In 2024, Business Group on Health brought together over 170 HR, benefits, health, and well-being leaders from 88 multinational employers across 24 countries for events spanning EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
These employer-led discussions covered a wide range of topics, from mental health to affordability to the future of family-forming benefits, highlighting both the challenges employers face and the innovative solutions they're implementing to support the health and well-being of their workforces. While the challenges benefits and well-being leaders face are similar, the solutions must be tailored to each region’s unique cultural, regulatory, and health care contexts to be truly effective.
Key Insights from the Meetings
Employee Health and Well-being Challenges Can Be Universal, But Effective Solutions Require Local Adaptation
While employee health and well-being challenges are often universal—from chronic diseases to mental health and financial struggles—the solutions must be tailored to regional and even local needs. Regional factors such as cultural differences, stigma, and varying access to health care shape how these challenges are addressed. Successful employers create scalable global strategies that can be adapted locally. Partnering with solutions that have deep regional expertise ensures programs remain consistent globally while being customized to address specific cultural, regulatory, and market dynamics. This approach drives meaningful and lasting impact across all regions.
Leadership Buy-In Drives Impact
For health and well-being programs to succeed globally, leadership buy-in is essential. Across regions, when leaders visibly champion well-being initiatives, they elevate these efforts from being stand-alone benefits programs to strategic business priorities. This alignment ensures maximum impact and long-term success, creating a unified vision that resonates with diverse employee populations worldwide.
Affordability Remains Top of Mind
Health care costs continue to rise – across the globe – and both employers and employees are feeling the pressure. Companies across regions are getting creative through value-based care models and captive insurance to preventive health initiatives designed to keep employees healthy—while keeping costs contained.
Regions Can Serve as Hubs for Innovation
Regional markets are the perfect proving ground for health and well-being initiatives. By piloting programs regionally and/or locally, employers can gather data, test outcomes, and refine their approach. Once proven successful, these initiatives can scale globally, offering flexible solutions that work for different regions and diverse workforces.
The Role of Employers in Health and Well-being Programs is Evolving Globally
Across regions, the role of employers in supporting health and well-being is rapidly shifting. Employers are now becoming integral partners in fostering holistic well-being. From physical health to mental well-being and financial well-being, companies worldwide are expanding their offerings to address the diverse needs of their global workforce. This shift reflects a growing recognition that supporting employees in all aspects of their lives leads to greater engagement, productivity, and retention, regardless of location.
As we head into 2025, it’s clear that creating meaningful, scalable well-being and benefits strategies requires tackling global challenges through a regional lens. To continue the conversation and uncover more employer-led solutions, Business Group on Health will convene meetings for regional and global HR, health, benefits and well-being leaders in 2025 across EMEA, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and India, bringing leaders together to share insights and drive innovation to ensure the best for their global employee populations.
