18,000 employees. 25 countries. A Fortune 500 leader.
And engagement stuck in the bottom quartile.
Zimmer Biomet could feel it across the company: people were drained, trust was eroding, and teams were struggling to stay connected. Engagement data confirmed it — the organization was operating with a culture running on empty.
This wasn’t just an HR concern.
It was a business-critical warning sign.
The company needed a reset powerful enough to align teams at every level and across every region. They turned to WORKWELL.
Challenge
Annual employee surveys revealed an unmistakable pattern:
- Engagement ranked in the bottom 25 percent of peer companies
- Employees reported feeling exhausted and disconnected
- A growing trust gap was forming between teams and leadership.
For a global organization serving millions of patients, these cultural fractures posed a real operational risk. Zimmer Biomet needed to rebuild trust, energy, and connection, at scale.
Approach
Zimmer Biomet partnered with WORKWELL Labs and resilience expert Adam Markel to design a global transformation rooted in one idea:
Resilience is the foundation of sustainable high performance.
Together, they launched a multi-layered strategy to embed resilience into the daily rhythm of the company.
What Rolled Out Globally
- High-energy keynotes to spark alignment and momentum
- Interactive resilience workshops for teams across regions
- Group mentoring to deepen practice and accountability
- Resilience and well-being assessments to measure impact
- Self-paced digital learning through the Change Proof platform
- Short-form videos, newsletters, and town halls to keep the message alive
- Cross-functional partnership with Global HR, Supply Chain, and Operations
Momentum came quickly.
- Skeptics softened.
- Managers shifted how they led.
- Teams began communicating with more openness and trust.
What started as training became a movement, and resilience became part of the company’s shared language.
Results
Zimmer Biomet experienced one of the most significant cultural turnarounds in its history:
- Employee engagement surged from the bottom 25 percent to the top 10 percent
- Trust in leadership improved across countries and departments
- Well-being scores rose and were publicly recognized in the 2023 Sustainability Report
- Teams reported greater belonging, stronger connection, and clearer communication
One executive captured the sentiment:
“It helped so many people. What a gift.”
Why It Worked Well
Zimmer Biomet wasn’t looking for short-term inspiration, they wanted lasting, operationally meaningful culture change. WORKWELL helped them achieve it by building a system, not a moment.
1. True top-to-bottom alignment
Leaders modeled resilience; employees embraced it. Everyone spoke the same language.
2. Consistent reinforcement
Communication, mentoring, and digital learning kept resilience in motion long after kickoff.
3. Practical tools, not theory
WORKWELL made resilience something people could do, not just understand.
4. Built-in accountability
Real measurement, assessments, metrics, and internal champions — kept progress visible.
5. Resilience as a cultural identity
It wasn’t treated as an initiative. It became how the organization showed up every day.
As CHRO Lori Winkler shared:
“The transformation we’ve witnessed in our organizational culture and employee engagement is nothing short of extraordinary.”
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