5 Worksite Wellness Predictions from the Experts

There continues to be a tremendous amount of innovation and advancements in what companies worldwide are offering employees through workplace wellness programs. The Virgin Pulse Science Advisory Board, a group of international scholars and researchers in the fields of behavior change and workplace health, have made some predictions for 2017.

Dr. Eric Finkelstein, PhD, Executive Center Director, Lien Centre of Palliative Care; Professor at Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical Center
“In 2017, there will be an increased emphasis on personal responsibility, such that employers and insurers will incentivize individuals for meeting healthy behaviors, partly through the increasing use of wearables and other measurement devices.”  
Finkelstein’s prediction speaks to a growing body of research that is evaluating the effect of wearable devices on long-term behavior change. Wearables are no passing fad in the workplace. Devices that help employees track their behavior are helping them stay mindful of their decisions, challenges and progress toward their goals.

Ron Goetzel, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
“In the months and years ahead, employees will have a greater say in the design, implementation, and fine-tuning of programs.”
In the past decade, workplace well-being focused on more than just physical health and fitness. Programs have dramatically expanded to address stress, sleep, nutrition, finances, social relationships, mindfulness and even spirituality. Employers now understand that the journey to well-being is a deeply personal one, defined uniquely by the needs and desires of each individual employee.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, Director, Human Nature Lab, Yale University; Co-Director, Yale Institute for Network Science
“There will be an increasing awareness of the power that relationships at work have to shape our wellness. The focus on online interactions will shift back to face-to-face interactions at work, which are powerful forces on human behavior.” 
Dr. Christakis stresses social dynamics and their impact on both individual and population health. Health and healthy behavior, such as smoking cessation or weight loss, can spread through social groups. Because most of our waking hours are spent at work, the workplace social network is perhaps the most powerful environment for developing healthy habits.

David Batman, MBChB, Specialist Consultant, Occupational Medicine; Former Head of Occupational Health, Safety, and Employee Well-being for Nestle
“In 2017, there will be a move from ROI to a VOI evaluation, which will necessitate a new business dashboard including metrics such as engagement, resilience, concentration, fatigue, sleep, stress etc.”
As the wellness industry evolves, there is a need for new data points to understand how employee well-being affects businesses. Medical and pharmaceutical claims have been a traditional method for evaluating wellness ROI, but that doesn’t fully capture the VOI of the complex, holistic nature of strategic well-being programs. Measuring VOI attempts to understand and explore all of the different areas in an organization where value is created through the enhancement of employee wellbeing.

I-Min Lee, MBBS, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health 
“Large increases in prescription drug costs to employers will increase the emphasis on worksite well-being programs that work to reduce the need for such drugs. There will be more evidence-based evaluation of what programs truly work.”
The dramatic price increases for many prescription drugs, including those used to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes diabetes will lead employers to demand proven outcomes from their investments. Data-light, feel-good programs without any real measurement of outcomes are on their way out. In 2017, well-being programs will become central, critical business imperatives that are necessary for optimizing not just the productivity and performance of employees but also for managing the bottom line.

Source

Visit Wellness Workdays for more information about our worksite wellness programs.

6 Worksite Wellness Trends to Watch in 2017

Worksite wellness programs continued to gain in popularity and to evolve in organizations throughout the country last year. So what trends can you expect to see in 2017?

Greater emphasis placed on sleep
The CDC recommends adults get seven to eight hours of sleep per day, however, over 40 million American adults sleep six or fewer hours a day. To prevent diseases and improve health, employers are becoming aware of the value sleep has on their business. Sleep loss in the short-term is damaging to productivity and can impact mood, memory retention and decision-making, and can increase the risk of occupational injuries. Long-term sleep deprivation can exacerbate health problems such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and depression. Workplace health programs can encourage employees to adopt better sleep habits and healthy sleep routines.

Keep up with wellness regulations
Employers that offer wellness programs that collect employee health information will now be required to inform employees of what information will be collected, how it will be used, who will receive it and what will be done to keep it confidential. EEOC regulations go into effect for employers on the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Additionally, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is crucial.

Embrace new technologies
There is a unique opportunity for wellness programs to serve as a sort of “hub” in terms of coordinating health care and access to resources for all employees. Additionally, staying on top of trends such as wearables and video conferencing can help keep engagement levels high as more employees start to work remotely.

Mind-body well-being is as important as physical health
By treating both physical and emotional health, employers can increase productivity and lower health care costs through improved health outcomes. Emotional health accounts for $135 billion spent on health care every year – nearly as much as is spent on heart disease and cancer treatment combined. Well-designed programs, can help employees achieve total well-being.

Give back to the community
Offering company-supported wellness programs with activities that serve the community can create an added incentive for your employees, and their families, to adopt healthy behaviors because the activities benefit more than just the individual. Some activities include local cancer and heart charity walks or building community gardens in impoverished areas.

Create a healthy work environment
Improving the worksite and design of the workplace can lead to higher rates of employee engagement and healthier behaviors in the office. Some of these efforts can be as simple as eliminating high fat or sugar choices for meetings, or as complex as redesigning your office space. Healthy activity can be incorporated into your workplace by initiating walking meetings and providing motivational signs directing employees to staircases.

Source

Visit Wellness Workdays for more information about our worksite wellness programs.

Fitness Trackers - Fad or Solution?

Have you jumped on the fitness tracker bandwagon yet? Wearables significantly contributed to the technology boom among people of all ages, sizes and fitness levels. The popularity of fitness tech follows the rise of the adult obesity rate in the United States. More than 65 percent of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. These rates are linked to poor diet quality, limited nutrition knowledge, sedentary office jobs and lack of physical activity. Companies such as Nike, Apple, Fitbit, Garmin and Jawbone have created activity trackers as a way to tap into people’s interests about wearable technology and help establish motivation for fitness and weight loss. But do they work?

Fitness trackers come in several forms: you can wear your tracker on your wrist, pin it to your clothing, or download an app on your smart phone to track your steps. Features vary among the trackers; the most basic models simply track your steps, while others offer a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, calorie counting, GPS and more.

About one tenth of Americans over the age of eighteen own a fitness tracker. These gadgets have proven to be successful because of their game and competition aspects. Many trackers sync to an app that allows you to “compete” with friends, family and coworkers for the number of steps taken, distance traveled and calories burned. Fitness trackers also provide a way to measure your progress. They can help kick off a fitness regime and provide motivation. Fitness trackers also provide a platform for goal setting, which inspires people to get up, move and reach those 10,000 steps by the end of the day.

One researcher from Southern Adventist University in Tennessee interviewed fitness tracker wearers. The users all agreed they favored their trackers for their accuracy, progress displays, appearance and motivation. However, some downsides have been found with activity trackers as well. Older adults who might benefit from a physical activity aid find it hard to use the technology. Some also say that young people see the trackers as more of a fashion trend that eventually fades and ultimately goes unused. There are also complaints about accuracy and variations between trackers, which can be affected by exercise locations and frequency. All in all, most users say the feedback is good enough to keep using.

Bottom Line: Whether fitness trackers are a fad or the ultimate solution for weight loss, they’ve certainly proven to help users meet their fitness goals. Activity trackers help users establish lifelong healthy habits. When deciding which fitness tracker is right for you, consider your goals. If you want to jumpstart your activity or move more throughout the day, a simple platform may best suit your needs. For athletes working toward a specific goal, a more complex platform that offers a heart rate monitor may be the best option.

Source

Visit Wellness Workdays for more information about our worksite wellness programs