Flight Centre Travel Group’s wide-ranging support of employee well-being earned it a tie for top honours in Benefits Canada’s 2025 Workplace Benefits Awards.
The organization was recognized in the Health/Wellness Program category for employers with fewer than 1,000 employees for its Healthwise program, which supports the physical, mental, emotional and social well-being of employees.
The program includes numerous well-being supports, such as on-demand fitness classes, meditations, wellness and nutrition resources and ergonomic stretches and workstation set-ups. New content is communicated to employees through video updates and posts on the company intranet.
To support physical health, Flight Centre provides employees with access to an online quiz to learn more about their biological age relative to their chronological age, along with personalized feedback and resources for health improvement. Among more than 330 employees who took the quiz, 75 per cent reported a biological age younger than their actual age, said Anna Fisher, health and wellness director.
“It’s a great measure of several different areas of health, including stress levels, nutrition and mental health. We ask a lot of different questions in the quiz.”
The organization also has onsite fitness facilities such as meditation rooms and gyms, while employees who work remotely can receive discounts on gym memberships. In addition, it hosts monthly 30-minute health workshops covering topics such as fitness, nutrition, meal planning and the importance of social well-being. It also offers one-on-one online nutrition coaching, supported by follow-up sessions and ongoing support.
Read: Flight Centre wins award for holistic employee mental-health strategy
Flight Centre hosts an internal podcast series featuring employee stories on topics such as grief, therapy, cancer, addiction, menopause and resilience. And it supports employee mental health through programs such as ‘Hour of Power,’ which gives employees one paid hour each week to focus on their mental health through activities such as meditation, walking and journaling.
“[Hour of Power] is not only helping employee with their wellness, it also helps them achieve balance,” said Fisher. “You can get a really good [wellness] habit going when you have the time.”
Flight Centre emphasizes the importance of mental health to employees at all levels. New employees take part in sessions that provide essential tools and strategies to support mental health from their first day with the company, while managers receive mental-health leadership training to more effectively recognize and respond to mental-health issues in the workplace.
Tune in to Benefits Canada to learn more about the rest of the 2025 Workplace Benefits Awards winners in the coming days.