Providing employee benefits is far more complex than it might first appear. Several factors come into play — stakeholder engagement, available resources, workforce demographics, and informed decision-making. For global organisations, the challenge grows as they try to balance the mantra of “think global, act local.” At their core, employee benefits serve a vital purpose: to attract, retain, and motivate talent. Over time, these programs have evolved beyond financial perks to focus on holistic well-being — a crucial link between how employees feel and how they perform. Today, many benefit providers are going beyond traditional offerings, incorporating emotional support and preventive care to truly nurture employee wellness.
One of the most rewarding initiatives I’ve had the privilege of helping launch was the Employee Fitness program. Unlike a typical healthcare vendor-driven scheme, this was a homegrown effort — a genuine top-down and bottom-up collaboration that managed to engage 70% of the entire company.
The premise was simple yet brilliant: employees were encouraged to use fitness wearables (partly subsidised by the company) to track steps and active minutes, which fed into a company-wide dashboard. The dashboard showed participation levels, step counts, and activity averages. Anyone who hits 7,500 steps or 20 active minutes per day could earn prizes through quarterly themed challenges. The more consistent the activity, the better the rewards — and soon, competition was fierce in every region. Global participation soared, and the program became a shared movement rather than just a metric.
So, what did this initiative actually achieve?
- Increased Employee Engagement: Reaching engagement at a global scale is no easy feat, yet this program drew in employees company-wide.
- Culture of Wellness: Launched well before “well-being” became a corporate buzzword, it naturally encouraged healthier habits. From walking meetings to creative ways of earning extra steps, employees started integrating movement into daily life. One colleague even joked that vacuuming the house for “active minutes” earned extra points with their spouse.
- Cross-Location Team Building: International teams connected through shared challenges, cheering each other on to keep their step counts (and team morale) high.
- Employee Rewards and Recognition: The dashboard became the most-visited company page. People couldn’t wait to see their ranking or discuss upcoming prizes, which soon became trophies of pride and conversation starters about healthy living.
Of course, the benefits went beyond fitness. The program became a mirror of the company’s culture — one that genuinely cared about its people. It proved that when employees feel supported in their personal well-being, they bring greater energy, creativity, and collaboration to work. In many ways, this initiative embodied one of the company’s core values: agility. After all, being agile isn’t just about business performance — it’s about building resilience, both as individuals and as a collective. And in the end, that’s the true measure of a company culture that thrives.—
Before using your benefits budget, it’s worth stepping back to study your needs and design a strategy that maximises return. At Axter, we approach benefits as a strategic investment within your People Strategy and Total Rewards framework: we start with the data, align priorities with business goals, and set governance and KPIs. The result is a benefits ecosystem that supports wellbeing and engagement, and delivers measurable outcomes: lower absenteeism, higher productivity, and smoother organisational functioning.
If you want to transform your benefits strategy into measurable business results, explore our Absenteeism Reduction Plans (ARP) and discover how to reduce lost days while strengthening engagement and performance.
