well-being. Well-being champions programs, employee resource groups, and social ambassadors are developing new ways to share the collective responsibility of improving organization-wide well-being. Employee success stories are heavily promoted and social proof is rewarded. Employees who are passionate about a specific area of well-being are being given opportunities to step up and lead their colleagues.

Leading employers are finding that this model more sustainable as it does not depend on a handful of people, but on all employees. This shift is allowing greater investment into well-being programming and resources with more confidence of its effectiveness and longevity.

Personnel can change, but well-being that has become the responsibility of the collective and engrained into the culture will stand. The future of well-being depends not on a few, but on the many.

If you want to see what other organizations are doing and why they’re leaving traditional well-being program design, download our free eBook: The Shift to Culture-focused Well-being.

Inside This FREE Guide, You'll Discover:

The “Intention-Action Gap”: The psychological tripwire that dooms 99% of traditional wellness initiatives before they even start… and how to finally overcome it.

The “Inside Out” Strategy: The secret to building a program that is 100% sustainable and doesn’t collapse the moment a key leader leaves the company.

Stop Paying for “Shelf-Ware”: How to ditch the patchwork of expensive, unused apps and build a single, comprehensive strategy that actually saves you money and administrative headaches.

The Power of the Collective: How to harness your existing company culture to create an unstoppable extrinsic motivator for change—making healthy habits contagious.

The 3-Step “SWITCH” Method: The exact framework employers are using right now to build a resonant, culture-focused program that feels like it was tailor-made for their unique team.

Download it here.

Implications for the well-being administrator:

• The traditional model of placing employee well-being solely on HR is being replaced by a collective approach where responsibility is shared across the entire organization.

• Organizations should consider hold managers directly accountable for their teams' well-being by tying it to performance metrics and financial incentives.

• Making well-being a core component of how people interact and empowering champions to be key representatives turn a solo responsibility into one shared by the collective.

If you like this content, share it with other well-being administrators.

We’re committed to discussing challenges common to well-being leaders and presenting practical solutions that increase the wisdom of all well-being professionals.

An example of a fully customized well-being portal designed by Propel