5 Trends Shaping Employee Rewards Programs in 2025

How’s your employee rewards program?

Maybe you’ve got it dialed in, engagement is up, healthcare costs are down. Or maybe your employee rewards program has been coasting on old-school industry trends.

If it’s been a while since you gave your employee rewards program some attention, here’s some food for thought:

Companies that invest in comprehensive wellness programs report a:

• 28% reduction in sick leave
• 26% decrease in healthcare costs

In other words: Health screenings and gym-memberships may not be enough to improve population health anymore.

you want your wellness program to produce better results, paying attention to current trends in employee rewards programs can help you make adjustments to boost ROI.

In 2025, organizations that prioritize holistic, data-driven, and personalized wellness strategies are seeing measurable gains in productivity, retention, and employee satisfaction. And that’s what you want, right?

Ready to make it happen? Check out these 5 trends shaping employee rewards programs

1. Holistic Wellness Programs

Organizations are increasingly adopting a comprehensive approach to employee well-being by integrating holistic wellness into their employee rewards programs that address:

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Emotional health
• Financial wellness

By doing so, companies create a more supportive environment that motivates employees and boosts engagement.

The holistic trend. Currently, about 85% of large and 54% of small workplaces offer wellness programs with integrated incentives.

• It’s a trend that reflects a growing emphasis on holistic wellness in employee rewards program strategies.

Action step: Evaluate your employee rewards program. Look for gaps in your program, and make changes.

• You could add incentives like discounts on fitness memberships, mental health app subscriptions, or bonuses for completing wellness challenges.
• Or you could use a comprehensive wellness platform like FitLyfe 360 to give your employee rewards program an upgrade.

2. AI Integrations

You’ve heard of AI tools like ChatGBT created by OpenAI and Gemini created by Google, right?

In just a few short years (ChatGBT launched in 2022), AI has already impacted employee rewards programs by creating a more personalized wellness experience for every participant.

AI-driven platforms can provide personalized health recommendations, virtual coaching, and real-time health monitoring.

You can use AI to support your wellness program to:

• Analyze employee health data
• Identify engagement patterns
• Create customized incentives and rewards based on individual health risks

The AI-wellness trend. An estimated 85% of large organizations with employee wellness programs offer individualized programs for:

• Weight loss
• Smoking cessation
• Coaching to support positive behavioral and lifestyle changes

This approach fosters deeper engagement and maximizes the impact of wellness incentives.

Action step: Upgrade your employee rewards program with AI-integrations that personalize wellness incentives based on:

• Individual health data
• Activity levels
• Biometric screening data
• Wearable data
• Employee preferences, making rewards more meaningful and motivating.

3. Mental Health Support

Did you know an estimated 77% of employees experience work-related stress on a regular basis?

Work-related stress comes with a price that can negatively impact your bottom line in the form of:

• Emotional exhaustion
• Lost productivity
• Irritability & anger towards co-workers and customers
• Desire to quit
• Health issues linked to chronic stress

The mental-health support trend. Work-related stress and burnout is such a widespread problem, more employers are implementing programs that offer:

• Mental health resources
• Stress management tools, resources & workshops
• Health coaching, counseling & therapy
• Options to encourage work-life balance

Action step: Are your employees stressed out? Here’s a hint: Most probably experience stress at work and home some or all of the time. But you can do something about it like:

• Offer paid mental health days
• Teach employees how to manage stress in healthy ways
• Help employees learn mindfulness, meditation & relaxation techniques
• Encourage employees to be active to reduce stress
• Fun fact: You’ll find tools and resources to support mental health in the FitLyfe 360 platform.

4. Support Diverse Life Stages

Every organization is different. Maybe you’ve got a young workforce of millennials, and some Gen Xers. Maybe the last of the Baby Boomers are part of your team. Or maybe your population is a mix of all three.

If you want to get the most out of your employee rewards program, it’s important to understand the demographics of your population.

The diverse-life stages trend. If you’re young and single, married with three kids, or edging closer to retirement, your life circumstances are going to look a lot different.

• More organizations are recognizing the diverse needs of a multigenerational workforce.
• And that means companies are expanding benefits to support employees at various life stages.

Action step: Audit your current benefits and introduce or expand resources that support employees at different life stages, such as:

• Family planning
• Elder-care support
• Fertility benefits
• Parental leave
• Financial wellness
• Menopause-related assistance

5. Flexible Work Arrangements

Blame it on COVID-19. In 2019, just 6.5% of U.S. employees worked remotely. But by 2021, an estimated 40 to 50% of employees worked remotely in most industries.

And while many employees have returned to on-site work, there’s still a demand for flexible work arrangements.

The flexible-work trend. Flexible work arrangements have become a cornerstone of employee wellness strategies, especially since the pandemic. Several recent surveys found that:

• 83% of employees consider flexible working hours important
• 58% want to work remotely at least part of the time

And you can make it happen. Employers are offering flexible work options such as”

• Remote work
• Flexible hours
• Compressed workweeks

The result: It can help your employees balance professional and personal responsibilities.

Action step: Find out if your population wants a flexible schedule or remote-work options. If they do, look for ways to make changes to scheduling and staffing to offer flexible scheduling options to support work-life balance.

Level Up Your Employee Rewards Program in 2025

Employee rewards programs are no longer a nice-to-have. They’re a strategic investment that directly impacts productivity, engagement, and your bottom line.

And these five trends are changing the way employee wellness works:

• Holistic wellness programs
• AI integrations
• Mental health support
• Support for diverse life stages
• Flexible work schedules

If you’ve already made adjustments to your employee rewards program, keep up the good work. If you think it’s time for some wellness-program upgrades, now is always the best time to get started

And we can help. The FitLyfe 360 platform makes it easy to upgrade your wellness program based on current trends and best practices. To learn more, give us a call at 800-692-4415 or request a demo.