The corporate wellness landscape continues to adjust as businesses begin restructuring what a typical workday looks like for employees. A recent survey revealed that 98 percent of business leaders plan to offer or expand what have become essential benefits during 2020 and 2021:

• Childcare and senior care benefits
• Fexible working schedules and location options
• Expanded mental health support

As part of that effort, there are some low-cost solutions that incorporate supporting benefits like food delivery, grocery shopping services, and even meditation. Here are a few of the most in-demand wellness vendors that make life a little easier for corporate employees, thereby easing the emotional burden of caring for loved ones, balancing life and work, and maintaining positive mental health practices.

Guided Meditation Apps

The benefits of meditation on physical and mental health are well-documented. Guided meditation has always been a popular class option for in-person fitness centers, and now the competitive marketplace has expanded to include apps like Calm. The business version also gives employees full access to an online wellness learning library and offers a suite of engagement solutions designed to improve sleep, resilience, and mindfulness, while offering employers some serious in-suite analytics to provide HR benefits insights.

Meal Subscription Services

Shopping and meal delivery services are a convenience option that can reduce stress while promoting healthy eating habits. HelloFresh is one service that has seen substantial growth in recent months, delivering weekly meal kits that are customized for individuals, couples, or families with a wide variety of dietary lifestyle choices.

Behavior Change Apps

Healthy lifestyles are built one step at a time, and often that means first overcoming unhealthy habits and addictions. The QuitGenius website bills its employer offering as “An addiction program built for the modern distributed workforce.” The program involves digital delivery of customized, cognitive behavioral change therapies, a personal recovery coach, virtual provider visits and medication-assisted therapies, and even app-connected testing devices for accountability.

Another area where behavioral change therapies have seen phenomenal growth is the digital weight loss app industry. No longer billed as “diet” programs, apps such as WW, Noom, Lifesum, and LoseIt! were downloaded 31 million times domestically from March 2020 to March 2021. The apps still offer food tracking, but they’ve also expanded their platforms to gamify weight loss and healthy eating habits to improve users’ engagement and long-term success.

There’s a lot to unpack as we head into the second half of 2021. If the options seem overwhelming, they don’t have to. Your employees will tell you what benefits and services they need if you ask the right questions. Contact us at info@aquilaltd.com to learn more about Aquila’s more than 25 years creating custom fitness and wellness solutions for public and private clients. We know wellness, and can help you structure a benefits solutions package that is timely, relevant, and useful for your employee population.