You’ve probably heard these common sayings in health and fitness.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

No pain, no gain. Drink eight, 8-ounce glasses of water eachday. Log 10,000 steps a day to stay fit.

But, is 10,000 steps the best target for everyone and can fewersteps lead to better health?

According to our research, people who take just 5,000 steps aday have better health, lower health care costs, and fewerhospital stays and emergency room visits than people who do notexercise.

After reviewing aggregate reports from annual wellnessscreenings, a large employer in the southeast found that more than50 percent of its employees were obese and an additional 28 percentwere overweight.

Employees classified as obese based on body mass index (BMI)measurements had medical costs that were 35 percent higher thanmembers who fell within the normal BMI range.

Something needed to change in order to reduce health care costsand improve the health of all employees.

In teaming up with this employer to design a multidimensionalstrategy, one of the components of the program involved gettingpeople moving by engaging, measuring, and incentivizing employeesfor practicing a simple healthy behavior—regular physical activity measured bythe number of steps taken per day.

The employer provided fitness trackers to participants and setup an incentive plan that rewarded step goal achievements.

To understand how wearable fitness technology, voluntary healthcoaching, and incentives could positively affect health andwellness in the workplace, we analyzed data over a three-yearperiod to understand how employees who exercised in moderationcompared with those who did not exercise, and how or if activitylevels affected claims costs for employees based on their BMIclassifications.

Capturing verifiable data through fitnesstrackers

We knew we had to get verifiable, real-time data to trackprogram results, which is why we used a fitness tracker to measurephysical activity.

The devices automatically logged daily steps so employees didn’thave to manually input the data.

Over the course of the three-year period, more than 60 percentof employees were tracking and verifying steps with the aid ofwearable fitness devices.

Monitoring activity levels, including steps perday

We compared physical activity by three exercise levels:

• None: 0 steps or 0 minutes of activity perday

• Minimal: Less than 5,000 steps or less than 38minutes of activity per day on average

• Moderate/High: More than 5,000 steps or morethan 38 minutes of activity per day on average

Through annual biometrics screenings, data were gathered onemployees who were within a normal weight range, those who wereoverweight, and those who were considered obese based on BMIstandards published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention.

Encouragement through health coaches

Employees also had opportunities to work with health coaches,which are part of a team of clinical specialists who are experts intheir respective fields and disciplines such as nutrition, smokingcessation, physical activity, stress management, etc.

Coaches helped employees identify health issues, set realisticgoals, and lend encouragement as they worked to achieve thosegoals. Over 80 percent of employees over the three-year periodworked with a health coach.

An activity-based incentive plan for ongoingengagement

All along the way, employees were encouraged to challengethemselves and their coworkers.

An activity-based incentive plan increased ongoing engagementwith the program, and those who met specific goals were able toearn up to $200 per quarter.

Having this easily measurable, ongoing program in place createdmore buy-in than previous efforts, which usually centered on aspecific time period and a one-time reward.

Participants also benefitted from the social engagement aspectof the program, which resulted in teams being formed acrossdepartments and beyond.

Employees’ accountability to their teams resulted in higherparticipation over time as many employees who were slow toinitially engage came on board in order to not miss out onactivities.

The findings: moderate exercise, or 5,000 steps per day,can have a big impact

When comparing people who didn’t exercise to those who did, wefound that those who did a moderate amount of exercise, defined asemployees who took as few as 5,000 steps per day or the equivalentof about 38 minutes of activity, had the following:

• Annual health care costs nearly 20 percent lower than employeeswho did not exercise. The hard numbers: $2,038 per member peryear (PMPY) for non-exercisers compared to $1,646 PMPY for moderateexercisers.

• Emergency room visits 50 percent lower than employees who didnot exercise (comparison was made between employees who wereoverweight and moderate exercisers, and employees who wereoverweight and non-exercisers). The hard numbers: 219.6 ERvisits per 1,000 for overweight non-exercisers compared to 73.6 ERvisits per 1,000 for overweight moderate exercisers.

• Inpatient hospital stays more than 50 percent lower thanemployees who did not exercise. The hard numbers: 59.9 IP staysper 1,000 for overweight non-exercisers compared to 30.1 IP staysper 1,000 for overweight moderate exercisers.

Across all BMI levels, the effect of regular exercise isimpactful.

Even when comparing data among obese members, evidence showedthose who did not exercise continued to have health care costs 23to 39 percent higher than obese members who exercised at least amoderate amount.

Over several years, the company’s health care costs inflationtrend flattened to 1 percent annually – the wellness program,focusing on physical activity, has been a key part of thissuccess.

Considerations:

Whether you are considering a wellness program, or starting acompany-wide challenge, here are some tips to help motivateemployees to become active participants in their health.

1) Startsmall. It is important to set realistic goals that peoplecan achieve. Start with a small goal, and then move your employeesto larger goals over time.

2) Createsmart incentives to increase participation. Create anongoing program with incentives along the way rather than aone-time reward to help keep people motivated.

3) Create(friendly) competition at the workplace. Over thethree-year period, we saw that many teams formed across theorganization, which resulted in higher participation as manyemployees who were slow to initially engage came on board in orderto not miss out on activities and competition.

4) Incorporate devices that people want to use.Engagement increases when people can use a fitness tracking deviceor app that fits seamlessly into their daily routine. If you wantyour employees to track their health and fitness for a campaign,let them use the device or app of their choice they are likely touse on a daily basis (and not leave it at home on the shelf).

5) Gainbuy-in from leadership. Creating a culture of health inthe workplace takes more than just a few employees participating ina program. It takes visible buy-in from the senior leadership todemonstrate a true commitment to better health.