Twenty Years in Corporate Wellness: What I’ve Learned About What Really Makes Wellness Work  

Twenty years in corporate wellness…am I really that old? 

When I started my career more than 20 years ago, I wasn’t working in corporate wellness. I was working in Human Resources. 

Back then, workplace wellness looked very different. 

Wellness wasn’t necessarily viewed as a strategic business priority. Leadership support could be hard to find, budgets were limited, and wellness programs were often seen as a “nice to have” rather than an important part of creating a successful organization. 

But even then, I believed there was something more to it. 

I’ve always been passionate about taking care of my own health and well-being, and I naturally found myself encouraging others to do the same. Whether I was motivating a coworker to make a healthier choice, encouraging someone to find balance, or simply making sure someone felt included, I began to see something powerful: 

When people feel better, they show up differently. 

They bring more energy to their work. They connect differently with others. They’re more engaged. And, perhaps most importantly, they feel valued. 

A Lesson I Learned Early 

One of the people who shaped my perspective early in my career was our insurance broker. 

Long before corporate wellness became the strategic conversation it is today, she understood the connection between healthy people and healthy organizations. She saw the bigger picture—and she taught me an important lesson: 

Meaningful change happens when leaders believe in the vision and believe in their people. 

That lesson has stuck with me for more than two decades. 

And after 20 years in this field, I can confidently say this: 

The Program Isn’t the Magic. The Culture Is. 

You can have the most innovative wellness platform. 

You can offer incredible resources, engaging challenges, health coaching, webinars, incentives and programming. 

But none of it matters if employees don’t feel supported by the culture around them. 

Employees notice what leaders say. 

But they notice what leaders do even more. 

When leaders model healthy behaviors, encourage balance, communicate the importance of well-being and genuinely invest in their people, something changes. 

Wellness stops feeling like another HR initiative. 

It becomes part of who the organization is. 

Culture Starts at the Top. Period. 

Wellness is ultimately about people. 

It’s about creating an environment where employees feel supported, respected and—most importantly—empowered to take care of themselves. 

And when organizations get that right, the impact goes far beyond individual health. 

People become more engaged. Teams become more connected. Employees are more likely to feel valued and invested in the organization. And a strong culture of well-being can become an important part of attracting and retaining great people. 

Because at the end of the day, people want to know one thing: 

Do I matter here? 

When leadership demonstrates that the answer is yes, everyone benefits. 

Employees thrive. Organizations become stronger. And wellness becomes more than a program. 

It becomes a business strategy. 

Twenty Years Later, I Still Believe the Same Thing 

If my 20 years in corporate wellness have taught me anything, it’s that wellness doesn’t have to be complicated. 

It has to be intentional. 

It has to be supported. 

And it has to be about people. 

So, if I could leave you with two takeaways after two decades in this field, they would be these: 

1. Leadership buy-in changes everything. 
Without leadership support, wellness struggles to become part of the culture. 

2. Wellness is about people—not programs. 
The best wellness strategy is the one that helps people feel supported, valued and empowered to take care of themselves. 

Twenty years later, I’m still passionate about helping organizations create healthier workplaces. 

And I’m even more convinced that when we put people first, everybody wins.