HED Recognized with 2025 Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation™

Cigna Healthcare® has selected HED as a recipient of the 2025 Gold level Healthy Workforce Designation for demonstrating a strong commitment to improving the health and vitality of its employees through a comprehensive workplace well-being program.

At HED, employee well-being is treated not as a benefit, but as a foundation for meaningful work. The firm’s approach integrates physical, mental, and social health through programs that support flexibility, access to care, and a culture of connection. By aligning well-being initiatives with the realities of design practice, HED fosters an environment where people are supported in sustaining both their creativity and their capacity over time.

Workforce vitality is a priority at HED because we believe the quality of our work is inseparable from the well-being of our people. When people feel supported, they are better equipped to think clearly, collaborate deeply, and deliver work that matters. Vitality is defined as the ability to pursue life with health, strength, and energy. It functions as both a driver and an outcome of health and work-life engagement, shaping not only individual experience but also organizational performance and resilience.

Research conducted as part of the Evernorth Vitality Index shows that individuals with higher vitality report stronger mental and physical health, greater job satisfaction, improved performance, and more effective relationships with managers. Yet only one in five U.S. adults reports high levels of vitality, underscoring the role employers play in shaping healthier, more sustainable workplace environments.

“Employers that prioritize workforce vitality—by addressing workplace stress, promoting healthy behaviors, and fostering a sense of competence, autonomy, and connection—are supporting employee well-being and driving organizational success,” said Bryan Holgerson, president of Cigna Healthcare U.S. “We’re proud to recognize employers like HED who are building cultures of well-being across all dimensions of vitality.”

The Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation evaluates organizations across key areas including workforce insights, strategy and culture, health equity and social determinants of health, dimensions of vitality, and employee engagement and experience. Recognition at the Gold level signals a standard of excellence in advancing organizational health and sustaining a high-performing workforce.

Cigna Healthcare’s selection of HED reinforces the firm’s continued investment in a workplace culture that supports its people—recognizing that when individuals thrive, the work itself becomes stronger, more thoughtful, and more enduring.