I am often asked what the return on investment (ROI) is for staff wellness training in corrections. For years, I struggled to answer that question in a way that felt satisfying to the people asking it—or to me.
So I defaulted to statistics. I cited what little research existed. I referenced outcomes, pilot results, and participation numbers. The reality was, until fairly recently, the only people researching corrections-specific wellness programming were the same agencies offering the programs being assessed for effectiveness. The data pool was narrow, and I knew it.
I also know that during these conversations with administrators at least once I came across as frustrated and defensive. A jail administrator made an offhand comment that I sounded like I was defensively reciting my résumé. At the time, I bristled. But I sat with that feedback for a few months and eventually realized he was absolutely right.
I was frustrated—but not with him.
I was frustrated that the corrections profession, and many other public-facing systems like public safety, child welfare, education, and healthcare, (delete comma) have become so laser-focused on proving a product works that we sometimes absolve ourselves of responsibility for how it is actually implemented. And that, more than anything, is what determines the return on investment.
The Vacuum Analogy
To clarify what I mean, consider this example.
I own an expensive vacuum. The kind that maps your house, runs on a schedule, and empties itself. The Cadillac brand. The kind people rave about.
And it sits unused.
Ninety percent of the time, it stays on its home base charger. I jokingly refer to it as “money down the drain”—not because it’s a bad product, but because I don’t fully understand how to operate it or leverage it to its full potential. Friends who own the same type of vacuum cleaner sing its praises. The difference isn’t the vacuum. It’s how it’s being used.
This is what I see happening with staff wellness programming.
We want an ROI in a vacuum—excuse the pun. We ask for proof that a product works without equal regard for how it will be implemented. How we train it. Who we choose to champion it. The context we place it in. The signaling we pair with it. How we maintain it. How we improve on it. The budget we commit to staff wellbeing resources. Whether leadership behavior aligns with stated values.
I pose to you that those factors have far more impact on ROI than the product itself.
The Credibility Gap
Staff are tired.
They are tired of one-off programs brought in to address what leadership views as “isolated issues,” while they experience the strain as systemic and longstanding. To them, these efforts can feel like fighting a five-alarm fire with a squirt gun.
The decline in staff health and functioning has been generational. Continuing to demand ROI on a $20,000–$30,000 training can feel laughable from their vantage point when they have watched millions spent on overtime or on programs targeting specific issues among the incarcerated—often focused on mental health—while their own mental health remains in disrepair.
That disconnect erodes staff’s trust in their leaders.
It signals, whether intentionally or not, that staff wellness is an optional accessory rather than infrastructure.
Wellness Is a System, Not a Product
Staff health and functioning require a system-wide approach. That includes:
Budgeting for high-quality training and mechanisms to support transfer of learning from the classroom to the floor, including follow-up skills coaching, program evaluation, and clinical oversight
Aligning policies with stated wellness priorities
Providing leadership training that reinforces supportive supervision
Considering advocacy for policy or legislative changes that undermine staff wellbeing
Addressing workplace culture directly and honestly
Culture, in particular, is a quiet but massive elephant in the room.
Are we teaching staff wellness principles in leadership training but failing to evaluate whether those principles are applied in practice? Are performance metrics aligned with the behaviors we claim to value?
Who is championing this work?
Are they individuals who have worked behind the walls and carry credibility with the people they are trying to support? Do they have lived experience that resonates when we ask staff to be vulnerable and process the hard parts of the job?
And what happens after the training ends?
We often dismiss Employee Assistance Programs outright, but the reality is more nuanced.
When I served as the staff wellness administrator for two large state agencies—one in corrections and one in another public safety sector—I received quarterly usage reports from our EAP vendor. No identifying information, just patterns.
In both agencies, more than half of the utilization was related to work issues, and the majority of those were tied to leadership and workplace culture.
That data didn’t just tell me staff were struggling. It told me where to focus our efforts.
If we want to leverage the full potential of wellness programming, we have to be willing to do the work that allows it to succeed.
The Question We Should Start With
Looking back, my first response to that jail administrator should not have been to cite research or outcomes. It should have been a question:
What ROI are you looking for?
Are you trying to signal to staff that you recognize how hard the job is?
If so, are you going to allow them to attend training on work time without interruption?
What operational barriers exist for its effective implementation and adoption, and what is the plan to address them?
Are you hoping for a comprehensive program that can shift culture over time?
If so, what support are you providing for supervisors, peer support teams, and clinicians who work with staff?
Are you addressing the impact of corrections work on families? If so, how are you assessing that?
Are you seeking to reduce Corrections Fatigue and increase professional fulfillment among your staff?
Are you working to lower rates of sick leave, uses of force, or staff suicides?
If so, how comprehensive, “wholistic,” and long-term is your approach—and over what time frame will you assess change? Because meaningful change doesn’t happen easily or overnight.
If you have a union, what partnership around wellbeing has been built?
Is there an annual, recurring budget for this work?
What policy barriers might undermine it?
Are you open to ongoing supervisor skills coaching and program evaluation beyond the initial training or other intervention?
Do you have both top-down (administrative) and bottom-up (frontline) support?
Are you measuring success through wellness, retention, or both?
Because while those outcomes—wellness and retention—are directly linked, clarity about the primary goal shapes expectations from day one.
Why This Feels Overwhelming
When I, as a wellness vendor, raise these questions during a product exploration meeting, it can feel overwhelming to the staff involved.
Because it is.
When I worked inside agencies, I was often building the plane in the air—and at least once, it felt like I was doing it during hurricane-force winds without a pilot. That’s not uncommon in this line of work.
But the fact that these questions are complex doesn’t make them optional. They need to be considered before products are purchased, not after. Otherwise, we risk throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks.
For meaningful support to take hold, we can’t impulse-buy at the register and then be disappointed later that we forgot the batteries needed to make the thing work.
Can goals change? Absolutely.
Is flexibility still essential? Yes.
But setting the table before serving the spaghetti allows for greater efficiency, clearer expectations, stronger partnerships, and better use of already limited budgets.
Returning to the Meaning of ROI
In the end, the most important question is still the simplest one:
What ROI do you want?
We don’t need to be embarrassed by that question. The challenges facing corrections are not a secret. The data already tells the story. The strain on staff is visible.
As a vendor, if I understand the outcome you are seeking, I can operate with maximum accuracy. I can tell you which approach is most likely to help you achieve that goal. I can help you set realistic expectations for what your level of investment can support.
Because return on investment means exactly what it says: what you get in return for your investment—both funds and effort.
Somewhere along the way, when it comes to staff wellbeing, we started treating ROI as something that should happen automatically once a check is written.
But in reality, ROI in staff wellness is built, not bought.
