Corporate wellness companies compared on price and model

Corporate wellness companies sell four quite different things under the one heading, which is why their prices are so hard to line up. Some sell access to gyms and studios, some sell mental health support, some bundle perks with an assistance programme, and some coach people. A fair comparison starts with how each one charges, who ends up paying and what the employer can see, and reads the price last.

Three ways a price gets set

The first is a price on the website, per seat or per person, that a buyer can check before speaking to anyone. Headspace, Calm and TriageFit work this way. The second is a price published for one market and quoted everywhere else, which is how Wellhub handles companies in Ireland and the UK. The third is a price given only in a quote, after a form, an enquiry or a call, and ClassPass, Unmind, Perkbox and Spectrum.Life all work that way.

Who pays differs as well. With some providers the company buys every seat outright. With others the company pays a fee or a share and each employee pays towards their own plan, so the cost is split between the company and its staff.

Gym and studio networks

Wellhub's US pages describe a corporate fee based on team size and chosen investment level, which gives the whole eligible workforce access to the network, in a model where the company and the employee both contribute. There are three company plans in the US, called Entry, Full and Premium, and launch takes 30 days or less on average. In Ireland it offers annual business plan rates based on team size and investment level, paid month to month, priced through a custom quote from its sales team. What Wellhub costs a company sets the tiers out in full.

A ClassPass corporate membership comes with a monthly allotment of credits to book classes and appointments, and the employer decides how much of each plan it pays for. Smaller employers are offered a team package for fewer than 50 employees, with a choice of three monthly plans. ClassPass corporate plans covers how the credits and the staff side of the bill work.

Mental health apps and platforms

Headspace sells an annual Headspace Core licence for each seat, with no option to pay by invoice, and lists €2,563.50 a year for 50 seats, which works out at €51.27 a seat. The plan does not renew automatically, and Headspace emails you before the renewal date. Calm lists prices for organisations of 5 to 300 people, such as $5,108.00 a year for 100 people, or $51.08 a person, in US dollars. It takes one up-front payment for the year, with no invoicing, purchase orders or cheques, and the plan renews automatically each year unless auto-renewal is switched off in the Calm Partner Portal. A plan allows no reduction in the number of people covered until the subscription period ends. What Calm charges a business and what Headspace charges a company go into each price list.

Unmind describes itself as a complete workplace mental health ecosystem, with more than 90,000 therapists and coaches. Its price is not published, and the route to a price is booking a call with its team. Unmind's pricing covers what a buyer can find out before that call. A company can run any of these next to coaching seats, which look after training, food and recovery.

Benefits platforms and assistance programmes

Perkbox sells itself as one app for wellbeing, benefits and engagement, offering support for mental, physical and financial wellbeing. Its price is not published, and its pricing page offers flexible packages quoted after you fill in a form. Spectrum.Life sells four connected products, Digital Wellbeing, Cara Wellbeing, an employee assistance programme and WorkReady absence early intervention, on one clinical model and one contract, and works with large organisations in the UK, Ireland and internationally. Its price is not published, and its pricing page is an enquiry form that asks for the size of your workforce. Perkbox pricing and alternatives to Spectrum.Life look at the two more closely.

Coaching seats

TriageFit sells coaching seats, and each one is a full TriageFit membership that the company pays for and one person holds. What the money buys is a plan for that person: a programme built from an intake of about thirty minutes, in coach-designed phases of four to six weeks, food targets matched to their metabolism and a weekly check-in that a real coach reads. The person holding a seat pays nothing towards it, and the price is on the website for anyone to check.

A pack runs for twelve months and renews automatically, with an email about thirty days before the renewal date. Seats can be added at any time, and a reduction takes effect at the next renewal. The company sees who holds a seat and a report of group figures, with anything below five people held back.

The providers side by side

An accountancy practice in Kilkenny

Picture an accountancy practice in Kilkenny with forty people, an assistance programme already in place through its insurer, and a staff survey where the most common request was help getting fitter and eating better. The partners rule out a second mental health service, since the assistance programme covers that ground, and ask for quotes from two gym networks. While they wait, they price 25 coaching seats on the business page at €450 a seat, €11,250 for the year with VAT included, and see that a pack of that size can be bought the same afternoon. The seats go to the people who asked, with a note in the practice's own announcement that a seat is optional and that the partners will only ever see who holds one and group figures.

What the seats cost

Coaching seats are priced per seat for a year, with VAT included, at €500 a seat for 10 to 24 seats, €450 a seat for 25 to 49 seats, €415 a seat for 50 to 99 seats and €375 for 100 or more, and the band a pack's size falls into sets the price for every seat in it. The smallest pack is 10 seats, €5,000 for the year. Sterling and US dollar prices are set separately for those markets. Payment is by card, or by SEPA direct debit when billed in euro.

How to start

A pack can be priced on the business page without an account. Up to 50 seats can be bought online, and the portal opens as soon as checkout completes. A larger team uses the enquiry form, and a real person replies by email. Corporate gym membership sets a gym deal against coaching seats.