How Boon Health Can Help You Retain Employees, Improve Workplace Morale

It’s called the Great Resignation.

That’s according to Alex Simmons, co-founder and CEO at Boon Health, who says employee retention is a serious but largely avoidable problem.

“There are stats out there suggesting 30% of the workforce is going to be quitting their jobs in the next six months,” he explained. “Retention is the biggest problem we’re seeing.”

In unpacking how employers can retain, engage and maintain the mental well-being of their workforce, Simmons gave Benzinga a look into Boon Health.

About Boon Health: Launched in 2019 and based in Birmingham, Michigan, Boon Health is a mental well-being platform.

The idea behind the firm is rooted in Simmons’ early days as an investment banker.

“You hear a lot about long, strenuous work hours in the investment banking world and for me, it was no different. That resulted in a lot of stress, anxiety, and burnout."

After looking to typical solutions — Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), for instance — Simmons realized the mental health space was ripe for disruption.

“That was really the foundation of how Boon was founded,” Simmons said in a conversation around his company offering personalized coaching to deal with workplace stress, anxiety, burnout, and professional development.

“We partner with businesses and … match employees with our network of International Coaching Federation (ICF) coaches.”

Boon Health's Differentiator: Personalized coaching is one of Boon’s key competitive advantages, the CEO said. 

“Usage of our services is about 30% compared with up to 3% for EAP programs,” he said. “That is a validation of our mission to be the most successful mental wellbeing platform in the workplace.”

In practice, the firm’s core offer is mostly utilized for development and retention.

“There’s such a gray area between your work, mental well-being, and professional development,” Simmons noted in a conversation on the company’s work with small- to mid-sized businesses 50 to 500 employees in size.

“What we’re seeing is that Boon is used as a preventative tool … by high-growth, venture capital-backed businesses that are trying to find innovative ways to recruit young talents.”

Through bi-weekly, 30-minute video calls, Boon’s 100 coaches hone in on workplace challenges, offering unique perspectives for employees and leaders.

“We’ve also started to do monthly conversations with the heads of human resources at the businesses we’re working with, giving them insights on what their employees are looking to work on most commonly.”

Alternatively, Boon engages in companywide coaching sessions, too.

Boon Health's Results: In light of the exodus from workplaces, Boon began tracking customer turnover data.

“We’ve found that Boon users are 40% less likely to turn over,” Simmons said. “When you think about the cost of turning over one employee, it’s anywhere from one-half to two times the employee salary.”

Through these findings, Simmons said he believes Boon pays for itself and, as a result, that is the reason many customers highlight the firm as an employee perk.

Boon Health's Onboarding: In a question on getting coaches to sign onto Boon’s platform, Simmons said applications are usually found on the firm’s website or LinkedIn.

“We’re an Uber-type model where all of our coaches are 1099s. It’s five to 20 hours a week of availability, flexible to your schedule as the coach, and we’re basically presenting your schedule to the client whenever they’re seeing.”

End users are able to scroll through coach profiles and schedule meetings after which, calendar invites automatically are sent.

Boon Health Going Forward: Boon recently partnered with Zenefits, a human resources management platform, to offer well-being solutions for small businesses.

“They work with 13,000 small businesses, throughout the country, and they’re essentially a distribution channel for us,” Simmons said. “We’re also working to be top of mind for insurance brokers when they’re thinking about what benefits they want to offer to their employees.”

Additionally, Boon is looking to add 20 businesses to its client roster by the end of 2021.