by Personify Health on October 3, 2025
Let’s face it - partner programs can be extremely powerful, but only if people actually use them. As an HR leader, you’re not just managing benefits, you’re shaping culture. The right strategies can turn passive participation into active enthusiasm.
Here are five best practices that leading organizations use to drive real engagement—and how you can make them work for your team.
1. Make motivation measurable
Use rewards and incentives to spark action.
From seasonal double-points campaigns to targeted rewards for completing wellbeing assessments, organizations are seeing measurable upticks in partner usage. One client doubled engagement with a simple double-points push. Another added a $25 reward for completing a mental health check-in. On the flip side, one organization incorporated micro-rewards with specific content actions which increased partner sessions from 6K to 23K YoY.
The takeaway
Incentives work—especially when they’re tied to meaningful actions.
2. When leaders lead, everyone follows
Secure leadership buy-in to normalize and champion wellness.
According to Headspace's 2024 Workforce State of Mind Report, 89% of employees say their leaders talked about their own mental health compared to just 35% in 2020 which shows a growing culture of transparency, support, and trust. Equip your leadership team with guides and training to help them confidently promote partner programs. When leaders model healthy behaviors, they normalize participation giving employees permission to do the same while reducing stigma around using resources.
The takeaway
Most partners can provide these guides and trainings, so you don’t have to!
3. Empower your champions
Build a peer-led network to amplify engagement.
Wellness Champions are your secret weapon. A well-rounded and distributed Wellness Champion Network is critical in helping increase engagement with all benefit programs. With the right tools—like talking points, event blurbs, and best practices, they can spark everyday conversations and drive participation.
Pro tip: live trainings before major initiatives give champions a clear call to action and boost their impact.
Bonus Tip
Launching a new partner? Host a training session for internal champions and leaders so they are educated about the partner and can refer members to them.
You can also have your champions host a member-facing open house or info session to give an overview of the platform, new features, and bring the partners in to speak about their offering and resources.
For one organization, this strategy allowed them to build excitement around the offerings and exceed benchmarks for utilization of partners.
4. Market like you mean it
Use multi-channel member marketing to inspire action.
Wellness Champions are your secret weapon. A well-rounded and distributed Wellness Champion Network is critical in helping increase engagement with all benefit programs. With the right tools—like talking points, event blurbs, and best practices, they can spark everyday conversations and drive participation.
Pro tip: live trainings before major initiatives give champions a clear call to action and boost their impact.
Bonus Tip
Ask your partners if they can provide member-facing assets designed to engage and inspire your members.
5. Design experiences they'll love
Create custom challenges that educate and engage.
One organization built a “partner tour” challenge featuring quotes from members and activities across all vendors. Another tripled engagement by spotlighting their top 50 workouts in a year-round campaign. Whether it’s a bingo board, guided challenges, or a shared goal, challenges strengthen community and drive true results.
Want to see engagement scores soar?
We want to hear from you! Connect with your Personify Health account team to see how you can implement one of these strategies into your platform and make healthiness happen.
Ready to learn more about our partners? Check out our new Partner Marketplace where we are making it easier to find, explore, and learn about our specialty solutions.
Already have partners? To learn how your populations are engaging with your existing partners, contact your Personify Health Account Management Team to learn more.
