Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Employee Wellness Coordinator

🎯 Role Definition

The Employee Wellness Coordinator designs, implements, and manages workplace wellness programs that drive employee health, engagement, and organizational outcomes. This role partners with HR, benefits, clinical vendors, and leadership to plan events, measure program effectiveness, manage budgets, and promote preventive health behaviors, mental health support, and chronic disease prevention initiatives across the employee population.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

HR Coordinator or HR Generalist
Benefits Specialist or Benefits Coordinator
Health Promotion Specialist or Community Health Worker

Advancement To:

Wellness Program Manager / Employee Wellness Manager
Director of Employee Wellness or Director of Health & Wellbeing
Benefits and Wellness Lead / Head of Total Rewards

Lateral Moves:

HR Business Partner
Occupational Health Specialist
Health Promotion Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, develop, and execute a comprehensive employee wellness strategy and annual program calendar, including preventive health campaigns, chronic disease management initiatives, mental health and resilience offerings, nutrition and fitness programming, and tobacco cessation, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and benefits strategy.
Manage end-to-end wellness programs (e.g., biometric screening, flu clinics, health risk assessments (HRA), on-site health fairs), coordinating logistics, clinical vendors, onsite staff, supplies, HIPAA-compliant data collection, and follow-up communications with participants.
Conduct outreach and marketing to maximize program participation and engagement—create email campaigns, intranet content, posters, social media posts, and manager toolkits that increase awareness and drive measurable participation rates and enrollment in incentive programs.
Serve as the primary liaison with third-party wellness vendors, wellness coaches, EAP providers, clinical partners, and consultants; negotiate contracts, monitor service-level agreements, manage vendor deliverables, and ensure regulatory and privacy compliance.
Analyze wellness program data and metrics (participation, HRA risk profiles, biometric trends, ROI, cost avoidance) and deliver monthly and quarterly dashboards and executive summaries that inform senior leadership and benefits decision-making.
Develop, monitor, and manage the wellness budget: forecast costs, track expenditures, reconcile invoices, approve purchases, and identify cost-saving opportunities while ensuring program quality and employee satisfaction.
Design and administer incentive and rewards programs that align with organizational objectives and legal/regulatory guidelines (e.g., ADA, GINA), track compliance, and oversee distribution of incentives and recognition.
Build and facilitate the Wellness Committee and cross-functional working groups; recruit employee champions, schedule meetings, document action items, and translate committee recommendations into executable initiatives.
Deliver workshops, lunch-and-learns, webinars, and training sessions on stress management, ergonomics, healthy eating, physical activity, and preventative care; develop facilitator guides, participant materials, and post-session evaluations to measure learning outcomes.
Create individualized health coaching referral pathways and coordinate on-site or virtual coaching services, ensuring continuity of care, confidentiality, and integration with benefit plans or disease management programs.
Implement and maintain HIPAA and data privacy best practices across wellness initiatives, including secure collection, storage, and transmission of personal health information and coordination with legal/compliance teams.
Partner with benefits and HR teams during open enrollment and benefits communications seasons to integrate wellness messaging, promote preventive services covered by benefits, and drive strategic alignment with health plan incentives.
Monitor public health guidance and best practices (e.g., CDC, OSHA, local health departments) and update workplace wellness policies and pandemic/contagion response programming as needed.
Conduct needs assessments using surveys, HRIS/benefits utilization, claims analytics, and demographic data to identify priority health risks and design targeted interventions based on population health principles.
Pilot new wellness technologies, apps, wearable integrations, and digital health platforms; manage vendor pilots, gather user feedback, evaluate engagement and efficacy, and recommend full-scale adoption when appropriate.
Coordinate specialized screenings and on-site clinical services (e.g., vaccination clinics, blood pressure checks, glucose screenings), ensuring medical oversight, clinical staffing, and safe disposal of biohazardous waste.
Monitor and report program ROI and business impact by linking wellness outcomes to absenteeism, presenteeism, healthcare claims trends, disability incidence, and employee satisfaction; prepare ROI case studies for leadership.
Create inclusive programs that address diverse employee populations—remote workers, shift workers, caregivers, and multicultural workforces—adapting delivery channels and communications to maximize equity and access.
Maintain and update wellness policies, SOPs, and emergency procedures; provide training to HR and facilities staff on program workflows, onsite clinic operations, and incident reporting.
Manage wellness-related vendor invoicing, contract renewals, scope-of-work adjustments, and performance evaluations; escalate and resolve service delivery issues in partnership with procurement and legal teams.
Champion a culture of health by collaborating with facilities (ergonomics, on-site fitness), cafeteria services (healthy food options), leadership (wellness role modeling), and CSR teams (community health initiatives) to integrate wellness across the employee experience.
Stay current on industry trends, emerging wellness evidence, behavioral science, and best practices; attend conferences, maintain professional certifications, and apply new insights to continuously improve program effectiveness.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc wellness data requests and exploratory analysis to answer business questions (e.g., correlation between program participation and turnover or productivity).
Contribute to the organization's wellness strategy and roadmap by documenting lessons learned, identifying gaps, and proposing scalable program enhancements.
Collaborate with business units to translate employee health needs into program requirements, pilot solutions, and evaluate feasibility across locations and remote populations.
Participate in cross-functional project planning and agile-like cadences for rolling out new wellness initiatives, vendor integrations, or enterprise health campaigns.
Coordinate volunteer and community health events that support corporate social responsibility objectives and enhance employee engagement outside typical workplace programs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Wellness program design and implementation (biometric screening, HRA, health coaching, chronic disease management).
Data analysis and reporting: proficiency with Excel, Google Sheets, Tableau, Power BI, or HRIS reporting tools to build dashboards and measure KPIs.
Vendor management and contract negotiation experience with clinical and digital health vendors.
Budgeting and financial stewardship for program forecasting, reconciliation, and ROI analysis.
Familiarity with HIPAA, ADA, GINA, and other privacy/regulatory requirements related to employee health information.
Experience with digital wellness platforms, mobile apps, telehealth, and integrating wearable/consumer health data.
Project management skills: timeline creation, milestone tracking, cross-functional coordination, and use of tools like Asana, Trello, or Jira.
Event planning logistics for on-site clinics, health fairs, trainings, and multi-site rollouts.
Ability to interpret population health metrics and claims data in partnership with benefits analytics teams.
Basic clinical knowledge or clinical partner coordination (vaccination protocols, blood draw logistics, infection control).

Soft Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication tailored to diverse audiences including employees, leadership, vendors, and clinical partners.
Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills to work across HR, benefits, facilities, and executive leadership.
Empathy and coaching mindset for supporting employees with behavioral change and sensitive health topics.
Problem solving and critical thinking with an outcomes-focused approach to improve participation and health metrics.
Time management and multi-project prioritization in a fast-paced, hybrid work environment.
Facilitation and presentation skills for workshops, committee meetings, and executive briefings.
Cultural competence and inclusivity sensibility to design programs that meet the needs of diverse workforces.
Change management aptitude for influencing adoption of new wellness tools and policies.
Attention to detail for compliance, documentation, and accurate reporting of health data.
Resilience and adaptability when responding to public health changes, vendor issues, or program pivots.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Health Promotion, Human Resources, Occupational Health, Nursing, Kinesiology, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH), Health Promotion, MBA with health focus, or related advanced degree.
Professional certifications such as Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), Certified Wellness Practitioner (CWP), Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist, or Health Coaching certifications are preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Public Health
Health Promotion / Health Education
Human Resources / Organizational Development
Nursing / Allied Health
Kinesiology / Exercise Science
Behavioral Science / Psychology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of experience in workplace wellness, health promotion, benefits administration, occupational health, or a related field.

Preferred: 3–7 years of progressive experience designing and managing employee wellness programs, demonstrated success running biometric screenings and HRA campaigns, managing vendors, and producing measurable program outcomes (participation rates, ROI, health metrics).