Are Workplace Wellness Programs Missing the Mark?

I recently came across an article that criticized company wellness initiatives (like fitness classes, step challenges, diet/nutrition advice, and mindfulness tips) for being intrusive, tone-deaf, or even counterproductive.

Many employees said they felt “lectured” about food, pressured into weight-loss challenges, or told to “burn off” their holiday meals - all while managing long hours, stress, and family responsibilities.

It’s a great point: many of these programs are well-intentioned but poorly executed. Here are some reasons why:

• The wellness program oversteps the boundaries that employees prefer to have with their employers. This is apparent where diet advice can't be one-size-fits-all and, as a consequence, could exasperate, offend, or even be harmful to some employees (particularly those with disordered eating). Additionally, some employees may feel that their diet (or weight) is their personal business and does not concern their employers or co-workers.

• The wellness program has no awareness of the realities of workers’ lives or what is needed in a particular employee situation or circumstance. Employees might have unusual time-demanding family responsibilities, financial constraints, or other life events that inhibit following the program. Workplace wellness initiatives that are "clueless" about such circumstances result in alienating employees or having the opposite effect to what the program intended.

• The wellness program is not the right solution for promoting employee wellbeing. Other initiatives that employers can take to truly promote employee wellness are: provide more time off for proper rest, relaxation, and exercise; pay competitive salaries that support affordable living; increase workforce size for reasonable workload distribution; and offer robust health insurance benefits.

True wellness at work isn’t about step counts or smoothie stations - it’s about creating a culture where employees feel supported, valued, and empowered to take small, meaningful steps toward better health.

Because when we respect the realities of people’s lives, wellness becomes something they want to do, not another box to check.