California Broker April 2019

LIFE WELLNESS INSURANCE
EMERGING TRENDS IN
WELLNESS PROGRAMS
Over the past two years, wellness administrators focused on
implementing three emerging trends into their programs:
wearable devices, wellness challenges and advanced analytics.
By DAVID ASHWORTH
The work of a wellness program administrator
is never done. Just when you finish implementing
all of the latest technology and
techniques, a new wave of emerging trends
crashes onto the health scene. As such, it
should come as no surprise that in order for a
wellness program to remain relevant and competitive, employers
must stay on top of these emerging trends.
As new devices and programs become available, administrators
should determine whether they fit into the company’s
culture. If they do, they should incorporate them into
the company’s wellness program as quickly as possible in
order to offer employees the complete package and attract
or retain high-quality workers. The success of a wellness
program, and therefore the health of the entire company, is
dependent upon its ability to stay on top of trends.
A Look Back at Past Trends
Over the past two years, wellness administrators focused
on implementing three emerging trends into their
programs: wearable devices, wellness challenges and advanced
analytics. Let’s take a deeper look into how these
trends improved wellness programs before we discuss this
year’s newcomers.
Wearable Devices—Since wearable tracking devices
became more stylish, functional and affordable in recent
years, their popularity as tools to use in wellness challenges
and incentives has grown greatly. A tracking device
improves the accountability of the user by automatically
recording data, such as step count or heart rate, and
lessens the chances of mistakes or misrepresentation that
accompanied the inputting of numbers manually. Modern
wearable devices also include additional features beyond
the standard step counting technology, including heart rate
monitors, calorie counters and sleep tracking capabilities,
which allow them to be used to monitor and record a variety
of health-related activities for use in challenges. Even
with this technology, administrators should be sure to allow
manual entry or administrative override to accommodate
days when people’s devices are not functioning, or out of
power. Since wearables are now more affordable than in
the past, many companies are able to provide employees
with fitness trackers as an incentive to join the wellness
program.
Wellness Challenges and Gamification—In connection
with the prevalence of wearable devices, wellness
challenges and incentives have skyrocketed in popularity.
Many people are competitive by nature and participating in
challenges on teams or against their coworkers has proven
to be a good motivational strategy. Thanks to wearable devices,
tracking results of competitions, such as step count
or calories burned, became easier and more accurate than
ever. Wellness portals also now offer the capability to create
sub-groups to divide the workplace according to athletic
ability. Competing against coworkers with a similar skill
level fosters a healthy environment in which many people
can succeed without feeling discouraged by the constant
wins of more advanced peers. By implementing social challenges
that motivate employees to participate in wellness
programs, administrators can help decrease the overall
cost of healthcare for the company.
Advanced Analytics—Wellness programs have begun
to offer more advanced analytical features that allowed
administrators to further investigate their company’s popu-
24 | CALIFORNIA BROKER - CalBrokerMag.com -
APRIL 2019