- A growing number of companies are moving into corporate wellness technology development, creating platforms for other companies to implement workplace wellness programs.
- By leveraging mobile applications and fitness trackers, these platforms help employers and employees input, track, and analyze real-time data in areas such as fitness, health metrics, emotional wellness, and nutrition.
Summary
Workplaces, especially large companies with many locations, may benefit from outside help in setting up, coordinating, and tracking the various aspects of wellness programs. Companies that specialize in digital integration for workplace wellness meet this need by creating platforms for their clients to achieve their health goals. These digital integrators provide individual plans that cater to their clients and leverage digital technology and fitness/activity trackers to collect and analyze (often real-time) data.
Although different companies prioritize these to varying extents, the three common goals of digital integrators are to: (1) Engage and incentivize employees, (2) Decrease healthcare costs for employers, and (3) Produce measurable improvement in health. Employers hiring digital integrators often end up with a “hub” in which they can access all of their employee data in order to measure outcomes and give out incentives. On the employee side, these platforms allow users to go to one place to input, access, and track all of their data – including physical activity, nutrition, health metrics, and emotional wellness.
Overall, the expertise provided by digital integrators may make wellness program implementation not just timelier but also more effective. Digital integrators have skill in cutting-edge technology, design, and various fields of health, including physical fitness and psychology. They also have valuable experience from former clients. Moreover, the competition in this sector drives digital integrators to innovate, finding ways to distinguish themselves using gamification or strategic partnerships.
That being said, major companies, governments, and even schools have been able to implement successful workplace wellness programs without hiring outside support. Furthermore, the major limitation is that these companies’ programs focus mainly on lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, some studies argue that disease management is also a significant area of healthcare costs.[1] Of course, employees with chronic conditions do benefit from lifestyle and preventive programs; however, it is not clear that the companies described here help employers provide specific support for their employees with pre-existing conditions.
It also needs to be acknowledged that most digital integrators are sparing in the information they provide about their programs online. This makes analysis of these companies difficult. For companies hoping to work with digital integrators, it may be valuable for them to reach out directly and conduct their own research.
Analysis
Building an effective workplace wellness platform is the foundation of getting health and financial outcomes. However, successful design is not just about aesthetics. What sets certain platforms apart from the large pool of companies in this sector are outcomes and innovation.
Limeade not only builds platforms for companies to implement a variety of wellness programs, but it also conducts its own research via the Limeade Institute. The Institute uses its research to create relevant content, such as the Limeade Well-Being Assessment. Limeade also partners with other companies such as ADURO, a human performance monitor, and Fitbit, in order to provide more strategies and options for their clients.[3]
Limeade has recently gotten a lot of attention for its work in workplace wellness technology. Its programs incorporate insights and best practices developed at the “Limeade Institute” and provide educational resources beyond just platform design.
One thing that Limeade seems to do best is partner with other companies in order to provide comprehensive support to their clients. For example by partnering with Fitbit, Limeade accesses all of the benefits of using activity trackers and Fitbit’s expertise. This allows Limeade and its clients to use feedback from the Fitbit data to analyze engagement in physical activity promotion programs and subsequently refine and improve them.
It’s promising to see that Limeade has a prediabetes intervention program at Kindred Healthcare.[4] Limeade, unlike many of its competitors, goes beyond broadly addressing fitness and nutrition, and allows clients to deliver interventions that are tailored to specific drivers of healthcare costs.
- Mattke et al., “Do Workplace Wellness Programs Save Employers Money?”
- “Limeade Institute,” Limeade, 2017, https://www.limeade.com/our-story/limeade-institute/.
- “Our Partners,” Limeade, 2017, https://www.limeade.com/our-story/our-partners/.
- Limeade Marketing, “How Kindred Healthcare Used Personalization to Reduce Diabetes Risk,” Limeade, October 18, 2016, https://www.limeade.com/2016/10/kindred-healthcare-well-being-reduce-diabetes-risk/.
