Many employees are resisting company efforts to directly monitor their health. Research released by Xerox Human Resources Services and the National Business Group on Health indicates that employers are more supportive of using wearable fitness devices, social media, and gamification to monitor employee health than are employees.
The research was based on input from 210 enterprise size companies, many of them doing business internationally.
Researchers reported that, despite challenges in developing strong metrics to support their wellness program technology, employers are forging ahead. Mobile technology is hot right now: It's use grew by 16 percent since the last survey in 2013, outpacing growth in adoption of gamification and social media (both still seen as priorities).
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"Over half of responding employers are using apps and associated technologies to provide their employees a consumer experience that matches the tablet and smartphone lifestyle," the report said. "Gamification, social networking, and wearable sensors all reported similar usage of about one-third of responding employers."
Employers like wearables because of the timely feedback on such matters as blood pressure, glucose readings, heart rate, and more. Along with gamification and social media activity, wearables produce measure data that employers can analyze.
"Reflecting the need for results driven data, activity tracking is now used by 37 percent of respondents with another 37 percent planning to adopt the technology in the coming years."
But getting employees to embrace wearables has been difficult, the employers said. Due to concerns over their privacy, employees are resisting wearables — which offer employers the most direct way to monitor employee health. Whether their resistance is a phase, like sharing one's credit card or social security information, or something more serious, remains to be seen.
Another wearable barrier is the cost of the technology. As with other wellness technologies, wearables are competing with other budget interests. A dearth of supportive metrics doesn't help health plan advocates make their budget request.
"Measuring the impact of technology-supported wellness programs remains challenging for employers, particularly where direct cause and effect cannot be quantified," said Scot Marcotte, client technology leader at Xerox HR Services. "Wearable sensors offer an opportunity for better measurement, but adoption of work-sponsored wearable usage has been slow due to a variety of reasons, including cost of the technology and privacy concerns."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
