Hanger Drives Record-Breaking Well-Being Program Adoption With 33.5% First-Year Enrollment

The Opportunity

When Hanger relaunched their employee engagement survey in 2023 after a pandemic-induced pause, they uncovered several trends that needed to be addressed. Employees were experiencing elevated stress levels and reporting lower satisfaction with work-life balance. Perhaps most concerning, employee empowerment scores were down, with staff expressing skepticism about whether their feedback would lead to real change.

For an organization dedicated to improving patients' lives through orthotic and prosthetic care, this disconnect between employee well-being and their mission constituted a major area for growth. Hanger recognized that exceptional patient experiences could only come from employees who felt supported and valued themselves.

The Solution

Within weeks of the initial survey, Hanger launched a dual-track strategy. At the local level, managers were empowered to share results transparently with their teams and collaboratively create action plans. At the organizational level, senior leadership implemented four major well-being initiatives within just four months — enhancing 401(k) matching, introducing student loan support, expanding parental leave, and doubling floating holidays.

In 2024, they launched "Healthy Hanger" — a comprehensive well-being ecosystem offering support across emotional, physical, social, and financial dimensions. The program included innovative partnerships with Spring Health for mental health support, the Calm App for stress management, and Omada Health for physical wellness. Responding to employee feedback about healthcare costs, they also introduced a new lower-cost medical plan and enhanced their bereavement policy.

The Impact

Wellness program adoption rates significantly exceeded industry benchmarks — Calm achieved a 33.5% enrollment rate, more than double the typical first-year rate, while Spring Health saw 14.4% utilization, nearly five times the industry average of 3%. Omada Health engagement exceeded their benchmark by 14% for preventative care.

The impact extended beyond program adoption to fundamental changes in employee sentiment. Work-life balance comments showed a dramatic shift, with positive sentiments increasing from 10% to 35%. The workload category saw a 63% increase in positive sentiments year over year. Employee empowerment scores rose by 8%, with some regions showing improvements of over 20% in survey response confidence.

These improvements in employee experience translated into business results, with administrative staff attrition dropping by 4%. Their pulse survey revealed a 10% increase in employees believing their feedback would drive real improvements. The transformation was perhaps best captured in employee comments, with one noting, "After the last survey there was change...Talk backed up by action, even if incremental, feels empowering!"