Integrating Wearables in Corporate Wellness Programs
Recent estimations and stats show that 1/3 of the population will develop Diabetes Type 2 within their lifetime and in many countries, already more than 1/3 of the population is obese. The healthcare costs connected to treatment of chronic conditions is taking up an increasingly large part of overall public healthcare spending and contribute to spiraling Healthcare Costs or to the decline in quality of overall healthcare in the developed world.
Corporations, facing the challenge of an increasingly competitive labor market place and an ageing population, are experiencing more immediate effects of the rise of chronic conditions on the workfloor: loss of productivity through a combination of absenteeism and presenteeism. Based on research done by Kaiser Permanente (2009) in the corporate world the loss in productivity is significant: depression (33%), obesity (20%), chronic pain (13%), diabetes (11%).
There is a strong correlation between the growth in chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and lifestyle. The lack of physical activity as well as bad nutrition habits are key contributors to these conditions reaching epidemic dimensions. The WHO guideline for physical activity foresees 30 min moderately intense physical activity (e.g. brisk walking) per day / 5 days a week and it is estimated that less than 50% of the population meets this standard. Our sedentary lifestyle as office workers working 40 hour weeks sitting behind computer screens does not help much in reversing this trend. On the other hand, the office workfloor offers ample opportunity for making small steps towards leading a more active lifestyle. Taking the stairs in between 2 meetings, leaving the subway 1 stop earlier than the one you usually take or even using the printer at the end of the corridor all offer small contributions.
Based on research done at Withings in 2015, there are few Industry Segments in which Corporate Wellness Programs lead to satisfying outcomes in terms of reducing the number of inactive employees.
Ideally, in order to be be efficient, a corporate wellness program offers personalized coaching session to make small changes in behavioral aspects of the individual lifestyle.
Corporate Wellness Program focused on Improving Physical Activity Level using wearables and evidence based coaching algorithms
Connected wearable pedometers as well as Bluetooth enabled smartphones have come to age in the last years. Popular fitness bracelets from brands like Misfit, Fitbit and Garmin generate real time data that is presented on the mobile phone but rarely are effective in personalized engagement with the user.
The introduction of connected pedometers in corporate wellness programs allows not only running Personalized Lifestyle Intervention programs in a controlled environment but also offers a bridge towards engaging with a broader population segment with higher potential benefits from small changes in lifestyle. The following components are key in a successful engagement program.
- Coaching Algorithms: the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (Prochaska 1977) has been at the basis of extensive research over the last 35 years and several universities worldwide are running programs with smartphone based messaging engines to drive behavioral change. This offers an evidence based framework for lifestyle intervention.
- Contextual Enhancement : information such as where the person lives, works, what fitness options there are close to home, what the weather is like and whether or not the person is a dog owner open the door to formulating more personal messages to increase adherence to the wellness program.
- Gamification elements such as peer groups and inter-company departmental competition offer a great way to motivate individuals and groups to keep on track.
With initial focus on increasing physical activity level of employees, it is possible to expand into nutritional coaching and monitoring mental health. Being cost effective by nature, the wearable technology based corporate wellness program offers an attractive way for employers to show they care about employee health as well as increasing effectiveness of the wellness campaign by surfing on the increasing popularity of this product category.
This new approach to managing employee health will increase in importance in the enterprise of the future as the burden of an unhealthy workforce will be felt more intensely across industries. Early adopters will benefit from an image boost in the labor market as well as put themselves in a superior position to manage health related productivity levels on the workfloor.