And that brings us to the second problem. How do we actually get people to do that, to love exercise, to be addicted to exercise and to support others in doing so? That's the nut to be cracked. Here are five keys to successful employee engagement in this area:

Keep it simple. What we mean here is that the value proposition should be obvious for the employee and easy to understand. Don't clutter your program with so many different ways to engage (eat well, sleep more, get fit, do digital coaching, take your HRA, get your biometrics, say hello to your coworker, etc.). People think they want choice but more options result in a difficulty to commit. Simple and focused.
Make honesty/integrity an important part of the "game." How many employees wait until the last day of the period to "log" all of their activities for the prior quarter just so they can clear the bar to earn that $100 gift card. For employers who say, "That's okay, at least we know they are thinking about it" should rethink their strategy. Find a partner that has integrated the mobile health tracking apps and devices that will not only provide more verifiable data but actually make your analytics make sense. Employees actually get motivated by their daily accomplishments, provided there is no "friction" or little effort involved with tracking their activity.
Liberate your employees. This is a big one. We often use the phrase, "meet your employees where they are at." Find a partner that liberates your employees to engage in activity with friends that might be other than their colleagues. If an employee is more engaged when being active with their spouse our outside (work) friends, great. If an employee likes to play basketball vs. walk, great. If an employee wants to keep their data private, fine. In other words, don't try to prescribe. Rather, provide your employees with the ability to connect with you in a fashion that works for them. The most important thing is that you are there as a partner to recognize and value that activity and to build a bridge for each employee to exercise more.
Closely correlate any rewards with the action you want to incent. In behavioral economics there's a term called hyperbolic discounting. Hyperbolic discounting suggests we tend to significantly discount the value of a future reward vs. a smaller reward we might get today or right now. Meaning $100 at the end of the quarter might be just as powerful as $10 per month or $1 right now. Most health rewards are too distant from the actual act of achievement that employees don't assign the level of value that you think they should. Give more frequent but smaller value rewards to reinforce the behavior.
Market a consumer experience, not an employer experience. There are too many "wellness" vendors out there that have been built for the employer to allow them to "check the box" on offering programs. Find a partner who's built their solution for the consumer first and layered on an employer module once that's done well. In this way the employee won't feel like they're receiving another top-down employer-centric program but rather they're engaging in a consumer experience that's better because of you, not worse.

Next year is the year to crack the code. There's much at stake and employers are heavily focused on engaging their employees in healthy activity. The answer is clear. Do one thing and do it well. Exercise is the top of the engagement funnel. Don't miss the opportunity.

Instant Insights /

Do less to win in wellness

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