Despite the concerted effort of employers, industry consultants, and fitness app makers, unhealthy employee behaviors don't seem to be changing. Workplace wellness is a hot trend, but employers are struggling to find real value.
Employers, motivated to lower healthcare costs, think of wellness programs as a "soft" strategy that employees want and like. But too often, employers overlook the pitfalls that can lead to serious revenue losses. Three important gaps come to mind:
1. Poor data tracking
Healthcare has a reputation for dragging its feet when it comes to using data to inform and drive change. With regard to employee wellness, the story hasn't changed.
Healthcare costs are expected to average $11,188 per employee, a 6.3% increase this year. Despite the concerted effort of employers, industry consultants, and fitness app makers, unhealthy employee behaviors don't seem to be changing.
For example, a recent RAND report shows that of those employees eligible to participate, only
- 21% participated in programs to improve fitness,
- 7% participated in smoking cessation programs, and
- 10% participated in weight or obesity management programs
Although the report suggests that participation in wellness initiatives demonstrates positive changes in employee health and wellness, those numbers are pretty low. Lower still is the number of pounds lost in those weight management programs.
Participants averaged less than a pound lost in five years. I call that water weight. The report can't seriously conclude that that pace of weight loss demonstrates active participation in a wellness initiative, can it?
But I understood the low engagement numbers, and the weight loss, better once I learned that employers aren't regularly evaluating their programs based on cost effectiveness.
Specifically, of those employers implementing weight loss programs, only half had evaluated the effectiveness of their programs formally and only 2% reported actual savings estimates. None had formally evaluated their programs on cost effectiveness, RAND report stated.
How can a wellness program ebb and flow with the specific needs of its workforce if it is not regularly being analyzed and tracked for its effectiveness and ROI? It can't.
2. Inaccurate data
Not bothering to use the data you have is one problem, but having poor data is just as bad.
This week, The New York Times reported on a few of the first comparative studies that evaluate the accuracy of the fitness and activity-tracking devices called "accelerators." These monitors and calorie counters (think Fitbit and Nike + FuelBand) are motivating users to move more by using standing desks and distant parking spaces. But the collection of comparative research on these devices shows they aren't accurately tracking user activities.
Since they are typically worn on the upper body, low-impact shifts in daily habits, which such as standing more or cleaning, were shown as "immobile" and did not register on the activity trackers. Even high-impact activities, such as riding a bicycle, weren't calculated accurately.
So researchers moved the devices to the hips. Energy for standing up, bicycling, and walking or jogging uphill were also under-tracked. Shoe devices, in a comparative study, were shown to be the most effective tracking accurate energy expenditure for various activities. Calorie counts, interestingly enough, were only overestimated for activities such as typing, an ironic reward for desk-bound employees.
When employers are tracking incentives and investing in these devices to create long-term changes in employee behaviors, the accuracy of these tools absolutely matters.
3. Incentives don't change unhealthy habits for long
If employers don't like hearing that they aren't adequately using the data they have, and that some of their data is unreliable, they're really not going to like my next point: Wellness programs are not a good investment.
Sixty-nine percent of employers combine financial incentives with wellness programs, and 71% offer incentive rewards of more than $200 for participating in lifestyle management programs, but the lasting effects of the incentives according to the RAND report are "small and unlikely to be clinically meaningful."
You've got to wonder: Are any of these workplace behavioral changes likely to last?
Chelsea Rice is an associate editor for HealthLeaders Media.
