Boost Employee Engagement with Personalized Health and Wellness Initiatives

Employee engagement is more than just a human resources buzzword; it can significantly impact KPIs across an organization. 

To put its power into perspective, Gallup research compared teams in the top and bottom quartiles of employee engagement and found striking differences, including variations of 81% in absenteeism, up to 43% in turnover and 23% in profitability.⁴ Between losses to reduced productivity, poor employee retention and other factors, disengaged workers cost employers an estimated $450 to $550 billion annually.⁵ Further exacerbating these costs, employee engagement rates in the U.S. have declined recently, dropping to just 32% in 2022.⁶ 

Employers who want to avoid such losses must transform their work environment with significant strategic changes. A review of corporate goals and principles is often suggested as the best place to start, but remember to include corporate benefits in any evaluation.

As engagement, performance and even job satisfaction have proven to correspond with employee well-being,⁷⁸ revitalizing health and wellness initiatives can be a promising means of re-engagement.

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Shifting methods in wellness management

It's no secret that corporate wellness solutions can have a ripple effect across internal benchmarks. For instance, a study by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health found that employees with access to an effective wellness program had a voluntary attrition rate of only 9% compared to the usual 15%.⁹ Furthermore, according to the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), 90% of business leaders believe that promoting employee wellness has positively impacted productivity and performance.¹⁰ The importance of good benefits even extends to recruitment, as it is one of the top considerations for prospective talent in today's hiring pool.¹¹ 

Unfortunately, traditional employee wellness management programs that feature broad, generic initiatives often have limited effectiveness in practice. For example, though on-site fitness centers are popular, they are frequently underutilized because employees are either uninterested or too intimidated to use them. 

To maximize the return on benefits, employers need to escape this "gymtimidation" phenomenon with the help of more inclusive, tailored solutions. This doesn't mean company benefits have to start from scratch — after all, some employees do enjoy gym access — but instead find ways to introduce customization to existing offerings, such as one-on-one virtual coaching options or integrations for personal wearable devices.

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Personalization is proving its worth  

Not only does personalization help companies connect with previously unreached individuals, enhancing employee participation, but it can generate even better health outcomes. According to a survey by Cleveland Clinic, around 50% of Americans are using wearable technology to monitor their health, with remarkable results:¹² 

• 79% improved their physical or mental health 
• 53% increased exercise regularity
• 34% adjusted to better eating habits

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Low on-site fitness center usage is not indicative that employees don't care about their wellness benefits. As highlighted by the ever-growing use of wearable health tech,¹³ Americans are interested in taking an active role in their health; people may just need personalized insights to instigate action and motivate them forward. Companies that want to leverage their health packages to enhance employee engagement should shift their initiatives accordingly, building a comprehensive wellness program that tackles individual goals.

By providing the means of accessing and harnessing health insights, employers will supply their workforce with the data-driven wellness strategies they crave while profiting from the resulting rewards of healthier, happier and more engaged employees.

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A new paradigm in corporate well-being

Integrating such personalized data capabilities into corporate benefit programs may seem complicated — but it doesn't have to be. imaware offers a cutting-edge approach to employee wellness and engagement challenges with access to an advanced diagnostics platform, tailored testing solutions and personalized biomarker data. 

With imaware, employers and employees can enjoy the benefits of:

• Custom panels: Employers can build targeted panels for precise data, ensuring the tests capture the information employees care about. With brandable kits and platforms, sophisticated integrations and seamless deployment, employers can launch a testing program that aligns with their company and employee needs without the lengthy or costly burdens of internal development.

• Personalized data capture: Did you know that around a quarter of adults in the U.S. don't have a primary care provider?¹⁴ The convenience and accessibility of imaware's solution make it simple for employees to engage with their health, removing barriers like tedious lab visits and elusive doctor appointments while reaching both in-person and remote workers across the country.¹⁵

• Insightful analytics: imaware's platform provides customizable dashboards so employees can easily track their journeys while employers evaluate the KPIs of their new approach. The user-friendly interfaces engage and motivate employees by offering a clear view of their progress. Employers can use the platform to monitor participation and determine the ROI of personalized wellness benefits by comparing the data against other KPIs, like engagement, performance and turnover rates.

With imaware, a business can easily integrate insightful, tailored data into its corporate wellness program, giving employees direct access to the in-depth biomarker analysis they need to thrive. 

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Initiating re-engagement

The best way to boost engagement is to provide employees with tools and empowerment to achieve their best selves. This will create a domino effect for positive transformation:

1. When health and wellness initiatives are personalized, they are better adopted by the workforce. Harnessing individualized health data provides invaluable insights, enabling the creation of tailored health and wellness plans that cater to employees' unique needs.

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2. When corporate benefits programs are effective, they help facilitate happier, healthier employees. Equipping employees with data-driven insights empowers them to take proactive measures for health management, resulting in improved health outcomes and, subsequently, lower healthcare costs in the long run.

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3. When employees lead healthier lives, their employers reap the benefits. Reduced absenteeism and turnover, paired with increased performance and profitability, position high employee engagement as a “need to have” rather than a simple “nice to have.”

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Summary

Boosting employee engagement through personalized health and wellness initiatives is not just a forward-thinking strategy but a necessary investment for any company aiming to thrive. By integrating advanced biomarker data and tailored wellness programs, employers can address the unique health needs of their workforce, leading to increased job satisfaction, heightened employee morale, reduced turnover and higher productivity. 

The power of personalized health insights is clear: happier, healthier, more engaged employees drive better business outcomes.