Wellness benefits have becomea mainstream offering for most large companies. Smoking cessation,nutrition and fitness, and health screenings have all been embracedby employers as a way of addressing health care costs and improvingemployee loyalty.

But as wellness programs become the norm, a new way of lookingat wellness has emerged, and “nontraditional” programs are now seenby many employers as a way to get an edge on recruitment andretention efforts. The envelope is being pushed in many directions,but the good news is that an expansive view of wellness has paidoff for employers, in attracting young workers, retaining olderones, and even in seeing a good return on investment.

Read: Top 10 reasons you should implementwellness

Paul Terry, chief science officer at StayWell, aMinneapolis-based company that provides wellness programs toemployers, says a holistic approach to worker wellness andnontraditional offerings are hallmarks of successful companies.

“There is an emerging interest among employers to move fromwellness to 'wellbeing,' which reflects their understanding thathealth improvement occurs best in environments where employees feelgreat about their work and their life in general,” Terry says.“Some of our more forward-looking clients are looking at therelationships between employee health, resiliency, satisfaction,and engagement with a growing appreciation for how each of thesedomains contribute to higher employee and company performance.”

On the rise

A survey from the International Foundation of Employee BenefitPlans finds that these new wellness benefits are on the rise.

“What we're seeing is more organizations are turning to thingsthat are not traditionally considered to be part of wellness,” saysJulie Stich, IFEBP director of research. “Things that we're callingsocial and community initiatives, as well as personal andprofessional development initiatives.”

Stich says the nontraditional wellness offerings are becomingmore popular with employers because the focus of wellness hasshifted.

“The genesis of wellness programs came about to really hold downhealth care costs, which were escalating,” Stich says.

“But now the data shows that more organizations think the No. 1reason is to improve their employee's wellbeing and engagement. Andso that translates into some of these other offerings—it's not justphysical health anymore, it's more all-around employeewellbeing.”

Stich says her group's study finds employers experimenting withbenefits such as encouragement of using vacation time, tuitionreimbursement and community charity drives.

The following are some of the top nontraditional benefits thatemployers are experimenting with.

1. Encouraging use of time off

The study found that employer initiatives to encourage employeesto use all their earned time off or vacation time is the most popular of thenontraditional wellness benefits. Sixty-six percent of employers inthe survey said they were offering such programs.

Read: Companies takenew look at summer benefits

“So many employees leave some of their vacation days lying onthe table,” Stich says. “I think more and more companies arerecognizing that it's good to encourage employers to take thattime, get refreshed and come back ready to work some more.”

2. Mental health coverage

Mental health coverage may not sound nontraditional: the IFEBPstudy showed that 80 percent of businesses surveyed offer employeeassistance programs (which commonly provide mental health treatmentservices), and 62 percent offer mental health coverage as part oftheir medical benefits.

However, other mental health-related benefits are on the rise aswell. In the survey, additional mental health offerings included criticalincident/crisis response counseling (33 percent), stress managementprograms (24 percent) and mental health assessments as part of anHRA (21 percent).

3. Tuition reimbursement

Tuition reimbursement is very popular, especially with youngerworkers, many of whom face the possibility of crushing studentdebt, either from past educational costs or from training they maybe considering. Nearly 63 percent of the businesses in the IFEBPsurvey report offering some form of tuition reimbursement.

A 2013 study by the Society for Human Resource Management foundthat 61 percent of employers offered undergraduate educationalassistance, and 59 percent offered graduate-level educationassistance. “As with career development benefits, educationalassistance not only helps the employee but also benefits theemployer by developing a more educated workforce,” the SHRM studysaid.

4. Community charity drives, communityvolunteering

According to the IFEBP survey, 57 percent of employers surveyedsponsor community charity drives. In addition, 46 percent ofcompanies offer some type of community volunteering opportunity toemployees.

The SHRM study had a similar finding, showing that 47 percent ofthe companies in its survey offered community volunteeropportunities.

“Community volunteer programs offer organizations an excellentopportunity to provide value-added benefits to the business,employees and community,” SHRM said. “These programs can betailored to best suit the needs of the organization's mission,vision and business goals.”

5. On-site events/other celebrations

IFEBP finds that just over 50 percent of employers offer thisstress-reducing and community-building option, while noting thatmany employers have offered similar events long before anyoneconsidered the wellness aspect of an office party.

The SHRM study found similar offerings were popular, includingcompany picnics (55 percent), discount ticket services (35 percent)and company-purchased tickets to outside events (26 percent).“Social gatherings provide the opportunity for employees to get toknow one another outside of the job, which can lead to betterworking relationships at the office,” the report said.

6. Financial education

Another benefit that adds to peace of mind for employees isfinancial education. The SHRM study found about 25 percent ofemployers offer financial counseling, either one-on-one or viaonline services. The IFEBP survey found 29 percent of employersoffering financial education.

Purchasing Power notes that in the aftermath of the lastrecession, many workers are still recovering from the hit theirinvestments took during that time.

“While gains in the stock market and the economy have led somecompanies to believe their employees are also recoveringfinancially, that's not the case,” the site said. “According tomost research, many employees are still struggling financially andthe associated stress is distracting them at work, impactingproductivity. Non-traditional voluntary benefits that improveemployee financial wellness will be sought after more and employersthat offer it will see a higher employee participation rate.”

The payoff

In the past, Stich and others say, employers closely watchedreturn on investment numbers to judge whether their wellnessefforts were a success. That mindset might be changing, though.

“Employers are seeing a positive impact of wellness on thingslike productivity and employee engagement, so you don't have quiteas much turnover,” she says. “Those are some positive aspects ofwellness that employers haven't always considered or lookedfor.

“We do see that wellness is evolving now, with employers lookingat the employee holistically; as a whole person.”