Have US insurance companies found the key to a more engaged workforce?

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My husband works for an American finance company that is based in two locations across the US - Greenwich CT and Austin TX - and here in London. The company is run by Americans and has, what I term, a very American feel. 

"I often here about little quirks that we don't adopt here in the UK, like Assistants Day where executive assistants (or PA's as we call them) get given flowers and gifts to celebrate their good work. A great way to engage!"

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The latest quirk

Everyone, in the 100 strong company, recently had the opportunity to take part in a fitness scheme, much like 'The Biggest Loser', to lose a defined amount of weight and get healthier.  

Of course, many companies adopt strategies like competitions and schemes to encourage their employees to be healthier, and ultimately to increase engagement at work, but this fitness scheme is a little different. 

Different how?

In the US, health insurance costs are through the roof, and in private companies, it is often the company that foots the bill. In an attempt to lower costs many companies are given money by their insurers to encourage their employees to live healthier lives and thereby reduce premiums. 

"My husbands company was given $50,000 by their insurer to invest in staff health and wellbeing."

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How did they invest the funds?

They chose to invest part of the funds in Fitbits for everyone who wanted to take part in the scheme. Out of the 100 people who could take part in the competition, 30 people took on the challenge. Each person had a maximum of 12 weeks to lose the weight they had agreed to lose, and they could track their progress using their Fitbit.  

Who benefits?

Everyone does. It's win-win all round.

• Companies who take part have an incentive to save on their insurance premium costs
• Employees benefit because they are encouraged to be healthy
• The health insurer may lose funds in premiums, but less insurance claims means more money in the bank. 

"Insurance claims for obesity in the US cost anywhere between an estimated $147 - $210 billion per year."

"The real question for us in the engagement field is, does it help to engage people at work?"

This scheme also has inadvertent benefits for both employer and employee. It means companies: 

• Take a bigger interest in their employees lives leading to increased understanding of their needs at work and how to meet them
• Facilitate stronger working relationships between employer and employee, and employee to employee
• Are encouraged to give their employees free time to exercise leading to more alert employees when at work and employees feeling fitter and healthier.

Since the Fitbit challenge, my husband has been eager to beat his number of steps per day and that of his colleagues. He's felt fitter, healthier and more motivated at work. He says his colleagues have had similar experiences. 

The right employee wellness programme can certainly help to get people more engaged at work, and have positive effects for health insurers, organisations, employees and society as a whole. 

I'm hungry, are you?

We're all hungry.  Hungry for information, data, updates, something to inspire and excite us... it's an epidemic.

In today's technological world, it's so easy to find your latest fix. We only have to pick up a mobile phone and we're greeted with a world of knowledge, where we can find out anything about everything.

How many times have you been in a conversation with someone and they say "hang on, let me just Google it." It happens everywhere; we're hungry and thirsty for any soundbite we can get our fingers on.

"So if we're so hungry why is it so difficult to get people to engage in your content?"

If you want people to read what you want to share the information needs to be:

• Relevant
• Interesting
• Delivered by someone who inspires the reader 
• About a topic the reader needs / wants to know
• Short and to the point - with regular headings / subheadings / breaks and interludes. 

"As a writer it's easy to get lost in the art of writing what I want to write; the goal is writing what your audience wants to read." 

In organisations, we experience a similar problem. 

We often misjudge how much information we need to give employees when changes are afoot. The message has always been 'communicate, communicate again and then communicate some more.' This is true, it is vital to keep people informed if you want to keep them engaged, but if you want them to absorb the information, make sure your message is succinct.

Ask yourself:

• Who do people want to hear from?
• What do they want to hear? 
• Do they really need to hear it?
• How succinctly can I say it?
• Will an image say it better?

Communicate well and your few words will tell a much bigger story.