{"id":4181,"date":"2024-11-12T07:26:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T14:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/compt.io\/pillars\/health-wellness-stipends-perks\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T13:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:21:02","slug":"health-and-wellness-stipends","status":"publish","type":"guide","link":"https:\/\/compt.io\/guide\/health-and-wellness-stipends\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to Health and Wellness Stipends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If your current wellness program isn\u2019t quite landing with your team, you\u2019re not alone. Employees report high stress and uneven wellbeing: in the Gallup report State of the Global Workplace 2025<\/a>, 40% said they felt \u201cstress a lot of the previous day,\u201d and only one in three are thriving in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t a surprise. Companies often find themselves offering wellness perks that, despite good intentions, end up feeling disconnected from what employees really need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, many employees today want more than a simple gym membership, a meditation app subscription, or some other one-size-fits-all wellness benefit. They want flexibility, personalization, and a program that truly aligns with their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forward-thinking benefits leaders are responding. The 2025 Benefits Trends<\/a> research from WTW shows employers are actively recalibrating programs to deliver more value amid cost pressure, and SHRM\u2019s 2025 Benefits Survey<\/a> confirms continued adoption of flexible benefits like wellness stipends and LSAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health costs have also entered the conversation in a big way. The 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey<\/a> from KFF reported average family premiums at $25,572 (up 7% YoY), and Mercer<\/a> projects a 6.5% employer cost increase in 2026 even after cost-management steps (and up to ~9% without them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the current state of the world, the winning strategy is to give your entire workforce the freedom to take charge of their own health and wellness, all while saving your company money. But how do you build a program that checks all those boxes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We developed this guide to everything you need to know about today’s top employee and employer benefit: health and wellness stipends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a health and wellness stipend?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, a definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A health and wellness stipend is an employer-funded allowance that reimburses employees for eligible well-being expenses.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Depending on how a company designs their health and wellness stipend program<\/a>, eligible expenses can include a wide range of wellness-related items and services, including gym memberships<\/a>, mental health apps, fitness subscriptions, wearable fitness trackers, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further details on health and wellness stipend programs:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n