Why is lifestyle coaching a top benefit with so many employers?

When it comes to the top benefits for employers, what typically comes to mind/? According to Forbes, employer-covered health care, life insurance and retirement plans top the list. However, one extremely popular benefit that many people don’t talk a lot about is lifestyle coaching—a benefit that many employers are interested in.

One recent survey we conducted with our clients at HealthFitness told us 92% of employees are satisfied with their coaching programs. That’s a big number, but it makes sense when you think about the massive impact lifestyle coaching can have for employees—and employers.

First, let’s define lifestyle coaching because there are a lot of different coaching programs out there. Health coaches help employees better their health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally, through guidance and support. With lifestyle coaching, the approach differs from health coaching because it goes beyond the physical aspects of good health to support the whole person including emotional, financial and social wellbeing.

What does lifestyle coaching look like in action? Employees can usually choose to meet and talk in-person with their coach or enroll in digital coaching — or both! Lifestyle coaches seek to understand employees’ unique situations, their challenges, strengths and opportunities (which they often don’t recognize!). These coaches help employees brainstorm ideas, problem solve, set realistic goals and create plans of action. Ultimately, they are accountability partners and can provide judgement-free support to employees when pursuing their health and wellbeing goals.

So, why is lifestyle coaching starting to become more relevant as an employee benefit?

A few reasons come to mind:

Lifestyle coaching is filling a key need for employees with chronic conditions

Lifestyle coaches provide coaching for all employees – even those with chronic conditions. For these folks, coaching can be a powerful adjunct to the clinical care provided by the medical system, which doesn’t have time for the lifestyle change counseling process.

Studies have shown that physicians simply do not have the time, infrastructure, resources, or do not receive compensation for counseling patients on how to provide and implement proper lifestyle practices or education. Instead, the physician’s focus is usually on acute medical issues, chronic disease and pharmacological therapies versus prevention. Lifestyle coaches, on the other hand, can support and provide this missing service with one-on-one support.

Lifestyle coaching supports all dimensions of wellbeing

When you think of a health coach or a personal trainer, what comes to mind? Physical health, right? Lifestyle coaches focus on much more. Their aim is on physical health, for sure. But these coaches are also focused on emotional, social, and financial health, too, and all of those are intertwined when it comes to personal wellbeing.

For example, let’s talk about mental health. Lifestyle coaches will often take a holistic approach and address factors that can negatively impact emotional wellbeing and mental health (e.g., physical activity, social support, managing stress, sleep, nutrition, etc.).​ And while lifestyle coaches typically do not deliver clinical services, they can sometimes be certified in Mental Health First Aid®, which teaches how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges and refer individuals to appropriate mental health benefits and resources.​ Lifestyle coaches can also support employees in learning skills that train the mind to be more focused and calmer, building resilience for adversity and stress — hugely valuable to many employees.

Lifestyle coaching is hyper-personalized and convenient

Lifestyle coaches often use a variety of techniques and tools to create personalized plans for employees. For example, a process called “motivational interviewing” is fairly common as are other evidence-based techniques including social cognitive theory, self-efficacy, ability and readiness cues and reinforcers and use of credible information.​

Related: Fitness and wellness, travel top list of most popular lifestyle spending account types

Because lifestyle coaching is often a benefit that is offered either in-person or digitally, it’s convenient for busy employees, too. An employee that works with one of our lifestyle coaches recently said: “My coach kept me accountable with my sleep and financial goals, giving me a realistic target date to achieve them by and checking in regularly to support the challenge. I felt the check-ins were extremely valuable to my success. Just what I needed!” Those regular check-ins — either digitally, or face-to-face — make all the difference and are extremely convenient for employees who are working from home or in the office.

Judging by the examples from our clients that I’m seeing, I believe lifestyle coaching will only get more popular with employees in the next few years. Employees are more focused on their overall health than ever. But they’re also very busy, so finding help in a way that’s convenient for them is key. Lifestyle coaching fits the bill.

And so far, people are telling us it’s effective, too. In one of our recent surveys, 42% of participants said the lifestyle coaching increased their average minutes per week of physical activity. Forty percent said lifestyle coaching helped them improve their BMI. And 88% said they improved in at least one nutritional area as a result of lifestyle coaching. Now those are numbers I can get behind!

Ann Wyatt is the vice president and chief client success leader at HealthFitness.