A good utilization rate is one that sits well above general participation benchmarks, holds steady or grows after the first few months rather than declining, and reaches multiple departments and demographics instead of concentrating among employees who were already engaged.
Wellness benefits are already a significant part of the employee benefits landscape. In 2025, 83% of large firms offering health benefits offered at least one wellness or health promotion program. The opportunity now is moving beyond simply offering wellness to creating a benefit employees actually use, and keep using. Employers agree this is the hard part: 71% rank participation as their single biggest well-being challenge, more than cost, more than vendor management, more than anything else.
There’s no single percentage that defines “good” utilization across every benefit. How utilization is measured depends on the program, the population, and what counts as meaningful engagement. But the difference between a benefit that’s gaining traction and one that’s falling flat tends to show up in three places: how many employees are using it, whether engagement is growing or declining over time, and whether participation extends across the workforce or remains concentrated among employees who were already engaged.
And utilization isn’t fixed once a benefit launches. The choices employers make around communication, accessibility, personalization, and the overall employee experience can all influence whether participation grows or stalls.
Here’s how to read your own utilization numbers and what you can actually do to move them.
How to calculate a utilization rate
The standard formula benefits teams use:
Utilization rate = (employees actively using the benefit ÷ total eligible employees) × 100
The two variables that matter most: how "actively using" is defined (a single login versus repeat, ongoing use), and the time window (a rolling 12 months tells a different story than a 90-day snapshot right after launch).
Participation rate vs. utilization rate: they're not the same number
These two terms get used interchangeably a lot, which is part of why benchmarks online don't line up with each other.
Participation (or enrollment) is who signed up or registered for a benefit. It's the number most dashboards lead with, and the least useful one on its own.
Utilization is who's actually, actively using it, on an ongoing basis, after signing up.
A benefit can be highly valued by employers without necessarily being highly used by employees. In fact, 88% of organizations say healthcare benefits are very or extremely important. But importance on the employer side doesn’t automatically translate into engagement on the employee side.
That gap is what makes utilization so important. Offering a benefit is only the first step. The real value comes when employees know about it, can easily access it, and find it relevant enough to use consistently.
Related: 8 corporate wellness program metrics that actually measure success
8 Tips for increasing benefits utilization among employees
Utilization is a lagging indicator of a lot of small decisions: how a benefit is communicated, how many steps stand between "eligible" and "engaged," and whether the benefit actually fits the range of needs across a workforce. A few things reliably move the number.
1. Make communication ongoing, not a one-time announcement
A single open enrollment email is not a communication strategy. Awareness fades within weeks, and employees who missed the initial announcement rarely go looking for it later. Repeat the message across channels (email, Slack, team meetings, manager check-ins) and at different points in the year, not just once during open enrollment.
2. Cut the number of steps between eligible and engaged
Every additional login, form, or separate app is a place employees drop off. If a benefit requires its own signup process, look for ways to fold it into tools employees already use daily, whether that's an HRIS platform, an intranet, or a benefits portal they're already logging into.
3. Get leadership visibly involved, not just financially supportive
Employees take cues from what leadership actually does, not just what gets approved in a budget meeting. A benefit that a manager mentions in passing lands very differently than one a manager visibly uses and talks about.
4. Cover more than one dimension of health
A benefit that only addresses movement, or only mental health, is only relevant to the employees already interested in that one category. Programs that span physical activity, mental health, and nutrition give more of the workforce a reason to engage, which shows up directly in participation that spans departments and demographics instead of clustering in one group.
5. Use incentives to drive first use, not as the whole strategy
Gift cards and points programs are effective at getting someone to try a benefit once. The real opportunity is pairing them with a benefit that keeps employees engaged over time.
Cash or gift rewards (49%), employee recognition (39%), and PTO (25%) are the most common ways employers try to boost participation according to Gallagher. But the same research found that even where incentives are in place, participation stays uneven, a sign that incentives can drive a first try, but they can't fix unclear or inconsistent communication on their own.
6. Segment your rollout instead of treating the workforce as one group
Usage patterns differ by department, location, age, and role. A communication plan or program design that works for one segment often misses another entirely. Look at utilization data cut by these groups, not just the top-line number, to see who's actually being reached.
7. Ask employees directly what's stopping them
A short pulse survey (what's kept you from trying this, what format would you actually use) often surfaces something a usage dashboard can't: whether the barrier is awareness, timing, relevance, or something else entirely. That answer should shape the next round of changes, not just get filed away.
8. Review the data on a cadence, not just at renewal
Programs that only get reviewed once a year, right before a renewal decision, lose months of opportunity to catch a declining trend early and fix it. A lighter check-in at the midyear mark catches problems while there's still time to act.
Related: How to Audit Your Wellness Benefit Before Renewal Season
What actually moves a utilization rate
Programs with strong utilization tend to share three things: they remove friction between "eligible" and "engaged" (a separate signup step is one of the most common places employees drop off), they cover more than one dimension of health so the benefit is relevant to more of the workforce, and they get in front of employees through channels people actually check, not just a single open-enrollment email.
See what a good utilization rate looks like in practice
FitOn Health is the all-in-one health and wellness platform built to drive utilization that actually holds up: premium workouts, nutrition and health courses, condition management support, and the largest variety of in-person wellness experiences available, all measurable in a single platform.
Schedule a demo to see how FitOn Health makes strong utilization the default.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good utilization rate for an employee wellness program?
A good utilization rate sits well above general participation benchmarks (Gallup reports 24% average participation at companies offering a wellness program), holds steady or grows after the first few months, and reaches multiple departments and demographics rather than just one segment.
What's the formula for calculating a benefit utilization rate?
Utilization rate equals the number of employees actively using a benefit, divided by total eligible employees, multiplied by 100. The key variables are how "actively using" is defined and the time window measured.
What's the difference between participation rate and utilization rate?
Participation typically refers to enrollment, who signed up. Utilization refers to ongoing, active use after signup. A program can have high participation and low utilization at the same time, which is why both numbers need to be tracked separately.
Why is wellness program utilization so low industry-wide?
Common causes include a separate signup step that adds friction, a benefit that only covers one dimension of health, and low awareness due to limited or one-time communication.
How often should employers review utilization data?
At minimum, once a year ahead of renewal, with a lighter check-in at the midyear mark so trends don't come as a surprise when the decision window opens.
