3 Wellness Trends HR Leaders Should Act On This Spring
Spring is a natural moment to refresh your wellness strategy. Three trends stand out for HR leaders: stronger mental health support, more personalised programs and a focus on social connection. Here's what each one means and how to put it into practice – for example in a spring wellness challenge.
Table of Contents
At a Glance
- Mental health support: make stress management part of everyday wellness, not an add-on.
- Personalisation: let people choose activities and goals that fit them.
- Social connection: use team activities to fight isolation in hybrid and remote work.
Trend 1: Mental Health Support
Mental health has moved to the centre of workplace wellness. The WHO estimates that 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, costing around US$1 trillion in lost productivity.
How to apply it:
- Add a mindfulness challenge alongside your activity challenge.
- Remind people of support such as your employee assistance programme.
- Train managers to spot stress and start supportive conversations – see what to do when an employee says they're stressed.
Trend 2: Personalisation
One-size-fits-all programs leave many people out. Wearables, apps and AI make it easier to offer choices that match individual fitness levels and interests – though technology alone doesn't get people moving (see AI can't move for you).
How to apply it:
- Offer several challenge types – steps, exercise minutes, sleep, mindfulness – so everyone finds one that fits.
- Use personal or consistency goals rather than only "most steps wins".
- Count different sports through points – see our wellness points guide.
Trend 3: Social Connection
Hybrid and remote work have made it harder to build relationships at work. Team activities give colleagues a reason to connect – and social motivation works: in the STEP UP trial, gamified programs with social incentives increased daily steps compared with a control group.
How to apply it:
- Run team challenges with mixed teams across departments and locations – see teams in YuMuuv.
- Encourage photo sharing and encouragement in the challenge chat.
- Celebrate shared milestones, not just individual winners.
Comparing the Three Trends
| Trend | Effort to implement | Main benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Mental health support | Medium – needs resources and manager training | Lower stress, better wellbeing |
| Personalisation | Low to medium – choose flexible challenge formats | Higher participation |
| Social connection | Low – team challenges and chat | Stronger relationships and engagement |
Putting It Together This Spring
A single spring program can cover all three: a team step challenge, a parallel mindfulness challenge and flexible goals for different fitness levels. For ideas, see why April is a great month to launch a challenge and 7 spring wellness challenges. For the bigger picture, read 25 wellness trends.
Ready to act on these trends? Book a YuMuuv demo.
