Livia de Bastos Martini
Chief People Officer
Wellhub
Episode 317
Employee Well-being: Beyond a Perk, It's Your Strategic Business Imperative
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleFebruary 4, 2025 · 12:52
Thesis
“Companies must view employee well-being as a strategic investment, not a perk, as it directly drives business success through improved engagement, retention, and reduced costs by addressing diverse individual needs.”
Show notes
88% of employees say well-being is as important to them as salary. And 83% say they'd consider leaving a company that doesn't prioritize it. Those numbers come from Wellhub's own research — and Livia de Bastos Martini, their Chief People Officer, has spent her career building the case that they're not just employee sentiment data. They're business metrics.
Livia came to people leadership through investment banking and management consulting, which gave her an analytical frame she's applied consistently: wellness programs are investments, and they should be evaluated like investments — with expected returns in reduced absenteeism, lower turnover, and improved productivity. The organizations that still classify wellness as a perk are leaving measurable value on the table. The organizations that treat it as strategy are building a retention and engagement advantage their competitors can't quickly replicate.
Her experience across global markets has also shaped a strong conviction about personalization: a wellness program designed for headquarters doesn't automatically work in São Paulo or Singapore. Each region has different cultural norms, different health infrastructure, different baseline stressors, and different generational compositions. Effective global wellness strategy requires treating each major region as a distinct design problem rather than applying a template with local translation. She's also enthusiastic about the role of digital tools in making wellness more accessible — not as a replacement for in-person resources, but as the infrastructure that makes flexible, always-available support possible at scale.
- Well-being as a business metric, not a perk — quantifying wellness ROI through absenteeism reduction, turnover cost, and productivity impact
- Personalized wellness programs — why one-size-fits-all approaches fail and how to design for actual employee needs across regions and generations
- Global wellness strategy — treating each market as a distinct design challenge rather than applying a headquarters template
- Digital infrastructure for flexible wellness access — scalable tools that make support available when and where employees need it
- Data-driven wellness program management — measuring impact and iterating based on what the numbers actually show
- Culture of wellness vs. wellness programs — building an environment that encourages well-being rather than just providing resources
Built by People is sponsored by Previ, the private pricing network that saves employees an average of $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone and auto insurance — free for companies to launch and maintain.
What you'll take away
- 1Employees value well-being as much as salary (88% agree), and 83% would consider leaving a company that doesn't prioritize wellness, a significant increase from 68% in 2022.
- 2Flexible and personalized wellness programs yield the greatest impact on engagement and retention, as 'one-size-fits-all' approaches fail to meet the diverse needs of different generations and global regions.
- 3HR leaders must leverage data to understand specific employee needs and foster a culture that encourages wellness, recognizing trends like midday wellness activities and the 'wellness hour' at 6 PM.
- 4Wellness programs are a strategic investment, not merely a perk, offering measurable benefits such as reduced absenteeism, healthcare costs, and burnout, while boosting engagement and retention.
- 5Companies should prioritize their people, build cohesive cultures, actively listen to teams, and proactively create supportive environments where individuals can thrive both personally and professionally.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Livia de Bastos Martini strongly asserts that wellness programs are 'absolutely not a nice-to-have' and 'way too far from a perk nowadays,' pushing back on the conventional view that they are optional benefits.
In Livia's words
“Today, we can see that the employees value well-being as much as salary. One of the surveys that we conducted said that this is true for 88% of the people.”
Highlights the significant shift in employee priorities towards well-being, elevating it to the same importance as financial compensation.
“If the company does not prioritize wellness, 83% of them say that they would consider leaving a company. And this from our surveys has evolved from 68% in 2022.”
Provides concrete data demonstrating the direct link between wellness prioritization and employee retention, showing a rapid increase in this trend.
“If you have something that's one size fits all, it doesn't really work anymore. You can't catch all of the intricacies of the people working at your company. Different individuals have different needs.”
Emphasizes the critical need for personalized and flexible wellness solutions to cater to a diverse workforce effectively.
“Our data shows that hybrid program participants are more engaged with the company and much less likely to leave. And we all know, everybody who works in HR knows that hiring, firing, training is just extremely expensive.”
Connects wellness program participation directly to business outcomes like engagement, retention, and cost savings related to HR operations.
“People drive business success, so whatever you do to help your people, make them feel valued, supported, is the best way to create the best business results. This is absolutely not a nice-to-have. Everybody has to do that.”
This strong concluding statement reinforces the core thesis: people-centric strategies, especially around wellness, are fundamental for business success.
The problems this episode addresses
- •High employee turnover risk due to lack of prioritized wellness programs (83% of employees would consider leaving).
- •Ineffective or low-engagement wellness programs resulting from a 'one-size-fits-all' approach.
- •Increasing absenteeism, healthcare costs, and employee burnout without adequate wellness support.
- •Challenges in attracting and retaining top talent in a competitive market where employees 'shop' for companies prioritizing well-being.
- •Difficulty in justifying HR investments and demonstrating tangible ROI for people-centric initiatives to leadership.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
You started your career in investment banking before moving into management consulting
MRK: My Career Journey
If company does not prioritize wellness, 83% of employees would consider leaving, survey finds
Employee demand for workplace Well-being
What trends in hybrid wellness programs and digital tools are shaping future of employee wellness
How to Leverage the Hybrid Wellness Program
Companies need to focus on their people, Livia says
Livia On Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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