From Annual Participation to Year-Round Engagement: How a California-Based Company Evolved Its Wellness Strategy

A successful employee wellbeing program doesn’t stay static. The strongest programs evolve alongside the people they serve.

A global, industrial products company based in California is a great example. Its Personify Health Essential wellness program supports 566 medically eligible employees and spouses and represents an annual wellness investment of approximately $270,000.

But the program’s success isn’t simply about the investment—it’s about how the organization has adapted that investment to better meet employee needs.

Listening to What Employees Want

For years, the company offered a medical premium credit as its primary wellness incentive. While employees valued the financial benefit, the team wanted to understand what would motivate them to participate more.

So, they asked.

Through an employee survey, the company learned employees preferred Rewards Cash—a more immediate and flexible incentive they could use through the wellness platform.

The organization transitioned from a medical premium incentive to an on-platform Rewards Cash model, giving employees more flexibility and making the value of participation more tangible.

Creating More Reasons to Come Back

The company also replaced its annual wellness game with a quarterly program structure.

Instead of asking employees to stay engaged with one program all year, the portal, challenges, and reward opportunities now reset every three months. Employees can earn up to $150 each quarter, or $600 annually.

Each quarter creates a fresh opportunity to communicate with employees, introduce new challenges, promote resources, and re-engage those who may not have participated previously.

Together, the move to Rewards Cash and a quarterly structure made the program feel more immediate, flexible, and achievable.

The results followed: over approximately six months, the company saw a 34% increase in daily engagement and a 21% increase in enrollment. After the initial growth period, participation leveled out and remained consistent.

Building Wellness Beyond the Incentive

Incentives can encourage participation, but the company’s strategy demonstrates the value of pairing them with a broader wellbeing experience.

Over nearly seven years of partnership with WellnessIQ, the organization has built multiple ways for employees to engage.

Onsite biometric screenings make preventive health activities convenient, while PCP forms and lab vouchers extend access to new hires, remote employees, and those unable to attend onsite events. Screenings are also integrated into the wellness program and tied to points, connecting preventive care to the larger incentive strategy.

An annual wellness fair brings WellnessIQ and other benefit partners onsite, often alongside biometric screenings, creating additional visibility and energy around the program.

Throughout the year, quarterly step challenges, double-point campaigns, raffles, and other limited-time initiatives give employees additional reasons to return to the platform.

Instead of wellness being something employees hear about once or twice a year, it remains an active part of the employee experience.

Consistency Creates Momentum

One of the most important pieces of the company’s success is consistency.

A nearly seven-year partnership with WellnessIQ has allowed the program to evolve rather than continually start over. The strategy isn’t dependent on finding one perfect challenge or incentive—it’s about listening, evaluating what employees respond to, and making thoughtful adjustments.

Employees wanted more flexible rewards, so the incentive changed. An annual structure was difficult to sustain, so the program moved to quarterly opportunities. Different employees needed different ways to participate, so onsite and alternative screening options were added.

Each adjustment made participation easier, more relevant, and more rewarding.

What Employers Can Learn From This Approach

The company’s experience is a reminder that effective wellbeing programs should never be static.

Listen to employees. Give them choices. Create multiple opportunities to engage. Make rewards meaningful. And keep showing up throughout the year.

For this organization, that approach helped drive a 34% increase in daily engagement and a 21% increase in enrollment in just six months, with those gains remaining consistent after the initial growth period.

Successful wellbeing programs aren’t built around a single moment of participation. They’re built by giving employees reasons to come back—quarter after quarter, year after year.