Beyond the paycheck: The three real drivers of employee retention | Shruti Walia | Head of Human Resources | cult.fit and Arjit Shukla | Head, cult for Corporates
Why do employees stay with an organisation? Compensation and career growth are important factors, but they are no longer the sole determinants of retention.
Retention is really the outcome of three interconnected questions every employee asks: Do I belong here? Can I sustain this? Does this company care about me beyond my output? More often than not, the answers are shaped by the culture employees experience, the level of stress they carry, and also on whether their wellbeing – including opportunities to stay active and fit – is treated as a priority rather than an afterthought.
Why workplace culture matters more than ever
Every company has an unwritten agreement with its people. It is not present in the offer letter, but you feel it daily in whether leaders respect personal boundaries, trust employees without constant monitoring, and judge performance by actual output rather than digital presence. Unfortunately, deeply ingrained expectations around hard work often blur these boundaries. Long workdays become badges of honour, and the workday follows people home on their phones, making it almost impossible to switch off. This constant strain often leads employees to suffer in silence, hesitant to raise concerns for fear of appearing uncommitted.
How stress quietly pushes talent out the door
A recent corporate wellness report by cult found that nearly half of all corporate employees experience high stress levels, more than a third report daily anger, and 49% are actively looking for new opportunities. This matters now because employees are increasingly unwilling to compromise their health, relationships, and peace of mind for work. Around 45% of the Millennial and Gen Z workforce report having left a job due to burnout. The ripple effects are costing Indian employers an estimated ₹1.1 lakh crore annually through lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Therefore, the cumulative effects of stress and exhaustion are increasingly contributing to employee attrition, making wellbeing a critical retention issue.
Fitness as the foundation of employee wellbeing
Addressing workplace stress often requires long-term cultural and organisational change, but fitness offers employers a practical and scalable way to support resilience and wellbeing in the here and now. Physical activity has been shown to boost productivity, confidence, and efficiency, while also helping reduce stress through the release of endorphins, lowering cortisol levels, improving sleep quality, and enhancing cognitive function. Over time, these benefits can improve how employees experience work itself, helping them stay energised and better able to manage the pressures of a demanding environment.
The challenge, however, is that many employees struggle to prioritise physical activity amid long work hours and demanding schedules. This is where employers can help bridge the gap through workplace-led fitness initiatives. Live group workouts, guided yoga and meditation sessions, fitness challenges, and step competitions can encourage employees to stay active while fostering accountability and a sense of community. Supporting movement throughout the day through initiatives like walking meetings, active breaks, and flexible schedules helps create an environment where fitness becomes a natural part of the workday rather than an added task.
The benefits of these efforts extend beyond individual wellbeing. Holistic wellness programmes can improve productivity, reduce absenteeism, strengthen job satisfaction, and support long-term retention. As a result, corporate investment in employee wellbeing continues to grow, with recent estimates projecting the wellness market across India’s six largest metros to exceed ₹4,000 crore by 2027.
The new wellness mandate
For business and HR leaders, the takeaway is clear: create an environment where high performance does not come at the cost of wellbeing, make it easier for employees to stay active and healthy, and equip managers to identify and address signs of stress before they begin to affect performance and engagement.
Many traditional wellness programmes struggle because they rely on fragmented reimbursement processes, manual approvals, and complex deductions that create friction for employees. Modern enterprise wellness requires a more integrated approach, combining broad physical access, flexible benefits, and friction-free utilisation within a unified ecosystem that employees can engage with consistently while maintaining personal boundaries.
Organisations need to move beyond viewing wellbeing and fitness as HR perks and instead recognise them as systemic business enablers. From an operational perspective, shifting from legacy health budgets to fixed Minimum Guarantee (MG) models allows companies to accurately forecast expenses. Furthermore, consolidating various wellness benefits into a single, unified platform maximizes the impact of flexible budgets. This strategy deepens employee loyalty while actively protecting EBITDA margins. Ultimately, workplace health is not a discretionary expense; it is a strategic investment in long-term organisational success.