The new benchmark for employee care starts with real use, says Dialogue

The era of simply “checking the box” on employee well-being is over, says Dr. Marc Robin, medical director at Dialogue. Employers now need to listen more closely to their people and make wellness programs a meaningful, integrated part of the workplace.

Dialogue, a virtual care provider platform, recently handed out its annual Healthiest Workplace Awards to 120 organizations from its pool of 50,000 clients. The awards recognize companies that treat well-being not as a perk but as a core function of how they operate.

This year, Robin believes the bar has been raised.

“Dialogue's mission is to help people improve their well being. That's been the goal of our existence since day one and we thought about partnering with organizations that have the same vision,” says Robin. “Those who put people first and not only offer well-being programs, but being intentional that these programs matter, that they're used and that they demonstrate results. I think in this day and age, it's very important to be able to justify some of the investments, but in a way that speaks to the employees, their well-being, attaches them to the work environment in a way and where HR people can say, ‘Hey, we're actually doing something that matters.’”

This year marks the second iteration of the awards, and Dialogue tightened its methodology. According to Robin, the focus has shifted from registration to utilization and outcomes. The awards are also split by company size, so employers are judged against peers with similar workforce numbers, making the comparison fairer.

For Dialogue, strong employers are not just the ones that offer benefits, but the ones that can show those benefits are widely known, are actually being used and show an effect on employee well-being. That means measuring awareness through registration rates and then going further by looking at usage.

That’s why Dialogue tracks these metrics through the WHO-5 well-being index, which looks at sleep, stress, mood, physical activity, and sense of purpose.

Robin underscored that if employers can improve those areas, they are likely creating healthier workplaces and more engaged teams. Even if productivity is not being directly measured here, he suggests that companies who put people first and can prove real impact are setting the new benchmark for employee care.

When asked what’s working for the winners, Robin acknowledged employers are taking different routes, but the strongest programs tend to share a few basics. For one, leadership has to set the tone, make well-being part of an open conversation, and show employees that support is more than a talking point.

He suggests that virtual care has also become one of the clearest signs of what employees now want from workplace support, especially for primary care and mental health as convenience matters.

If people can get help quickly without leaving home or work, they are far more likely to use the service. That access also matters more as it becomes harder for many people to see a family doctor.

To that end, Robin also ties employee health access directly to workplace performance. When people can’t get care, especially for mental health, it can spill into mistakes, distraction, and lower productivity. That puts pressure on employers to move away from expensive benefits that sit unused and toward services employees will value and use.

He also makes the point that communication has to match the workforce. What works in an office setting may fail in retail or manufacturing, where email is less effective. So the challenge is not just offering the benefit but finding the right way to reach people, explain it clearly, and remove friction.

“We spend a lot of time working with HR leaders trying to figure out how do we communicate those services? The good news is most people have a smartphone or know somebody who has one so we can manage that. The issue is to get people to the information they need to use them,” says Robin.

But he argues that size is not the real factor behind strong performance or communication. What matters more is how easy benefits are to access and how effectively employers promote them. In his view, the best-performing organizations are the ones that make services visible, simple to use, and relevant enough that employees do more than just sign up.

He draws a distinction between passive enrollment and real engagement because he argues it’s not enough for workers to register for a benefit or download an app. What matters more, for him, is whether they actually use the service in a meaningful way.

"It's not sufficient to help people, but it also is not sufficient to justify the cost of these employee benefits programs," Robin says.

That pressure to prove value is especially acute given that mental health is now the leading cause of both short-term and long-term disability claims. Robin argues there is a growing need to make the workplace a better environment, particularly because many employees are dealing with difficulties that extend beyond their jobs.

"It's difficult for a lot of folks right now. Not necessarily related to work but the workplace is a very important part of where we spend a lot of our time," he added.

There’s no universal formula for building a healthy workplace. Notably, employers are now managing workforces that can span four generations, which makes the job more complex and demands a more flexible approach.

Moving forward, the goal for Dialogue’s Healthiest Workplace Awards is to keep pushing registration and utilization rates higher, with clear benchmarks that vary by industry. Tracking those numbers over time helps employers spend smarter and tie their investment to actual health outcomes, said Robin.

Mental health is where he sees the biggest opportunity. He believes shifting employees toward preventative use of mental health services, rather than waiting until a crisis, is what drives lasting impact.

Still, he argues that none of these metrics exist in isolation as utilization, well-being scores, mental health consultations, primary care data all pile into the same well-being trough.

"Looking at this as a whole really helps provide insights on how the program is doing, but also how the workforce is doing," he says.