Embracing Diversity in Wellness Programs at Work

December 2024

Diversity exists on so many levels. Most of the time, diversity is to be celebrated, nurtured and encouraged … and certainly so in the workplace.

Both in the workplace and in our relationships, diversity brings richness and new ways of considering, thinking and doing.

But with diversity can come challenges. Part of managing a diverse workforce is managing a benefits program that helps all workers manage their wellness — financial, emotional, physical and otherwise.

“Wellness” seems to be the benefits focus of the day, and for good reason. It encompasses all the altruistic reasons employers offer benefits in the first place — to help employees manage their families’ lives and obligations beyond the workplace.

Diverse workers have equally diverse wellness needs and situations.   

From a financial perspective, we know that there are some demographic populations that are historically challenged or at greater financial risk. These include women, Native American populations, Black workers, lower-income and/or less educated workers and members of LGBTQ+ communities.

Addressing the needs of various employee populations when crafting benefits and wellness programs is a must for employers looking to harness the potential of a truly diverse workforce and to helping employees manage their own financial, emotional and physical situations … something that most workers feel is an employer’s responsibility. In fact, two-thirds of workers agree that employers should help with financial, emotional and/or physical stresses.

The burden is heavier when trying to help “at risk” workers. For the most part, these groups demonstrate more financial, emotional and physical/health-related stress than the worker population at large, and they have more attendant challenges to “wellness” (Figure 1).

Native American populations — American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, in particular — face greater wellness challenges than many of their working colleagues — and they are slightly more likely than the average to say that workplace benefits are integral to their wellness. They are more stressed by, in increasing orders of magnitude, jobs, work-life balance, regular daily demands, relationships and caregiving responsibilities than most other workers. Increased stress from caregiving burdens is significantly higher for Native American, Hispanic/Latino workers and those with less than a high school or equivalent education.

Hispanic/Latino workers are more stressed by caregiving responsibilities than work or other relationship-driven stress triggers.

Income is also and understandably a key factor in wellness equations, but, with specific stressors, it is less consistently predictable. It’s important to consider that with respect to financial stress, workers who earn up to the $75,000 – $99,9999 range fall below the average for all workers … setting a high salary bar for lower financial wellness. Shy of raising everyone’s salaries to $75,000 or more, wellness programs can help these workers address some of their stressors. Lowest income workers are most stressed by the day-to-day demands of managing life, and when presented with a list of stressors that also include career and personal demands — such as work-life balance, caregiving and personal relationships — these lower-income workers consistently report more stress than those earning more than $100,000 per year.

Notably, adequate insurance coverage is more of a challenge for lower-income workers than for their higher-income counterparts, who may also benefit from professional financial advisory services. This disparity highlights the need for targeted workplace solutions. Lower-income workers, more than any other “at risk” population of workers, are less likely to feel that they have adequate health, life and long-term care coverage. By contrast, Native American populations are very slightly more likely than the overall working population to feel that they have adequate coverage of these insurance types.

At the same time, however, lower-income workers are also less likely to feel that their work benefits are an important part of their financial wellness — perhaps because they have more limited benefits coverage/availability than higher-income workers. Lower-income workers are consistently less likely than their higher-paid peers to feel that their employers offer adequate retirement, health and life insurance coverage. They also are less likely to feel that, in general, their employers help them manage their financial situations. Predictably, they are also less likely to feel fairly compensated for their work.

There is a significant opportunity for workplace wellness support aimed at lower-income workers. Less than 10 percent of those earning under $50,000 utilize financial wellness programs at work, which is only about half to a third of the usage rate among workers who have access to these programs. More important, however, is that nearly 40 percent of those workers say that they do not have financial wellness support from their employers but that they would use it if available.

What’s clear is that wellness as a workplace and benefits focus is here to stay. Efforts to increase employee wellness play an important role for many employees and employers. Programs with education, services and even benefits that address the most pressing needs can help a diverse workforce flourish, both in the workplace and at home.

December 2024   Subscribe

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