Many members of the workforce, wanting to look and feel their best, often turn to wellness brands for vitamin, supplement, mental health and fitness options they believe will improve their lives. For many, these options tend to be separate from their work lives. They may go to the gym after work, take vitamins before work or shut off their work phones on weekends.
Wellness companies make it easier for consumers to focus on wellness away from the office. But what if the workplace is the wellness space? What about the employees working at these companies to help make wellness a priority for others—are their own wellness needs being met, too?
Newsweek and Plant-A Insights released America’s Greatest Companies 2025 earlier this month. Highlighted in this ranking were many brands that Americans use to help achieve their wellness goals.
Newsweek spoke with brands Hims & Hers and Planet Fitness to learn how health companies are promoting positive lifestyles for their own employees, translating their external missions to company operations. From focusing on employees’ mental and physical health to providing generous parental leave, these brands are prioritizing employees’ work-life balance and aiming to meet individual needs.
Creating a Culture of Mental Wellbeing
One of the most glaring issues in the workforce is mental health. Workplace stress, difficulty establishing work-life balance and lack of motivation all take a toll on employees’ well-being.
Like many other brands, Hims & Hers has taken steps to implement beneficial practices to help address employees’ wellness, according to Khobi Brooklyn, chief corporate affairs officer at the company.
“To support employees’ mental and emotional well-being, we offer flexible PTO, mental health days, and most importantly foster a community where these conversations are normalized,” Brooklyn told Newsweek. “As a healthcare company, we take advantage of the incredible expertise we have and create opportunities to hear from and engage with our clinical experts…to keep employees informed, inspired, and motivated.”
For Hims & Hers, these practices are not just items on a checklist of mental health; they are instead core aspects of the company’s values.
“At Hims & Hers, mental and emotional well-being isn’t treated as a perk—it’s a core part of our culture,” Brooklyn said. “What’s most effective is pairing these benefits with a flexible culture where conversations about mental health are normalized and a healthy work-life balance is modeled by our leadership. This ensures employees feel genuinely supported, not just by our policies, but by the entire workplace environment.”
At Planet Fitness, mental health is a key aspect of the company’s promotion of wellness, according to Chief Corporate Affairs Officer McCall Gosselin.
“Mental health is a top priority at Planet Fitness, as it goes hand in hand with physical fitness and overall wellness,” Gosselin told Newsweek. “We strive to reinforce our mission by encouraging all of our team members to take advantage of numerous benefits to support their mental and physical health.” Many of these support options are offered at Planet Fitness centers.
Brands like Hims & Hers and Planet Fitness are known for offering wellness products to customers, but seeing how they treat their employees as well, demonstrates how deeply their missions run and emphasizes the importance of the wellness products and experiences that they are creating.
Getting Physical (Fitness)
At Planet Fitness, physical fitness is one of the brand’s goals. The company fulfills its mission by extending it to employees as well as to customers. Planet Fitness leads by example, providing various wellness resources for team members, from access to Planet Fitness facilities to extra help with childcare.
Gosselin added that the purpose of Planet Fitness is “to create a more connected and judgement-free planet, where fitness and well-being are within reach for all. We also encourage our team members to take advantage of [complimentary memberships] and make fitness a part of their daily lives.“
By providing access to these spaces and the resources that they need, Planet Fitness is encouraging employees to stay active in order to improve their health, both physical and mental. Planet Fitness makes a point of keeping those benefits flexible: because every employee has different needs, ensuring that they can customize the way they use benefits is vital.
No matter how they are used, these companies’ benefits help employees make major strides towards overall well-being, encouraging physical fitness alongside mental health, leading to well-balanced, healthy lives.
Don’t Bring Work Home
For working parents, finding a work-life balance can be especially difficult. Luckily, many wellness companies are taking steps to make it easier.
Hims & Hers saw that parental support was the biggest area where employees felt there could be improvement and took strides to improve their support practices. “Our most recent employee survey revealed a strong desire for enhancements in key areas like fertility support, childcare resources and larger wellness stipends,” Brooklyn said. “We support new and expecting parents with fully paid parental leave and reimbursement for nursing parents who are traveling and backup childcare benefits.”
These initiatives are designed for any employee who balances caring for a child with working each day, especially for new parental figures working through the adjustment period that comes with this change.
Planet Fitness continues to support new parents as they transition back into working after parental leave as well. “For eligible team members, we offer parental leave, childcare reimbursement and complimentary meals in the Club Support Center café to welcome them back to work, as well as an employee resource group dedicated to working parents and allies,” Gosselin said.
Hybrid models of work also give parents an opportunity to work from home or even to leave early as needed. “Our hybrid work model also provides flexibility for team members to balance family responsibilities with professional commitments. If workload permits, team members can also take advantage of early release Fridays at 1 p.m.,” Gosselin said.
Wellness is not just about personal health, but also the ability to balance lifestyle to best care for family needs, which is a key part of leading a healthy and happy life. These companies understand the pressures employees are under, and are taking major steps toward alleviating stress, promoting positive lifestyles and implementing benefits for all.
Read the full article here
