an interactive marketing strategist at a medical center emailed me to see whether i had any articles on using social media to promote and support workplace wellness. here’s what i pulled together for her. it’s not everything i’ve written on the topic. if you want to learn more, take a look in the social media cagtegory.

rationale and research

• 5 reasons to take employee wellness social (downloadable version available)
• 5 tools, 20 ideas for making workplace wellness social (downloadable version available)
• convenience + desire = social media for benefits communications. a wake-up call from metlife’s 9th annual study of employee benefits trends

company case studies (free-ranging conversations series):

• mayo’s social media manager shows the way
• how zappos approaches employee wellness
• IKEA takes annual enrollment one tweet at a time
• free-ranging conversation with michelle james, health communication specialist at intel
• saint-gobain adds social media to their wellness mix 
• american speech-language-hearing association uses facebook to reach family

interviews with and reviews of wellness providers

• taking shape up the nation for a spin (shape up the nation is now known as shapeup)
• superbetter me! the set up
• limeade adds a little zing to wellness
• the serious strategy behind social health games. a conversation with meyou health’s trapper markelz
• can you pay for prevention? virgin healthmiles believes so.

f

i’m at j. boye philadelphia 2011 today. i’m there to learn about a better user experience and ehealth innovations from my friends, beth gleba and jane sarasohn-kahn and other similarly amazing, smart people. i’m also there to give this presentation.

metlife has some strong words for employers in their 9th annual study of employee benefits trends report. their message? you don’t get it.

ok, so i’m paraphrasing here. but essentially, that’s the report’s gist. employers have lost the plot when it comes to designing and communicating benefits for their multigenerational workforce. and if metlife’s correct, they’ll pay for it in high churn. one in three employees hopes to be working elsewhere in 12 months’ time.

there are numerous posts and more articles covering this study in some regard. i want to cover three things only.

there’s a disconnect between wellness and productivity goals

“At the same time that employers are emphasizing their focus on cost control and cost shifting, they are placing less importance on increasing employee job satisfaction. There is also reduced emphasis on benefits that help employees achieve a better work-life balance; perhaps a questionable course given that many employees are dealing with increased stress at home and work.”

this study and SHRM’s 2011 workforce trends report highlight a teeny wrinkle. companies are trying to control all costs, including health care costs, and they’re doing so at the expense of their other goal: improving employees’ overall well-being. metlife calls acute attention to these competing priorities, particularly in a section where they show the connection between financial stress and debt and overall health.

it’s time to invest in personal, generations-based solutions

“Nearly 50% of employers responding to the survey have over 10 years of Human Resources (HR) experience and may not bring Gen X and Gen Y viewpoints to the table. Lack of consideration and customization for generational wants and needs may result in employers not offering the right benefits to get more return on their benefits investments.”

whether it’s design or communications, companies have been slow to deliver customized solutions. they’ve overlooked the opportunity to tailor benefits and target messages to different generations, and they’ve persisted in delivering a one-size-fits-all benefits package, one not necessarily delivered via the channel many employees would prefer: the internet. it’s expensive to create tailored solutions. but then again, so are poor choices and the lowered productivity that comes from lowered commitment.

convenience + desire = social media for benefits communications

“Seventy percent of employers say they do not use social media, and the Study uncovers some of the perceived barriers to including it in the communications mix. Some employers (25%) believe there is a lack of interest on the part of their employees, while others cite legal concerns (23%) or lack of resources (37%). Others say it is just “not valuable” for their company (33%).”

seventy-four percent of companies “acknowledge that social media provides an easy, convenient way for employees to obtain benefits information,” and the data shows gen x and gen y employees want their benefits information delivered this way. the conversation should no longer be about why not to use social media for benefits communications but how to do so.

f

i’ve just returned from south by southwest where i facilitated a discussion on employee wellness and attended the one-day health track. south by southwest added the health track this year after seeing the appetite for it when shwen gwee and dana lewis held a social health unconference last year (note: i missed that. won’t make that mistake again. their next unconference is in philadelphia on september 19. mark it down.)

i already posted a slew of links to tools and other interesting resources from these health sessions. now i want to share my take-aways, which i’ve grouped by themes and tensions that spanned the sessions.

data and usefulness

data came up in most of the health sessions i attended: freeing up data. the various types of data (individual/population/reference). data siloes.

todd park from the department of health and human services (HHS) spoke about the government creating an environment for improving health. by releasing the data, the government’s creating opportunities for entrepreneurs who can benefit themselves while benefiting the public, and the response has been enthusiastic. (see my other post for examples.) there are scads of tools and innovations. what’s not as abundant is usefulness.

aza raskin of massive health raised the same issue in the behavior change checklist: down with gameification. he spoke about the tools we have versus the tools we need, like tools that give us feedback on how what we’re doing today affects our body tomorrow or on how well we’re doing at not doing something, like not eating that cake again and again and again or not sitting on the couch—these things that improve our health but we receive no feedback on otherwise.

while it’s exciting to witness all of this health innovation, what we need is innovation that targets specific end users and end goals.

tools, apps and target audience

in health: is there really an app for that? jane sarasohn-kahn shared statistics on health apps and those who’ve downloaded them. there are 8,000 apps in the itunes library that fall under the health umbrella. 20% are for cardiofitness, 16% for food, 7% for sleep and 9% for strength training. the single largest audience downloading these apps are black, young and live in the city—not the audience who’d most benefit from these apps, but obviously the audience who finds them cool.

in mobile health in africa: what can we learn?, jaspal sandhu shared a story that started out the same. many developing countries had wondrous donated incubators, all shiny and new. until, that is, they broke and were abandoned because the locals didn’t have the parts or know-how to fix them. in an ah-hah moment, a team fashioned incubators out of old car parts, materials that were abundant and the locals knew how to use. to me, this true story is an allegory for creating solutions that are right for the audience you’re trying to support.

the asthmapolis inhaler tracker is my favorite discovery and an example of bringing together data, usefulness and target audience. asthmapolis is an inhaler combined with a GPS system. when an asthmatic has an attack and uses the inhaler, the GPS maps the location. this data directs public health efforts as they look into environmental reasons for clumped asthma attacks, and it directs individuals’ routines as they use asthmapolis to avoid asthma trigger “hot” spots.

people, not patients (or employees)

in the health: is there really an app for that? session, john de souza from medhelp remarked that “the market is consumers, not patients.” we need to “bring the consumer perspective to health.”

in health data everywhere: not a drop to link, we saw instances of consumers doing it for themselves. jamie heywood talked about patients like me, a service where people opt to share all of their health data in order to better understand their condition or disease. gilles frydman highlighted the association of cancer online resources’ (ACOR) mailing lists that connect cancer patients and caregivers with others. both provide more up-to-date and personalized information than can be found elsewhere—not to mention community.

this same “for the consumer!” rallying cry was discussed by indu subaiya regarding health 2.0′s developer challenges and in apps for healthy kids: government challenges FTW, where challenges are setting the stage for us, as consumers, to come together as a community of solvers. health 2.0′s developer challenge extends the consumers reach to actual developers who solve the real-life health problems we pose.

privacy

it wouldn’t be a health discussion without privacy popping up. and it did, in more than one session, but no more powerfully than in patients/caregivers on facebook: establishing boundaries without barriers. this session brought together mayo’s legal counsel, web and social strategists, and health providers to discuss how they use social media to benefit their patients while still respecting their privacy. it’s a question that’s very relevant to employers as they seek to add social solutions to their wellness efforts. daniel goldman and ed bennett shared practical solutions, such as collecting HIPAA releases and other releases electronically and answering first-person questions in the third person. but it was an anonymous tweeter who asked, “what is privacy?” that raised the point we need to address in social + health + work relationships.

that complex question of what is private and who defines it came up in my session on employee wellness, too. companies already enter our lives in many ways. stress from work distracts us from our home life. work demands interfere there, too. now add in wellness efforts and their intent to change the way we eat, move and more, and you have to ask: where do you draw the line between the part of our personal lives companies can enter and the part they can’t? we discussed but never adequately answered this question, and it’s one that needs resolution—perhaps only satisfactorily on a person-by-person basis.

environment

my favorite quote was todd park’s: “the one thing that trumps process is culture.” truer words were never spoken. put in all of the policies and programs you want and communicate the heck out of them. if your culture doesn’t support whatever change you’re trying to drive, you’re not going to get it. actions will revert to what the culture supports, drives and rewards. if you want healthy behavior, build a culture that creates it.

f

“Andy Sernovitz, CEO at the Social Media Business Council, reminded us of the juvenile sexual innuendo joke where you add ‘… in bed’ at the end of a fortune cookie saying.

“Most businesses, especially big businesses, have corporate conduct guidelines explaining how to behave when on the job. Most, if not all, of these guidelines can be used as the basis for a super simple Social Media Policy. All one has to do is add ‘… online’ at the end of each conduct guideline statement.”

— brand autopsy

f

[hat-tip: frank roche]

this is the first entry in a 10-part series. 

i’m joining a client’s shape up the nation challenge for the first time. it kicks off this week, and i’m on team “strong like a bull.”

shape up the nation bills itself as a social approach to corporate wellness. as reported in this employee benefit news article, shape up the nation skips financial incentives and looks to social networks to drive behavior change. two guys, brad weinberg and rajiv kumar, formed shape up the nation while they were in medical school. last year, those guys tripled their revenue for the third consecutive year. (they also happen to imitate my graphic identity. since i founded context communication in 2003 and they launched shape up the nation in 2006, i can boldly say that.)

my client offers a 10-week shape up the nation challenge every year. last year more than 4,000 of their employees got involved, roughly one-third of their population. over 120 of their 200 locations entered teams, exercised 7 million minutes and lost roughly 16,000 pounds, collectively. this year, their goal is to involve 45% of their workforce.

i’m unfamiliar with the inner workings of shape up the nation, so i’m keen to get a look behind the curtain. each week i’ll post about my participant experience and turn to shape up the nation, who’s agreed to answer my additional questions, for clarification.

let week one begin.

f

i’ve been reviewing RFPs from online wellness providers for one of my clients. your mind can dull after slogging through page after page of “this message is habitually presented and becomes the habitual experience of the learner, empowering the learner to apply their knowledge in daily life.” keep your mind sharp and your selection sound by asking (at least) these questions when you’re seeking an online wellness partner.

strategy

1. what audience are you trying to reach?
2. does the online solution offer these employees something they want or need?
3. what do you need this online solution to help you accomplish?
4. how will this site interact or integrate with online information from other providers and sources?
5. are the provider’s services unique or can you find comparable services elsewhere —and maybe for free?
6. does the site have a content management system that lets you easily update the information?
7. is the site flexible enough to grow with you as your strategy evolves?
8. how healthy is the potential partner? are they likely to stay in business?

user experience

1. is the site engaging?
2. can employees find what they want quickly, easily and intuitively?
3. is the site personalized? can it mine their data to deliver information that’s useful and helps them take action?
4. is the health information from reliable sites and date-stamped to validate it’s current?
5. can employees rate articles so the best information rises to the top? can they print and forward the good stuff?
6. can employees and dependents access general, public information without authentication (login)? does authentication occur when it’s needed: when someone wants to access secure, personal information?
7. does the site offer social or community opportunities to talk about health interests and concerns? what access is there to health experts?
8. does the provider offer mobile solutions that sync with the website (e.g., pedometers and other data trackers)?
9. is the site mobile-friendly?
10. what customer support does the provider offer your employees by phone, email or online chat?

measurement

1. what data does the site track? does it measure traffic and actions taken?
2. who controls the data? do you have ongoing access to this information?
3. how granular can you get? can you see by company, department or whatever demographic slice you need?
4. how easily can you share the information? can you forward reports?

these are communication-related questions. in addition, you’ll want to know more about how they ensure data privacy, measure customer satisfaction, structure their fees, market and promote their solution, and on and on. remember: no solution delivers everything, so determine early on your priorities.

f

this infographic could be a pretty handy resource for those discussions about expanding your communication strategy to include social tools.

f

[hat tip: lexi maven]

i’m a member of the council of communication management (CCM), a professional community of roughly 350 senior communication professionals. one of the ways we learn from one another is through your basic listserv. it’s not slick, but it’s a rapid-response feedback mechanism and advice column, and one of the organization’s most meaningful benefits.

the other day, this question from a CCM member hit my inbox:

“I’m interested in learning about any best practices for helping plant managers communicate with their ‘non-wired’ employees (managers who are in a manufacturing setting and have employees without access to their own computer). If you’ve heard of any tips, tools, ideas that help the plant managers (and the employees) communicate more effectively, I’d so appreciate hearing from you and hearing about best practices.”

i quickly jotted down (if one can jot in email) my experience in an email response. after hitting send, i figured it was something others might also be dealing with, so i’ve copied my response here:

i work with a manufacturing client with many non-wired employees, at least at work. though the client does offer kiosks in their facilities, many of these employees lack the time, capability or interest in using them. we’re trying to reach these employees to encourage healthier behaviors. we’ve gone about doing so in a few ways:

1.  computer learning cards. we created these to help employees learn to help themselves. these were placed at every kiosk and were highly visual, making the learning process less cumbersome, intimidating and reliant on their getting on the computer first.

2.  shift break talking points. we have recruited volunteer wellness champions at every facility and for every shift. we’ve equipped them with exercises and talking points that make it possible to quickly cover different aspects and benefits of the wellness program. each exercise requires employees to get online so they can gain more comfort and have help on hand. and every exercise has an accompanying employee handout so employees remember what they learned.

3.  plant manager e-newsletters. we deliver quarterly e-newsletters that equip plant managers—and remind them—to cover important information we want to get to the non-wired employees. these e-newsletters also give the plant managers tips about how to help their non-wired employees gain greater comfort online. at this particular client, their benefits budget can be offset by their location’s level of participation in the wellness program. as a result, we’ve seen much more active interest on their behalf. plant managers have taken what we’ve delivered centrally and expanded upon it locally. to give them recognition and to share their advice, we capture their tips in a section called “from the front lines.” we supplement this in a plant manager forum where they can also talk one to many. the e-newsletter’s been particularly successful; in a recent survey, plant managers told us they want these more frequently.

4.  wellness champions e-newsletters. we’ve created a different monthly e-newsletter specific to the volunteer wellness champions and local HR. these also offer monthly reminders, tips and links to important information and resources. as with the plant manager forum, we offer the champions and HR a forum for their issues, needs and opinions. they’ve discussed everything from increasing participation to including third-shift workers.

5.  social media. as i mentioned, many of these employees actually are wired, they just lack interest. so, we’ve tried to make things more interesting and employee-centric. we use blogs, podcasts, twitter, forums and other social means to open the communication channels and gear the information around what employees want to know.

what about you? how are you reaching hard-to-reach employees?

f

the government is once again beating the pants off many companies when it comes to social media use and training. this time they’ve come up with an infographic that distills their 9-page social media guidelines document into something a tad more user-friendly. it’s also extremely funny, so be sure to view a larger image on the wittily named ohmygov! site.

f

(hat tip to smart brief on social media for alerting me to this infographic. if you’re not registered for any smart brief, check out their service. they’re a superb resource.)