Building a value case for health benefits

Start with what ill health already costs

The firmest part of any value case is the cost a company already carries. In Great Britain, 1.9 million working people had a work-related illness in the 2024 to 2025 reporting year, 964,000 of them with work-related stress, depression or anxiety [1]. In the same year 40.1 million working days were lost to work-related illness and injury [1]. The estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions was £22.9 billion for 2023 to 2024 [1].

Mental health accounts for a large share. One analysis put the cost of poor mental health to UK employers at £51bn a year, with presenteeism, working while unwell, costing around £24bn [2]. A study of costs for American employers found that presenteeism made up 18% to 60% of all costs for the 10 conditions it measured, more than medical costs in most cases [3].

Absence is rising as well, and a survey of 1,101 organisations reported an average of 9.4 days of absence per person a year, the highest in more than 15 years [4]. Your own figures matter more than national ones, so begin with them.

What the evidence shows on return

The evidence on return is mixed, and the strongest studies find the smallest effects. An analysis of mental health support across UK employers reported a return of nearly £4.70 for every £1 spent [2]. A review of earlier workplace wellness studies estimated that medical costs fell by about $3.27, and absence costs by about $2.73, for every dollar spent [5].

Randomised trials tell a more modest story. A trial across 160 worksites found no significant effect after 18 months on clinical markers of health, medical spending, absence or job performance, and its authors wrote that the results may temper expectations of financial return [6]. A trial of nearly 5,000 people found no significant causal effect on medical spending or productivity after more than two years, and its confidence intervals ruled out 84% of previous estimates on medical spending and absence [7].

A study of workplace wellness programmes for the US Department of Labor found that, over five years, participation was linked to an average annual difference in health care costs of $157, a change that was not statistically significant, alongside improvements in habits such as exercise and smoking [8].

Why the large multiples rarely hold

People who join a health programme are often healthier before it begins. In the trial of nearly 5,000 people, those who took part already had lower medical spending and healthier habits than those who did not, which makes a simple comparison of users and non-users look better than the programme is [7].

A finance team knows this pattern from other investments, and a case built on a headline multiple invites the question it cannot answer. A case built on the costs you already carry, on access people will use, on a simpler set of contracts and on measures agreed in advance holds up under review.

How to build a case your finance team trusts

Build the case from your own numbers and the cost of the way things run today. Count the health plans, suppliers, invoices and renewal dates you hold, and the hours your people team spends on them. Set the price of one membership beside the total of everything it replaces.

Then describe what changes for people. Measure how long it takes to see a doctor today in each city against the new plan, and whether leaders and families are covered on the same terms. These are measurable on the first day, and they do not depend on a forecast.

Present any return as a range drawn from the evidence, with its limits stated. A finance team will trust a modest range it can test more than a large multiple it cannot.

Measures to agree before the plan begins

Agree these with finance before the first day, so the review a year later reads against a baseline everyone accepted. Every one can be reported without naming a person.

• The share of people who used the plan at least once in the year.
• The time from a request to a first appointment, by city.
• Days of absence per person, against your own figure for the year before.
• Retention among leaders and their teams.
• The number of health contracts, suppliers and invoices the company holds.
• The hours the people team spends on health benefits each month.
• Satisfaction with the care, asked in the same way each year.

What to promise, and what to leave out

Promise better access and a simpler company to run, with a fair report each year. Leave out any figure for return that the company could not defend in a year’s time. Professional guidance points the same way, advising organisations to evaluate what their health and wellbeing activity changes for attendance and engagement [4].

Evaluation is where most firms fall short. In the same survey 64% of organisations were taking steps to identify or reduce stress, and only 50% believed their efforts were effective [4]. Agreeing the measures in advance closes that gap.

What The Wellness for teams does

The Wellness for teams is one membership for the whole firm, its leaders and their families, with inpatient, outpatient and dental care, diagnostics and health programmes in 13 cities and a concierge who arranges everything. The company receives one invoice, renewed once a year, and anonymised reporting only, with small groups left out, under a data processing agreement.

Outside the United States it takes the place of national plans at renewal, and in the United States it is the global layer above the medical plan. Leaders can start in one morning and the firm within 10 days.