Organizational leaders can think of themselves and their employees as Executive Athletes, who are working professionals able to sustain high achievement in their chosen careers by balancing performance with rest/recovery (Lassu et al., 2024; Stuart et al., 2025). This is an important way to view employees, because organizations want not only high performing employees, but also ones who can keep that performance up over time. Like sports athletes, Executive Athletes need to avoid burnout and know when to push and when to recover from the stress of work or the illnesses/injuries endured. Both sports and Executive Athletes want to not just treat an injury like a broken leg or avoid a future one, but to optimize their wellbeing.

How can employers invest in their workforce’s health and treat employees like Executive Athletes, helping to optimize their wellbeing? It is not an easy task, as employers are already struggling with high healthcare costs. They consistently rank managing employee health care costs as the top priority; other priorities include attracting and keeping employees, helping with health and wellbeing, and bettering healthcare access and affordability (Aon, 2023). Unfortunately, healthcare costs have increased by around 50% since 2017; obesity is a major concern followed by cancer care, musculoskeletal conditions, and cardiovascular issues (Business Group on Health, 2025). These costs are predicted to keep increasing at a rate 4x general inflation, 3x wage increases, and more than 2x the rate of retirement plan contributions (Aon, 2023).

The Workplace Benefits of Employee Wellbeing

Despite the rising healthcare costs, it is still a strategic business decision for employers to invest in employee wellbeing. In this way, they can avoid at least some of the $575 billion endured annually by U.S. employers in medical costs and 1.5 billion days of lost productivity (Integrated Benefits Institute, 2024).

Moreover, they can proactively foster a thriving workforce with better workplace outcomes (Gabriel et al., 2022). For instance, research from the McKinsey Health Institute and the World Economic Forum shows that companies who care about employee health benefit by improved employee productivity, engagement and retention as well as lowered absenteeism; furthermore, improved employee wellbeing could generate almost $12 trillion in global economic value (McKinsey Health Institute, 2025).

Understanding HSAs and FSAs

One way to help with employee healthcare costs is for employers to offer insurance. Many cover a majority of health insurance costs, which averages $22,563 per family; another way employers can promote wellbeing is by providing HSA and FSA options, which 52% (HSA) and 22% (FSA) of employers respectively offer (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2024). HSAs are tax-advantaged accounts for individuals with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), allowing pre-tax savings for medical expenses. FSAs are employer-sponsored accounts and also use pre-tax funds, but have a “use-it-or-lose-it” rule with limited rollover (e.g., $660 in 2025) and are nontransferable (Internal Revenue Service [IRS], 2025).

Imagine Sam breaks his leg. He can use his employer-provided insurance for the ER visit. However, he may still incur costs after insurance or need services not covered by his insurance. This is where his HSA comes in. Plus, Sam has significant savings by using it. If Sam works in California and makes $100,000, with a 30% tax rate, roughly $30,000 is going to taxes. What he puts in his HSA is not taxed, so if he adds $2,000 he is only taxed on $98,000. He can continue saving. If he pays for a $100 physical therapy session with his HSA, it costs him $100, but if he pays for it from his post-tax income, he would have had to earn about $143 to then have $100 for the visit. Using HSA is strategic! It is no wonder that Sam would appreciate his employer for providing it.

A Functional Medicine Approach

What is great about HSAs/FSAs is the variety of services/products that are covered. Many of these would be helpful even after Sam breaks his leg and needs an ER visit and physical therapy. Sam could use his account to prevent health issues; chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, which account for 75% of global deaths, are largely preventable through holistic healthcare and lifestyle changes (World Health Organization, 2023). HSAs and FSAs can directly address this issue by promoting wellbeing for the whole person, while offering financial benefits. This aligns with a functional medicine approach to health, which emphasizes treating the whole person by considering root causes across genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors (Institute For Functional Medicine [IFM], 2023).

In addition to preventing health issues, as a rockstar Executive Athlete, Sam could optimize his health via his HSA/FSA account for services in alignment with the six health pillars utilized at Let Go & Grow, a company dedicated to cultivating healthy ecosystems within individuals, teams and organizations: mindset (e.g., therapy), diet (e.g., nutritional counseling), lifestyle (e.g., fitness programs, sleep support), supplementation (e.g., prescribed vitamins), detoxification (e.g., sauna therapy), and holistic support (e.g., health devices, acupuncture) (Stuart, 2022; Internal Revenue Service [IRS], 2025). These foundations cultivate awareness of the many evidence-based options available while allowing for customization. In this way, employees have a roadmap to follow so they can be their best selves and perform without burnout that could lead to expensive healthcare costs.

Next Steps: HSA/FSA Resources

Simply offering HSA/FSA options is not enough as many employees are not aware of how to maximize benefits. Thus, employers can start with the following:

  1. Promote HSA/FSA education through wellness workshops during work hours.
  2. Explain IRS Publication 502 outlining eligible expenses. For instance, HR can highlight that even feminine hygiene products qualify as a medical expense.
  3. Provide specific resources of practitioners (e.g., IFM’s practitioner list www.ifm.org  and NCCAOM’s directory of acupuncturists www.nccaom.org/find-a-practitioner-directory) and services (e.g., Function Health’s lab tests for longevity www.functionhealth.com).