Becca Oken-Tatum, BridgeTower Media Newswires
Small businesses want employees to be healthy and take part in wellness programs, but how do you motivate them?
For some, wearable devices can help but only after checking with employees to gain a sense of their interest and support.
“From an employer’s standpoint, you want to make sure it’s something they want to do, especially smaller groups,” said Kacie Heilman Miller, board certified health coach for BeneFIT Corporate Wellness. Her organization is part of Populytics Inc., the data analytics and population health management subsidiary of Lehigh Valley Health Network.
“We like to build a sense of morale,” she said.
Many employees who participate in a wellness program need additional support. A company wouldn’t just purchase fitness trackers and hand them out to employees without some type of program that encourages their use, Miller said.
As an example, if people are interested in losing weight but aren’t ready and willing to take action, it probably won’t be a success, she said.
Miller said when she works with small businesses who are considering a wellness program, she provides them with a survey to determine what workers want in a program and then takes that data back to the client to create a strategy.
Miller asks employees what motivates them and where they see themselves in the future. She said she tries to get clients to think about wellness programs as a plan that reaches three to five years ahead.
“We try to get organizations not just to think a year out,” Miller said.
Many small businesses see wearable technology as part of a wellness program, she said.
Her organization works with businesses of all sizes. However, about one-third are employers with small groups, she said.
Wearables can monitor everything from the number of steps a person takes in a day to how much sleep she is getting each night. The devices also offer accountability. For some, knowing that a device is tracking their activity makes them more inclined to stick to a program.
Often, an employer will subsidize the cost, either partially, or in full. Other times, the employer will offer a wearable device as a prize employees could win for participating in some activity.
“With millennials becoming more abundant in the workplace, they want to feel supported,” Miller said.
Regardless of the type of wellness program they choose, Miller said she strives to build trust and support to help small businesses stay on track, which is not simple.
“I’ve worked with some real tough groups,” Miller said. “People can feel vulnerable, they may ask, ‘are you a spy for the insurance agency?’”
However, once a health coach has built trust with the employees and the employer has effectively communicated the wellness program, that can go a long way toward setting a small business up for success, she added.
Best practices for wearables and wellbeing programs
Over the years, we’ve seen wellbeing programs start to depend more and more on wearable devices. Here are the most important things we’ve learned in the last decade.
Employees need skin in the game. Don’t give devices out for free. They will have more value and be used longer if employees have to cover part of the cost.
Understand from the beginning that wearable devices are not behavior-changing tools. Wearable devices are activity trackers.
Wearable devices are fun, but the initial excitement will wear off and it will become stale.
Encourage BYOD (bring your own device): it’s cheaper. Use wearable devices as incentives or rewards for regular physical activity and other healthy behaviors.
Only use vendor data platforms; employers should never gather and use wearable fitness data.
Employers should never use or access individual data.
There are more than 400 different fitness trackers. The cost ranges from $50 to $5,000. The average cost of the typical fitness tracker is about $85.
Source: Dr. Steven Aldana, CEO of WellSteps, an organization based in Utah.
