See how one company turned wellbeing into a measurable, integrated driver of engagement and retention, supporting employees through crisis and change
Crisis, change, and stress are part of every employee’s life. What sets organizations apart is how they approach mental wellness—because the right strategy can make all the difference.
Jess Schneider knows this well. After her organization partnered with Modern Health, she found herself asking a question every HR leader eventually asks: We have a great benefit, but are we maximizing our investment?
That question became the catalyst for a much bigger shift in how she and her team think about wellbeing at Purpose Brands—moving mental health support from a line item on a budget to a true part of how people live and work.
"As a people leader, it's not just our job to provide perks," Schneider explained in a recent webinar with Mary Odafe, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Clinical and Scientific Affairs Liaison at Modern Health. "It's to help people through some of the most important moments in their lives."
Jess Schneider is the Senior Director of People Operations at Purpose Brands, the parent company of fitness and wellness franchises including Orangetheory Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City, and The Bar Method.
Many Purpose Brands employees work remotely, while others are based in the Twin Cities, Boca Raton, and Seattle. Most are Millennials who want their work to matter. When their communities face a crisis, they feel it—and it shows up at work.
Purpose Brands has had plenty to navigate over recent years: COVID, the murder of George Floyd (just miles from the company’s Twin Cities headquarters), and a major merger. The company’s more than five-year partnership with Modern Health has seen its employees through it all, and that relationship has steadily reshaped how Schneider and her team think about well-being.
Helping employees become the best version of themselves is a priority at Purpose Brands. But turning that value into action is not always straightforward.
“I’m sure many of you sitting here listening are like, ‘Jess, you’re a fitness and wellness company. How do you not have this figured out? This is in your DNA,’” Schneider says. “But honestly, we didn’t.”
Schneider is not alone. Even organizations that prioritize wellbeing and offer strong health benefits often struggle to connect the dots between intention and impact.
For Schneider, the turning point was realizing that treating Modern Health as a standalone benefit limited its impact. When Purpose Brands added a new engagement survey question—”Purpose Brands cares about my wellbeing”—it quickly became one of the strongest predictors of employee engagement and advocacy.
At the same time, Schneider imagined the question any CFO would ask: it’s a great benefit, but are we maximizing the investment?
That question was the catalyst. Schneider began mapping Modern Health’s support to the real-life moments of change and tension employees face, uncovering new ways to serve her people.
Several key changes followed. One of them was extending coverage to dependents. “This has been a game-changer for our employees,” she says. “They still don't believe [me] when I tell them, ‘Your dependents have access too.’”
Since then, Schneider and her team have focused on weaving mental health into the fabric of company culture—moving from a checkbox to a true employee experience strategy.
When leaders shift their mindset from offering benefits to shaping the employee experience, it becomes clear where support matters most. As Dr. Odafe notes, it is not that mental health issues suddenly appear, but that moments of change and growth amplify stress and uncertainty.
Here are a few ways Purpose Brands has made support feel less clinical and more like a natural part of everyday culture.
For a deeper framework to apply to your organization, read this article.
Hiring is a two-way street. Candidates are not just looking for a job—they want to know if they will be supported through growth and change.
That is why listing benefits rarely moves the needle. Purpose Brands recruiters now share real stories about how Modern Health has made a difference for employees.
Watch as Jess Schneider shares specific ways her team brings Purpose Brands’ wellbeing culture to life for candidates.
[CLIP: Jess on recruiter stories — 17:30 - 19:08]
A benefit only works if people use it. Purpose Brands makes Modern Health set-up part of the onboarding process giving employees a low-pressure way to get started early.
This step can be simple. Dedicate part of orientation to explaining the benefit and answering questions. What matters is making the interaction meaningful.
Watch Jess Schneider explain how Purpose Brands uses “onboarding passports” to get employees to set up an account with Modern Health.
[CLIP: Jess on passport tool — 20:33 - 21:51]
At Purpose Brands, employees are encouraged to own their development and work with a coach.
Coaching strikes a balance: it lets employees take charge of their growth while giving them the support they need. It is also a practical entry point for those who do not need therapy but still want guidance and skill-building.
Modern Health CirclesTM and Modern Health Pathways™ offer tailored support, training, and skill-building for every stage of an employee’s career or personal life.
Watch as Jess Schneider shares how Purpose Brands makes leadership development both accessible and employee-led.
[CLIP: Jess on leadership development — 24:00 - 25:41]
The real test of any benefit is how it performs when things get tough. All the features in the world will not matter if HR leaders are left to handle the hardest moments alone.
The right partner can make a crisis more manageable.
Schneider has found this to be true, and two incidents in particular stand out in her mind. The first was a school shooting that shook her local community. The second was the unexpected loss of an employee. In both cases, Schneider's client success manager, Sara, responded with pre-drafted resources, tools, and emails Schneider could use to support her employees, then helped her think through ongoing support in the weeks that followed.
To Schneider, those actions represented the difference between hiring a vendor and working with a partner.
“One of the things that I value the most about our partnership with Modern Health is that I'm not alone,” she says. “Having this partnership allows me to be an HR leader and support our employees, but it also allows me to be a human, and you can't ask for anything more than that.”
You do not need a huge budget or dozens of new programs to create real change in your wellness strategy. No matter your team’s size, you can start with these simple steps Schneider recommends:
“Embedding mental health into the employee experience isn't necessarily about adding more because I know that that stresses folks out, right?” Dr. Odafe says. “Really, it's just about being more intentional about where that support shows up and how.”
Start small and focus on what you can actually achieve. Stay curious about the benefits you already have and build a real partnership with your vendor.
It is easy to look at other organizations and feel behind. The reality is, making work safer and more supportive is ongoing. There is always room to grow.
“As people leaders, it’s not just our job to provide perks,” Schneider says. “It’s to help people through some of the most important moments in their lives. And when you start looking at mental health through those lenses, you are going to make an impact.”
Watch the on-demand webinar for the full conversation and practical ideas to help your organization build a more connected culture of care.
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