While adoption of workplace wellbeing programmes has been steadily growing over the past few decades, it took the global pandemic arriving in 2020 to really bring the importance of the concept into sharper focus.
With large numbers of employees having to shift to remote working or self-isolate during that time, many suffered from increasing levels of stress, anxiety and depression – problems that needed a better corporate strategy once people started returning to ‘normal’ work.
But what should a workplace wellbeing programme look like in this post-pandemic world? What can health club operators offer to companies and what should the corporate world be asking of health and wellness providers?
At the heart of the industry lie a number of leading workplace wellbeing aggregators – the all-important connectors – who bring the worlds of health and fitness and big business together for mutual benefit.
From the perspective of the health clubs, aggregators say their deals can decrease or eliminate acquisition costs, although not everyone agrees.
As for corporates, they can benefit from the frictionless delivery of services that will bring the desired benefits to their employees and ultimately to the company as a whole.
A growing marketplace
In 2024, workplace wellbeing is certainly a big deal. Across Europe alone, revenues from the workplace wellness market are predicted to expand with a CAGR of 6.5 per cent over the period of 2023 to 2032, according to the recent Europe Workplace Wellness Market Forecast by Inkwood Research. This growth is predicted to be accompanied by a revenue share of US$43 billion over the same period.
According to corporate wellbeing company Epassi UK, which works with over 2,000 corporate clients, recent figures showed that 83 per cent of employers in the UK had reported a rise in wellbeing benefit requests from their employees.
So it seems that people are continuing to invest in their wellbeing in all areas – from holistic therapies to nutrition services to health club memberships – and are increasingly relying on their employers to help them with this.
And according to The Return on Wellbeing Study launched by workplace wellbeing provider Wellhub [formerly Gympass] in May 2024, companies can look forward to ever-increasing returns on their investment in wellbeing programmes.
The report, based on a survey of 2,000 HR leaders across nine countries, revealed that 99 per cent of leaders found their wellbeing programme increased productivity, while 98 per cent said it reduced employee turnover and 97 per cent claimed that greater engagement in a programme drove higher ROI.
With this in mind, we asked three workplace wellbeing aggregators –Wellhub, Hussle [now part of Egym Wellpass] and Epassi – to talk about what’s currently working in this sector, what advice they’d give to companies looking to introduce or up-level an employee wellness programme and what fitness trends and wellbeing services are likely to be in demand over the next five years.



