The HealthNEXT Culture of Health and Wellbeing Award
Recognizing organizations that lead with employee health and wellbeing to elevate performance, advance health care cost management, build resilience, and deliver long‑term organizational impact.
Elevating Health. Driving Performance. Creating Lasting Value.
The HealthNEXT Culture of Health & Wellbeing Awards recognize employers that have moved beyond traditional wellness programs to embed health, wellbeing, and performance into the core of how their organizations operate.
These organizations understand that health and wellbeing are not peripheral benefits—they are business imperatives. Award recipients demonstrate measurable excellence across leadership, governance, strategy, benefits design, and enterprise-wide outcomes, proving that investing in workforce wellbeing fuels stronger performance, resilience, and sustainable value creation.
Gold-level honorees represent organizations that have achieved advanced maturity and demonstrated outcomes across multiple dimensions of health and wellbeing performance. These employers exemplify what a truly high-performing culture of health looks like in today’s workforce.
What It Takes to Earn a HealthNEXT Culture of Health & Wellbeing Award
Earning a HealthNEXT Culture of Health & Wellbeing Award requires more than implementing programs—it demands a sustained, organization-wide commitment to embedding health and wellbeing into strategy, leadership, and daily operations.
Organizations undergo a rigorous, evidence-based evaluation that includes comprehensive document review, longitudinal data analysis to demonstrate measurable improvement over time, and alignment across key dimensions such as governance, benefits, culture, and outcomes.
Award recipients distinguish themselves through a continuous, multi-year cycle of assessment and advancement, demonstrating not only strong performance today, but a clear trajectory of ongoing innovation, accountability, and impact.
2026 Gold-Level Honoree
Baird
HealthNEXT is proud to recognize Baird as a Gold-level Culture of Health & Wellbeing Award recipient.
Baird’s recognition reflects sustained, best-in-class performance across HealthNEXT’s ten pillars of a culture of health and wellbeing. Their approach demonstrates how intentional design, disciplined execution, and leadership commitment can transform workforce health into a competitive advantage.
Key differentiators include:
Enterprise Integration of Health and Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing are fully embedded across leadership and day-to-day operations—positioning them as a core component of how the organization functions, not as isolated initiatives.
Strategic Stewardship of Health Investments
Baird demonstrates a disciplined, data-driven approach to managing health-related investments—balancing employee experience, health and wellbeing outcomes to achieve long-term sustainability while aligning closely with enterprise strategy. This visibility reinforces wellbeing as both a cultural priority and a strategic business lever.
Commitment to Benefits Equity
Through equitable benefits design, Baird reinforces fairness and long‑term employee wellbeing—structuring healthcare premiums so lower‑paid employees pay less and higher‑paid employees contribute more. This ensures benefits are accessible to everyone and strengthens both culture and performance.
Executive-Led Health Governance
A dedicated Health Care Subcommittee, supported by senior leadership champions, ensures health and wellbeing remain visible, prioritized, and continuously advanced at the highest level.
Exceptional Workforce Engagement
Baird’s B\Well program has achieved sustained participation rates exceeding 90%, reflecting deep employee trust, relevance, and cultural alignment. Over time, the program is shifting to foster intrinsic motivation—where employees participate because wellbeing is part of how work gets done, how teams support one another, and how people experience vitality. This evolution signals that wellbeing is no longer a program to join but a shared value embedded in daily behaviors, leadership expectations, and employee shared commitment.
“At Baird, taking care of our associates and their families is fundamental to who we are. As an employee-owned firm, we take a long-term view and investing in our associates’ wellbeing helps sustain our culture and achieve great results for our clients,” said Rodney Jones-Tyson, Global Chief Human Resources Officer of Baird. “We’re honored to receive HealthNEXT’s Gold-level Culture of Health & Wellbeing Award.”
Why This Recognition Matters
Organizations recognized by HealthNEXT are not only improving workplace health—they are contributing to a broader ripple effect that strengthens families, communities, and local economies through healthier, more engaged populations.
Advancing the Culture of Health Movement
As HealthNEXT Co‑Founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ray Fabius notes:
“Building a culture of health is one of the most powerful levers an organization has—not just for cost management, but for unlocking human potential.”