Read: Obesity should be our biggest health focus, says Dr. Oz

"There's data coming out about how wellness programs don't make much of a return," said Susan Tufts, wellness manager at L.L. Bean. "I can't speak to wellness programs in general, but what we've seen with ours–and our health costs–and they are very impactful."

"The more we can do to keep our employees healthy, the more money we have and can invest in our business," she said.

Read: 10 best companies for employee financial health

Though L.L. Bean had already focused on many wellness initiatives company-wide–including offering onsite fitness centers, health education classes, tobacco-free campuses, healthy foods in the cafeteria, and an employee assistance program–they went a step further by piloting a program specifically to combat obesity.

Here are 9 wellness tips learned from the BeanStrong program.

1. Collect data.

Getting biometric checks is vital to collect for both the employee and the employer (and, of course, for the wellness program).

"The employees get this information and start having an understanding about their health status," Tufts said. "As a company, we get data about what our company health risks are and start to think about what we can do about it. What we do is look at our risks as a company and use that to develop our wellness program."

2. Be honest.

When L.L. Bean decided to address obesity, specifically among employees in its call center, execs worried it would initially be an awkward conversation, explained Eric Oickle, exercise physiologist and wellness specialist at L.L. Bean.

But explaining the reasons for piloting the program to the employees made them open and accepting, he said. "Being upfront about why you are doing something is really important and gets employees to understand why you're doing this."

3. Be flexible.

When the BeanStrong program first began, execs hoped to begin with 10 participants.

But when about 25 filled out applications, met qualifications, and were excited about the prospect of losing weight, the company re-evaluated and accepted all applicants.

4. Have a variety of offerings.

Though fitness classes were a big part of the program, the BeanStrong program also offered nutrition education classes, a mental health component, and biometric evaluations.

5. Know, and accept, that results will vary.

"Everyone was in the same program and everyone had very different results," Oickle said. "Some people lost a lot of weight, upwards of 60 pounds, while some even gained weight throughout the course of the program."

You just have to accept that not everyone will have the same results in the hard data.

6. Don't just think about pounds.

Weight loss is only one of many positive outcomes. "It's an important thing to measure, but don't make it all about the scale," Oickle said.

Wellness is about so much more than weight. For example, about 1 in 4 participants in the program said participating in the program had increased their perceptions of themselves both physically and and mentally, while more than 30 percent had cut out eating fatty foods.

7. Make changes.

L.L. Bean reassessed the BeanStrong program after the first year–and continues to do so.

Among the realizations after the pilot program: A year long program is not necessarily optimal; social media could be more beneficial, and employees need reassurance and communication.

The company introduced BeanStrong II, which was a 4-month program, which was just as effective.

"Both programs had similar outcomes," Oickle said. "We were able to do more programs over the course of the year; it freed up company cost and money doing shorter, more frequent programs."

8. Take a break.

"It's very intensive to run this program, and exhausting," Tufts said. "In January, we are going to take a break and take a step back and look at our numbers. Obesity numbers are getting better, but diabetes numbers aren't getting better; so maybe that's what we will look at next."

9. Know it has a ripple effect.

A wellness program can change behaviors well after the program ends.

"After the four months ended, people continued on their own and lost more weight," Oickle said. "And that was one of our main goals–that people would do this on their own."

Additionally, he explained, the wellness impact was much bigger than just that employee. "It was a monster we developed–people were talking about it all over the company."

And, of course, it can extend outside of the company, too. "You aren't just impacting that employee, you are impacting their families, their coworkers, their friends," Tufts said. "The bottom line is we are improving people's lives."