There’s no denying the power of social connections when it comes to improving our health. Ever wonder why it’s so powerful in the workplace? Because social reinforcement within your organization is targeted, contextual, flexible, and natural.

Targeted – As workplace peers, we know something about our colleagues—their interests, their past struggles, their tendencies.  In a social context we can encourage and support one another based on this specific understanding of our friends.  We understand something about their internal point of view and how they are best motivated.

Contextual -  Since we work in the same environment, we understand the external influences on our motivation and ability to act or adopt new behaviors.  When health-related events are scheduled automatically from the top down, they may inadvertently coincide with a big project, a vacation or when we are focused on another goal.  But within our social group, our peers understand this context and have ongoing, real-time feedback about when we are most open to a new event, a fun competition, or a new behavior.

Flexible – As peers we can be very adaptable to internal and external factors and fluidly adjust our support in the moment.

Natural – As human begins, we are social animals.  We respond to social norms and social feedback, and we work to find our place in the social structure by changing our behaviors or approaches to other people.  And this desire to fit in can increase the impact of other motivational levers you may use, like incentives or competitions to promote healthy behaviors and healthy cultures.

We’re seeing the evidence of these powerful social elements within our HealthMiles program’s new social community, Connections. Learn all about Connections, and how you can leverage social influences to improve employee health.

Consider your 2012 employee health and wellness initiatives for a moment. Do they include opportunities for social interaction? Ways to foster healthy social communities? They should, according to a sampling of employees across the country.  We conducted a survey of over 1,300 HealthMiles members and found that employees are more likely to participate in programs if their social groups do; they’re more committed to good health if their colleagues are; they’re more physically active due to the influence of co-workers; and they even look to their peers for the latest health and wellness information. More specifically, the survey revealed that:

• The majority (almost 60%) of employees surveyed say that workplace community and social elements are either “extremely” or “very” influential when it comes to making the commitment to good health.  Only 3.8% believe that these elements are not influential at all.
• When asked what elements of workplace wellness programs are most effective at helping employees get back or stay on track toward health goals, not surprisingly, financial incentives ranked at the top. But almost 45% of employees said the opportunity for both social engagement and workplace camaraderie were the most effective elements.
• 38% of respondents say that their peers have kept them motivated and on track toward health goals; 35% say that peers help them increase their daily activity levels, and one-third of employees report that co-workers helped them get started with healthier behaviors.
• 46% of employees like to stay informed about what others are doing and sometimes get helpful tips from them.  Only 8% say that they do not rely on what others are doing.
• 52% of employees reached their daily physical activity goals with the help of their peers. Over one-third have lost weight due to peer influence, and 34% report improved morale and a better outlook due to workplace social communities. Seventeen percent report lower blood pressure as a result of peer influence, and almost 16% say they have a reduced risk of a health problem.
• And why does social interaction work?  Many (36%) feel that sharing their progress with peers keeps them accountable to their goals. Thirty-five percent believe that workplace social connections keep them motivated to participate.  Thirty-two percent say that competition with peers helps them to stay active, and 31% believe that exchanging information about what works and what doesn’t is helpful.

Check out the full survey report.

To further leverage the influence of social interaction to drive sustained, healthy behaviors, we’ve introduced Connections, a breakthrough solution that provides you with one social platform for all your employee health and wellness programs.  With this private, members-only social health community, employees build support networks; post updates to share goals and accomplishments; and create groups around common interests and healthy activities. Learn more about how you can leverage peer-to-peer motivation and support to drive engagement and better health across your multitude of employee health offerings.

It’s that time again, when organizations resolve to create healthier, more productive workforces. But many fail, mostly because they turn to the same old approaches that have proven to be ineffective over time. What follows are four approaches that drive real results, four best practices that we’ve learned through working with clients throughout the US,  that drive maximum impact from overall employee health and wellness strategies and investments:

Breakthrough #1:  Mind the Gap — The Desire for A Culture of Health and Today’s Reality
For years, creating a “culture of health” has been a goal for many organizations.  Yet a recent Buck Consultant’s survey found only 10 percent of U.S. respondents felt they’d fully achieved a culture of health in their organizations, while 85 percent intend to pursue one. How can companies close the gap between their desire for a culture of health and actually achieving one? Failed “Wellness 1.0” solutions aren’t the answer.

Lifestyle-related disease is driving much of our burgeoning healthcare bill. At the root of these diseases are personal health behaviors like not getting enough exercise, smoking, and poor eating habits. Often these behaviors are reinforced by personal relationships and become social norms. That’s one of the key reasons the traditional top-down push approach to health and wellness can only go so far.

To improve the health of their organizations, employers need to combine motivation, opportunity and triggers for the actions they want to encourage. Based on our experience working with leading employers, we’ve learned all three elements are a necessity, whether employers are seeking to create healthy habits or healthy cultures. Couple this critical mix with a proven, easy-to-use solution that drives healthcare and productivity savings, and our clients today are seeing real employee health improvements, while quantifying the impact on their overall health and wellness strategy.

Breakthrough #2:  Forging a Creative Health Partnership with Employees
Not surprisingly, employers who actively build a partnership with employees – one in which employees get the motivation and tools they need to make healthy behavior changes and employers reward them accordingly – see tangible outcomes. Leading employers are increasingly applying this version of the “good driver discount” to their employee health and wellness initiatives that, along with compelling incentives, turn what could have been sticks into carrots.

We pioneered the Pay-for-Prevention™ approach to employee health, and we’ve seen firsthand that this win-win strategy motivates employees. This approach helps employers align incentives for actual, ongoing performance and reward employees with cash or healthcare premium discounts for staying active and healthy.

Breakthrough #3:  Make it All Make Sense
A recent Forrester Research survey of U.S. employees found that with every health and wellness program offered, the majority of employees, between 63% and 86%, were unaware of the specific health improvement programs their employers offer. How can employees take action if they don’t know about or understand their employer’s health offerings?

Progressive organizations know the path to engagement is through awareness and are tapping tools to bring together employee health programs and incentives into one compelling platform. Through a technology-based solution that integrates a range of third-party programs, employers can promote, engage and incent all of their employee health programs centrally, making programs easier to discover and use, and drive better results from their health and wellness strategy.  For instance, one of our clients experienced more than 80 percent enrollment in its employee wellness program and realized a $3 million reduction in employee-only medical claims.

Breakthrough #4:  New Ways to Translate Small Steps into Big Results
Good health isn’t accomplished overnight. Rather, it’s the cumulative effect of small steps reinforced with positive feedback.  Even with big dollars on the line, financial incentives may not be enough on their own, especially when that reward is many months away.  Social networking and game mechanics are key factors in helping employees better understand what to do next, set short-term goals and celebrate their immediate healthy achievements, helping them stay on the path toward long-term health goals and incentives.  Social networking and game mechanics, in tandem with other behavior change strategies, help motivate employees long-term to stay on the path to good health by keeping it fun, engaging and rewarding.

Since 2005, Virgin HealthMiles has been at the forefront of developing innovations that help companies achieve significant workforce health improvements and cost savings.  These four breakthrough ideas are at the core of these successes.  Learn more about how we can help you get started with a health and wellness program or help you drive better results from all your existing programs.

A recent survey from Aon Hewitt, along with the National Business Group on Health and The Futures Company, revealed that employees want their employers to do more to help them improve their health.

Three-thousand employees (and dependents) who get their health insurance through their employer responded to questions about health and wellness. Most are concerned about the cost of health care, now and in the future. Most understand the value of health and wellness programs when it comes to keeping costs down and improving their health. But most feel that their employers could be doing a better job at designing these programs to better suit their needs and goals.

Some key findings:

• Employees want better tools to help them make health decisions, ones that are tailored to their specific situation. Half of respondents want a personalized plan with recommendations for specific actions they can take to improve their health. This request is up 9% in just one year.

• Employees want easy, one-stop access to health and wellness information, with many specifically requesting a single health and wellness portal with personalized health tips and reminders.

• Money talks. Sixty percent of respondents said that they’re more likely to participate in wellness programs if they can earn rewards; 58% would be more encouraged to complete their HRAs if rewards were included; and 50% said that rewards would motivate them to participate in disease management programs.

• Despite myriad offerings, many employees seem to be unaware of what programs and incentives are available to them. More than a third (36%) of employees did not participate in even one program on offer by their employer.

• And perhaps most telling, 60% of respondents believe that their employers are only “moderately-to-not supportive” when it comes to their efforts to get healthier.

That last one’s kind of a kick in the gut, isn’t it? You are supportive. You do care. You care because it’s in their best interests to be healthy, and you care because it’s in your organization’s best interest for them to be healthy.  So where’s the disconnect? Much of it may have to do with the previous point, the one about awareness. You could be giving them exactly what they want, exactly the kinds of personalized programs that not only will help them improve their health, but show them how much you do, in fact, support their efforts to get healthy. But if they don’t know about them? Your efforts aren’t going to drive the impact you’re seeking.

Which brings us back to bullet point number two:  the desire for easy, one-stop access to health and wellness information.  A single location, one easy place, for your employees to learn about everything you offer and all the incentives they can earn will dramatically improve awareness.  An integrated approach means they won’t have to seek out the information, they won’t be confused, and they won’t be overwhelmed (which often leads them to just give up). Not only that, employees will see your various programs as a comprehensive whole; an overall, cohesive offering designed to help them improve their health.  And when you want to change or replace programs as your strategy evolves, employees will go to that one consistent, familiar place to learn about them.

To learn more about how an integrated approach can help you drive greater awareness and engagement in all the programs you offer, visit our Integrated Incentives Resource Center.