Having a sense of purpose is the key to success in many aspects of life. Purpose guides our decisions, shapes our goals, gives us a sense of direction and creates meaning for us. In other words, it’s the “why” that gives us that extra nudge we sometimes need to get up in the morning and keep going.

Purpose is similarly important for our health goals. For example, a participant may want to be more physically fit so she can keep up with her grandchildren. Another participant knows there’s a history of heart disease in the family, so he’s motivated to make healthy changes to his diet. Anchoring health goals in what is personally meaningful to us makes it much more likely we will achieve them.

Introducing Side Quests

Side Quests, WebMD’s collection of participant-driven activities, taps into personal motivations, helping participants identify their well-being goals and structure a fun, interactive plan to achieve them.

The first in the collection, “Choose Your Own Adventure,” combines gamification, health trackers, health goals and wellness challenges into an easy-to-use solution that lets participants:  

• Establish a personalized schedule, target and duration and work independently to achieve their goals;
• Identify their “why,” a central motivating statement that will reinforce their purpose throughout the challenge;
• Celebrate the progress they’ve made in their Quest within WebMD ONE.

Participants may select from over 45 specific activities designed to encourage small, achievable changes, including:

• Timed exercise
• Daily steps
• Mindful minutes
• Quality sleep

Side Quests serve as a great complement to organization-wide wellness challenges  by providing participants the flexibility to select topics and targets that align with their personal well-being journeys. Participants also control when they engage, another factor that makes it more likely to achieve their goals. Like wellness challenges, employers may choose to incentivize participation by rewarding individuals for starting and completing their goals.

For more information about Side Quests and how WebMD can empower well-being in your organization, contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Why is personalization important?

Participants are more likely to interact with a well-being program when they see that it has their best interests in mind. Providing a personalized experience allows you to create and reinforce loyalty in your well-being program—making individuals feel like it’s all about them. Finally, personalization allows you to build relationships with your population through one-to-one interactions that provide unique value to each participant—with just the right tool, intervention or the program as a whole.

What is personalization in well-being?

There are many types and levels of personalization, but here are the key building blocks:

The basic level: Showing that you know the user and leveraging basic profile and biometric data. An example might be addressing an individual by name in an email or sending an article about nutrition to someone with high cholesterol levels.

The next level: Making recommendations using expanded profile data. For example, allowing each participant to choose the topics they’re interested in— eating better, reducing stress, getting more exercise—and then serving up programs, tools and content related to those topics.

The highest level: Refining interactions within a given context, intelligently blending demographic data, user behavior and device or other imported data. In other words, taking personalization to the next level to create a relevant well-being experience—one that gives people what they want as well as information they didn’t know they needed, but are glad to receive. This might look like encouraging an employee who has enrolled in a healthy pregnancy program to check out the Employee Assistance Program for help locating childcare, or directing them to the financial wellness program to get information on budgeting for childcare needs.

How to create a personalized well-being experience

Personalization can be a challenge when it comes to well-being. While we sometimes have good data from a Health Assessment or biometric screenings to prompt our recommendations, most of the information we have about a person comes from data they self-report. And, as we all know, we’re often not the most reliable reporters of our own health habits!

But there are things we can do to create a more personalized well-being experience:

• Ask participants what’s important to them
• Give them choices about how to interact
• Let them build their experience their way

Here’s what we also know about personalization

• Most people need reminders and nudges to keep them on track. And everyone wants to choose how they receive that information—text, email, in-app alert or even a letter in the mail.

• Many people need an actual human being whom they can trust—either a peer or a professional— to act as a personal champion who will hold them accountable and help them stay the course. Health coaches are great resources for this.

• Abstract, long-term goals like “being healthy” aren’t motivating for most people. Most of us want to see shorter-term benefits, like “more energy” or “better sleep” or “my clothes fit better.”

• Personalized insights need to be adjusted as individuals’ needs change. As people progress on their health journey, the well-being program needs to progress with them, providing new and different resources and information.

• Status updates are essential. People need to be able to see their progress and the near-term benefits of their activities and behavior changes.

As we’ve outlined, there are many types of personalization, and some are more sophisticated than others. Your goal should be to deliver as personalized an experience as possible given your organization’s current resources and program. Whether you’re just starting up your well-being program or looking to improve your results through greater personalization, we can help. Contact us at connect@webmd.net.

How To Evaluate Well-Being Programs

If you’re embarking on the undertaking of selecting a well-being program, you no doubt have many questions in your mind. Whether you are new to these programs or you are looking at how to take an existing program to the next level, knowing how to evaluate your options is a must. While there are lots of factors to consider, we feel these six elements are important to evaluate when it comes to choosing a well-being program:

1. The consumer experience
2. Programming flexibility
3. Solution integration
4. Brand trust
5. Client and consumer support
6. Investment value

Let’s look at each of them in detail.

1. The consumer experience

At the heart and soul of your well-being program are the people who will use it every day — your employees and perhaps their spouses and partners or even your retirees. The consumer experience must be a positive one if it is going to engage people beyond an initial interaction and drive true value on your investment.

Whether it’s shopping for clothing, choosing a restaurant, or deciding what to watch, technology has enabled a highly personalized, seamless digital experience. Your employees will expect the same type of experience when they interact with the well-being program. Look for:

• A simple and secure login process that makes it easy for people to get in and start using the solution.
• Intuitive navigation so people can easily find what they want.
• Mobile and desktop access to reach all of your people anytime, anywhere.
• Guidance, education and personalized action plans that develop internal motivation and accountability.
• Digital tools that support setting and achieving short- and long-term goals.
• Motivating messages that keep people engaged and give them something new each time they interact with the program.
• Custom communications included as part of the standard offering that address your varied populations.

2. Programming flexibility

Well-being is personal, which means employees will want to engage with your program in ways that are meaningful to them—whether they’re managing a chronic condition, quitting tobacco, or looking to increase physical activity. The well-being solution should allow participants to select the tools and resources that help them achieve their personal well-being goals, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

To make sure your program is as customized as possible, ensure it offers:

• Tools to address holistic well-being, including mental health, financial wellness, and social connectedness—in addition to physical health.
• Multiple ways to connect with a health coach—via phone, text or in person.
• Varied communication channels such as email, text, workplace social media, employee portal, leadership/manager communication, in-office promotions, home mailers and more.
• Condition management support for people who need help managing a chronic condition as well as lifestyle support for things like quitting tobacco.
• Wellness challenges that engage even the healthiest members of your population.
• An incentives platform that gives you the power to promote your program and reward engagement in the way you need.

3. Solution integration

Due to the intrinsically personal nature of well-being, even the most robust well-being program can benefit from outside tools and resources (also known as “point solutions”). However, if employees must log on to many different well-being solution websites, you will not see the utilization you are hoping for. The trick is to ensure that your population has one centralized way to access all your well-being offerings.

Get more bang for your buck with a solution that:

• Easily lets people share fitness tracker, app and other device data, such as steps taken or calories burned, with your well-being program.
• Provides multiple components that seamlessly integrate with each other.
• Connects with point solutions and programs to facilitate people getting the help they need when they need it.
• Delivers the technical expertise needed to maintain data integrity and security when transferred between programs and vendors.
• Offers batch and real-time data transfers between different solution components to deliver a truly integrated program.

4. Brand trust

Whether they’re working with a health coach, getting a biometric screening or setting and tracking personal health goals, people need to know they can trust the well-being partner to give accurate and credible guidance, and that their personal health information is safe.

A good program can generate trust through:

• Programs certified and accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
• Proven and documented outcomes that support the effectiveness of the program.
• A brand known by your population and trusted as an expert in health and well-being.
• Technology and processes that deliver exceptional data security and privacy.

5. Client and consumer support

Supporting your population’s well-being involves more than just programming a platform and letting it run. Every aspect of your program should reflect your organization and properly address your population’s needs. You should also be able to get help whenever you or your consumers need it. Whatever the issue—from a complex rewards programming question to planning your next well-being challenge—good help should never be more than a phone call or email away.

Look for a partner that:

• Leverages internal solution architects and other technical team members to ensure your program implementation is seamless and easy for you.
• Gives you a designated account management team who learns your company and culture and helps you make programming decisions to support your goals.
• Makes it easy for you to get the word out about your program with an in-house communications team that can create custom materials.
• Provides you with regular data and feedback about your program that you can use to evolve it over time.
• Delivers exceptional support to your consumers, ensuring only the most positive experiences.

6. Investment value

As with any investment, it’s important to be able to track the value of your well-being program. While some of the benefits of a well-being program may be slightly subjective, they are nonetheless very powerful. From a stronger culture that facilitates your recruitment and retention efforts to reduced health risks or improved health outcomes, there are many ways to demonstrate the value your program delivers for you.

Choose a vendor that offers:

• A robust set of standard and customizable reports that lets you see engagement across different population segments as well as outcomes.
• Expertise to help you translate analytics into ongoing programming enhancements and results.
• Programming options and effectiveness that reflect positively on your company, strengthening employee or member loyalty.
• A trusted brand that promotes the strong engagement you need to achieve positive outcomes.

Putting it all together

Choosing the right well-being program is a lot like pursuing well-being itself—it takes thorough consideration of a number of different components. You can find the program that’s right for you by carefully evaluating the products, the process and, especially, the people. Because, when you come right down to it, that’s what your program is all about.

So, what should you do next?

• Craft questions for a request for proposal that focus on your company’s needs, culture and desired outcomes.
• Create a timeline to meet your implementation goals.
• Contact us at connect@webmd.net or schedule a live demo of the WebMD Health Services solution to see how we can help you and your population.

Improving work-life balance seems overwhelming, even under normal circumstances. But it doesn’t have to be. Right now, more and more employers are realizing that their employees are feeling stressed, burned out, and exhausted in every aspect of their lives. And since employees spend most of their weekday working, it’s critical organizations take steps to help their employees balance their work and life again.

What is work-life balance? And is balance actually achievable?

Work-life balance means maintaining a good equilibrium between the demands of work and the demands of a personal life, which may include family, friends, hobbies, and other activities that contribute to a well-rounded existence.

But “balance” may not be the exact right word. Achieving balance implies that there is a point in time where work and life get equal attention. In reality, demands on either side tend to ebb and flow, so perhaps work-life harmony, integration, or flex are more apt terms.

The boundaries between work and life have changed dramatically over the years.

To understand how we’ve come to a place where work and life have become harder to separate, it’s helpful to think about how work has changed over the last two centuries.

During the Industrial Revolution work largely moved outside of the home and into the factory. And while the conditions and hours weren’t great, this arrangement at least afforded workers a decent separation between their job and their home life.

Even when “office work” became prevalent in the 1950s, a defined nine-to-five workday and the inability to truly take work home helped to keep this boundary largely intact. But, with the advent of the personal computer, a network connection to the office, and now the mini-computer in our pockets (our phones), there just isn’t a time or place where work cannot conceivably get done—which is a real problem for our well-being.

The pandemic threw a new wrench into the ongoing work-life struggle.

Although essential workers continued to report to a physical workplace—often at great cost to their physical and mental health—those who could work from home during the pandemic did so. Suddenly, the lack of a commute and having to “get ready” for the office freed up time for other pursuits, like exercise, hobbies, and more family time. In fact, Pew Research found that 64% of those who didn’t work from home before the pandemic said it was easier to balance work with their personal life.

But on the flip side, without a commute and an office we also lost those natural boundaries, leading to longer workdays and the feeling that we could never really disconnect from work. And, for caregivers, the concept of “more time in the day” never materialized due to childcare shortages, which persist even now. We need only look at rising rates of burnout and depression, and recent phenomena like the Great Resignation and “quiet quitting,” to appreciate that workers continue to struggle to find the right balance between work and life.

Here are eight tips employers can use to improve work-life balance for their employees:

1. Encourage company leadership to model and promote work-life balance behaviors.

As we’ve been discussing in our blogs on stress and burnout, leaders and managers set the tone for how well the organization lives into its pledge to maintain healthy work-life boundaries. Researchers from ideas42, a nonprofit that uses behavioral science to solve real world problems, noted this about leaders: “While they expressed a desire for better work-life balance — if not for themselves, at least for the rest of their staff — they were often among the worst offenders, texting at 9 PM, emailing over the weekend or at night, and rarely taking vacation.”

Does this ring true for your organization, too? Modeling appropriate work-life balance starts at the top, so urge leaders to examine the signals they might be sending to their staff members. You can even ask leaders to create visible boundaries, like blocking time for family or exercise on their calendar. Once employees see their leadership team taking time to manage their home lives, they’ll feel more empowered to make their own boundaries and begin balancing work and life.

2. Bury the “busyness culture” and share a new vision of what an ideal worker looks like for your organization.

In the U.S., we suffer from a “work first” culture which means “work is presumed to be the dominant force in our lives,” according to organizational psychologist, Adam Grant. This often translates to viewing long hours as a badge of honor or a measure of dedication to the job. Grant also notes that the perceived need to “keep monitoring our communication channels, ready to drop everything at any time” interferes with our ability to make space for leisure and rest and can contribute to work-life imbalance and burnout. This is why it’s so important for managers and co-workers alike to set and respect boundaries around response time, non-work hours, and time off.

As this Harvard Business Review article points out, perhaps it’s time to communicate that “an ideal worker in the 21st century is someone who does great work, is well-rested and healthy, and has a great life outside of work.” As a well-being organization, that is definitely a sentiment we support!

3. Ask, “Do we really need a meeting for this?”

Take a hard look at your organization’s meeting culture. If employees’ calendars are filled with back-to-back meetings, consider alternative ways to seek input or decisions. Have managers hold “office hours” so anyone can drop in and get a quick question answered. Teams could schedule Slack chats for a certain time of the day to brainstorm with co-workers. The point is to make meetings time well-spent, leaving room in the day to do focused work. That way, employees don’t feel like they must work late to catch up on projects they couldn’t work on during the day.

4. Be the company that every parent wants to work for.

One of the pandemic’s silver linings was that having a family—and being open about it to colleagues and managers—was no longer considered taboo. What a great thing for working parents! Companies began implementing free back-up childcare, company-sponsored remote learning pods, flexible work hours, sabbaticals, and extended paid family leave.

Don’t abandon these types of work-life supports even though the pandemic is over. If organizations want to keep their best employees—many of whom have children—they should maintain these safety nets to foster a better work-life balance.

5. Consider the “fake commute.”

If you work from home, gone are the days of listening to a podcast or music during your commute, which served as a healthy buffer zone before and after our busy days. Now, you start Zoom meetings shortly after waking and don’t stop until the sun has set. Some have combatted this problem by adopting a so-called “fake commute.” A short drive to grab coffee before starting work gives us some time to ease into the day; a 30-minute walk at the end of the day sends our bodies and brains the signal that it’s time to stop working.

6. Bring back the lunch hour.

Sure, some days we eat at our desks, but working in the office gives us the chance to grab a bite in the cafeteria or at a local restaurant. Make sure to take advantage of that! If you’re working from home, there’s seemingly no reason to stop working just to eat. And sometimes, we feel like we have to eat at our desks so we don’t miss any important emails.

But taking this break is essential. First, it’s a chance to give our eyes a rest from our screens. Second, it encourages us to take a break away from work to reset and recharge. Doing this can help people come back to their job feeling productive, engaged and focused. If your organization needs help convincing employees that it’s okay to step away, try mandating no meetings between 12 and 1.

7. Embrace flexibility in the workday

It’s importance to provide workplace flexibility. Allowing employees to set their own schedules can help alleviate some of the pain points of work-life integration. It enables parents to be there for school drop-off or pickup; lets caregivers attend doctor appointments; and helps employees manage a chronic condition or undergo regular medical treatments. It also allows people to work during the hours when they feel most productive. Compressed workweeks (same number of hours in a shorter time period) and four-day work weeks are more radical approaches to flexibility that are working for some organizations.

We also need to allow for more flexibility to take breaks during the workday. A team of researchers found that to build resilience at work we need to have both internal and external recovery periods. This means scheduling breaks during the workday for rejuvenating activities like walks, stretching, exercise, or meditation (internal recovery), and ensuring that employees also get enough free time at night, on weekends, and on vacation (external recovery).

8. Put supports in place to make it easier to take paid time off.

One of the reasons people cite for not taking a vacation is that it’s too stressful to make sure every aspect of work is buttoned up before leaving—not to mention the full screen of unopened emails we face when we come back. How about building in a paid transition day before and after vacation so that it’s less daunting? Or we could simply designate those buffer days as “vacation prep days,” where we don’t take meetings and block our calendars for focus time.

And at the end of the day, we all deserve a break. Just because we may not be traveling right now or taking the vacations we dream of, it’s still important to schedule time off. Even if we just lounge in our homes for a couple of days, it can do wonders for our mental health and productivity levels. So, encourage your employees to continue taking time off for rest, relaxation and self-care.

Building a Work Culture that Promotes Work-Life Integration

Of course, we’ve just scratched the surface in terms of what employers can do to inject more work-life harmony into employees’ lives. But, at its most basic, creating a work culture that fosters better integration between work and life is just about acknowledging that people are humans first, workers second.

Laura Fuentes, executive vice president and chief human resource officer at Hilton, sums it up this way: “People are looking for a human experience at work. They don’t want a work experience. They don’t want life to fit into a good job. They want work to fit into a good life.”

This sentiment can serve as a good guide as we continue to work on implementing new policies, benefits, and ways of working that foster better work-life integration and lead to healthier, happier, more productive and engaged employees.

If you’re interested in learning how to better support the well-being of your workforce, visit our website or contact us at connect@webmd.net.

There’s no disputing that well-being programs deliver key benefits to companies—like greater engagement, a deeper sense of belonging, the potential for improved health, and greater productivity. Given these benefits, many companies today recognize the importance of extending well-being programs to employees across the globe. In fact, Business Group on Health’s May 2023 Employer Sponsored Health and Well-Being Survey found that about two-thirds of global employers have a globally consistent well-being strategy.

But don’t be mistaken—offering a well-being program to your global employees doesn’t mean you can simply copy and paste the well-being program you offer at headquarters. To truly make a global well-being program relevant and engaging, you must tailor it to the needs, preferences and customs of each location or region.

In the process of expanding WebMD Health Services’ global capabilities to over 190 countries across Europe, the Far East, and Latin America, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to make a well-being program culturally relevant. Here are some things to consider:

Listening and feedback.

Start by getting a feel for what global employees want in a well-being program. You can do a pulse survey, hold a town hall, or solicit input in team meetings. It’s also smart to collect any data you may have on usage and opinions of current well-being offerings, like Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Be sure to report back to employees what you heard and how you’ll reflect their feedback in the program.

Cultural sensitivity and awareness.

A well-being program must understand and respect the cultural norms, values, and beliefs of diverse populations. For example, asking for mental health support is taboo in some cultures, so you may need to approach a topic like this carefully.

Pro-tip: Appoint wellness champions for each location or region. These individuals can serve as a sounding board to ensure cultural relevance.

Communication.

Frequent communication is essential for getting your global population engaged. But it’s crucial that the communication looks, feels and sounds like it’s intended for that location or region. For example, in the Middle East the color red signifies danger and caution , while in China red symbolizes good fortune and happiness. Likewise, images of women in workout clothing would not be appropriate in certain cultures. This is another area where your wellness champions can help.

Pro-tip: Storytelling is a great communication tactic for getting employees to engage with the well-being program. Enlist local employees to share stories of how they achieved their health goals.

Language accessibility.

English is the official language of business, but when it comes to well-being it’s best to communicate in the local language. You may be tempted to only use machine learning (ML) for this translation task, but human translators are important when dealing with clinical or health information that requires more nuance.

Customization and personalization.

The best global well-being solutions offer a high degree of customization and segmentation so that benefits are culturally relevant and appropriate. The last thing a global employee wants to see is a benefit or program that’s not available in their region. Also, because well-being is so personal, it’s key for global employees to be able to customize their experience based on their preferences, interests, and health goals.

Global health considerations.

Make sure your well-being program addresses the specific health challenges faced by different populations and offers resources and programs accordingly. This could include managing common infectious diseases or chronic conditions, and combatting taboos around mental health.

Workplace policies.

Review any workplace policies and procedures that may impede everyone’s ability to participate equally in wellness activities. For example, call center employees may find it hard to get more movement throughout the day; building in small breaks will allow these desk-based employees to participate in things like walking wellness challenges.

Leadership.

In order for a well-being program to succeed globally, local leadership needs to be on board. Create a briefing package for leaders or managers that outlines what the well-being program is, why it’s important, and the specific support you need from them. Also emphasize that leaders play a key role in modeling healthy behaviors, which gives employees “permission” to engage in those behaviors themselves.

Developing a well-being program that feels relevant to global employees and motivates them to engage with it isn’t easy, but it can be done. If you’d like help expanding well-being program access to your global populations, contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Well-being is a challenge for people around the globe.

Those of us in the well-being industry are all too familiar with the statistics around declining U.S. employee mental health, increasing stress and burnout, and lack of employee engagement. Studies show that global populations are experiencing similar declines in employee well-being. In a survey by Gallup, 55% of global respondents reported “struggling,” and over 40% said they experienced significant feelings of “stress” and “worry” in the preceding day.¹

So, while the need for more well-being support for global employee populations is clear, the challenge has been how to deliver a well-being solution that is fully translated, country-specific, and culturally relevant. We’re pleased to share that WebMD Health Services can now provide that type of support via the WebMD ONE platform.

What is WebMD ONE?

Through a single point-of-access, WebMD ONE offers products and services created from the perspective of the people using them, including plans to create daily habits, participate in personal and team-based wellness challenges, and engage with a system of rewards and incentives to celebrate successes.

Users have the power to connect and interact through a variety of channels – text, email, mobile or desktop – and can incorporate data from popular apps and wearables that they may already be using to improve and personalize their experience.

How does WebMD ONE support a global population?

WebMD ONE is now able to support employees in 190 countries across Europe, the Far East, and Latin America with the following features:

• An expanded range of languages. While we’ve always offered WebMD Health Services content in multiple languages, this most recent expansion includes human translated versions in Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Slovakian, and more—bringing our total range to more than 20 different languages.
• Easy segmentation and cultural relevance. The WebMD ONE platform is highly configurable, providing the most powerful segmentation capabilities in the market today. This ensures that programs are culturally relevant and reflect any nuances your organization may have within each country and in the types of benefits offered.
• Compliance with GDPR. WebMD ONE has been built to enable compliance with GDPR, which is widely considered to be the ‘gold’ standard with regard to data privacy laws.
• Global wellness challenges. With all employees on the same well-being platform you can now offer wellness challenges that bring everyone together in the pursuit of good health, create connections across time zones and cultures, and positively impact employee engagement.
• Well-being program administration. Different countries have vastly different health systems, requiring unique and customized benefits packages. But with WebMD ONE’s global capability you’ll no longer need to select a well-being solution for each country or region, making administration much easier.
• Global WebMD offices that offer clients a local presence and boots-on-the-ground support.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our mission to empower well-being in everyone just got a little easier.

Inspiring well-being in everyone includes educating, motivating, and engaging all employees in an organization. We’re excited that the expansion of WebMD ONE allows us to better support organizations with employees around the world. If you would like to learn more about how you can empower your people with culturally relevant solutions that can help them improve their well-being in in meaningful ways that matter to them, please visit our website or contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Nearly two years into the pandemic, reality is starting to set in when it comes to working remotely: it’s not easy to stay connected to coworkers when you don’t actually see them in person. Without the socialization that used to take place at the office, people are reporting increased feelings of loneliness, especially younger generations who may have never set foot in the office. This lack of meaningful connections with coworkers is beginning to negatively impact our mental health and overall well-being. What can employers do? Check out these ideas for leveraging your well-being program to create the connections many are missing.

Feelings of social isolation and loneliness are on the rise—especially among younger workers.

Working from home has its pros and cons. Perhaps the biggest pro is the increased flexibility. A huge con is that the informal office interactions that gave us moments of levity in our workday are now gone. And while we may connect with coworkers over Zoom meetings, they often don’t lend themselves to casual catch-ups. We’re also missing those “weak ties” we used to have, like seeing a familiar face on the subway or chatting with our favorite barista.

And so it’s no surprise that we’re all feeling a bit lonelier and more isolated these days. Research from the Making Caring Common project at Harvard University found that 36% of respondents felt lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or all the time,” compared with 25% two months before the pandemic. The research also showed that younger people are especially struggling—61% of those aged 18 to 25 reported high levels of loneliness.

Lonely workers can affect an organization’s bottom line.

Feeling lonely is more than just a personal problem. Studies on loneliness have shown how it can impact the workforce and the business. According to a 2020 study by Cigna, people who don’t have good connections at work are:

• 10 times lonelier than people who report having good relationships with their coworkers.
• 2 times more likely to miss work due to illness.
• 5 times more likely to miss work due to stress.
• 2 times more likely to consider quitting their job.

Not to mention, over time, social isolation has been linked to poor health and increased morbidity, which costs the organization more through increased use of healthcare benefits.

What can we do about it? Creating meaningful connections at work can help.

It’s clear that employers need to be more intentional in creating meaningful connections. Many employers are already doing so by hosting trivia nights, group exercise classes, talent shows, and community service activities. Some have facilitated water cooler “chats” in Slack or Teams, virtual lunch “dates,” book clubs, cooking demonstrations, and more to keep virtual workers connected.

At WebMD Health Services, we know how critical meaningful connections can be—not just for company cultures to succeed, but for people to find value, support, and camaraderie in their workday. That’s why we’re proud to announce some new solutions—and some existing offerings—that we’ve developed to keep these meaningful connections going, even in a remote-first world. Here are a few examples of how these well-being solutions can bring coworkers together in meaningful ways.

Community. 

Community is a new social media element within WebMD ONE that we rolled out this month. It helps employees connect with others in their organization who are interested in the same dimensions of well-being. They can join groups and post questions, share their stories, and encourage others to keep working on their well-being.

Group Coaching.

Group Coaching by WebMD is another brand new offering we developed to support meaningful connections between WebMD participants. This solution offers an open, cameras-on discussion with like-minded people. Trained and certified WebMD Health Coaches facilitate interactions on topics like stress, nutrition, sleep habits, and more. By the end of the class, participants will have learned something new and made connections with people who are on a similar well-being journey.

We’re excited about this solution. Other WebMD offerings typically only support employees from one organization, but we designed this one to bring people together from all represented organizations. This way, participants have a bigger opportunity to meet people with similar interests and feel comfortable opening up about their personal challenges and achievements.

Stay Connected—a Daily Habits Plan.

We created the Stay Connected Plan in our Daily Habits last year, but it has proven to be an important mainstay for participants. This Plan helps raise awareness of the importance of social connections in our daily lives through small, everyday actions. For example, participants receive prompts reminding them of the steps they can take to feel more socially connected, such as “Did you make time to speak with a friend, coworker, or family member today?”

By providing small reminders and tips for staying connected, we encourage people to continue creating habits that keep them in touch with those they care about, even if they aren’t seeing them in person anymore.

Looking for more solutions to support meaningful connections? Ask us about:

• Company-wide wellness challenges to provide interactive, fun ways to connect and compete
• Dedicated Well-Being Services staff to implement tailored programs with a focus on connections
• Health Coaching to build meaningful one-on-one connections with certified professionals
• Mental health podcasts featuring relatable topics to reflect and feel less alone

Strong social connections at work lead to happier and more fulfilled employees, greater productivity, and higher engagement and retention. In today’s turbulent job market, where an organization’s culture can be the deciding factor to stay or leave, it’s probably never been more critical to ensure that workers feel connected. For help creating meaningful connections at your organization, visit our website or contact us at connect@webmd.net.

If there’s one thing we know about well-being programs, it’s that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. To make a well-being program truly successful, we must consider the unique needs and health goals of each individual—as well as what’s important to the organization. In this week’s blog, we discuss WebMD Health Services’ ability to segment large, complex populations to ensure that every participant receives a program that is personalized, relevant, and meaningful.

Change is a constant…and a well-being program needs to adapt.

Organizations have complex well-being needs that change over time. Consider an acquisition—suddenly, there’s a whole new population that has to be brought in quickly to the well-being program. Or, a certain segment of the population decides to unionize, necessitating key changes to benefits. In both situations, you need to have a well-being solution provider that can adapt on the fly.

WebMD ONE makes it easy to achieve well-being goals at the organizational level…

With WebMD ONE, making a change for one population is as easy as flipping a switch. That’s because the ability to segment multifaceted populations is baked right into our system architecture. There’s no need to spend hours on coding updates or charge extra fees.

And the segmentation options are unlimited.

• Want to create one wellness challenge for employees at corporate, and another for employees in the field—both with different incentives? We can do that.
• Need to target messages about completing a health assessment to just one office? Easy.
• Want to solidify your culture of well-being by hosting a Global Invitational Team Steps Challenge? Everyone can receive the same inspirational message, translated for specific audiences.

…while still focusing on the individual.

Where our solution really shines is our ability to get personal with participants based on attributes that are unique to them. What they do for a living, where they’re located, what their health risks are based on age and gender, what kinds of health goals they want to work on—all of these are factored into the solutions that participants engage with in WebMD ONE.

Consider the case of a baggage handler at an airline.

We’ll call him Brian. He’s 34 years old and works in Dallas. Based on what we know about his occupation, location, and age, he might receive:

• Safety reminders and tips to prevent back injury;
• Places to get a healthy meal in the terminal; and
• Information on ways he can volunteer to maintain social connectedness.

After Brian completes the health assessment or biometric screenings and starts to interact with the WebMD ONE platform, we learn a bit more about what’s relevant to him:

• His biometric data indicates he is pre-diabetic, so we invite him to join the Diabetes Management Program and share ways he can boost his fruit and vegetable intake.
• When he watches a strength training video, we follow up with an article about how to properly stretch after a vigorous workout.

Here’s what we could do for an offshore engineer at a large energy company.

Aesha is 40 years old and works for two weeks at a stretch on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean.

• With 12 to 14 hour shifts and a highly physical job, proper sleep is essential. Aesha gets tips on sleep hygiene and is encouraged to set sleep goals in Daily Habits.
• It’s not easy to be away from family for weeks at a time. We make sure to support Aesha’s mental health with prompts to Stay Connected, our social connectedness program.
• Now that she’s 40, she should consider getting a baseline mammogram. We send out a reminder right after her birthday.

Aesha’s health assessment and her engagement with WebMD ONE helps us target the right content and programs:

• Her cholesterol levels are high, so we share heart-healthy recipes she can try when she’s at home.
• To help meet her weight loss goals, we encourage Aesha to use the Positively Me Health Coaching program.

Another benefit of our segmentation capabilities: you can hold the reins.

Although we are more than happy to update on behalf of our clients, another advantage of our platform is the ability for clients to make modifications to their programs without us, based on real-time information from Data Insights. No need to log a request and wait for a programmer to make the change. For example, if you have a wellness champion network and one of your champions wants to highlight the healthy food options in their facility, they can create the content just for those at the facility in real time.

And it works for health plans, too.

Health plans support a wide range of employer groups that have their own custom programs. Our segmentation capabilities allow health plans to maintain one portal for all their business segments, rather than having multiple portals built out for each one of their groups. That makes it easy for them to manage all their employer groups in one clean, accessible space.

Don’t just take our word for it—one of our health plan clients said that “WebMD shines in terms of having that ease of saying, ‘This employer wants to view this program or customization, and then this one has something completely different.’ That was something we weren’t getting from our current vendor.”

People have so many potential benefits and programs available to them. The hardest part is keeping it simple and only showing the most relevant information to each person. The ability to segment programs, information and interventions that are scalable and easy to manage is vital to keeping the most up-to-date information right where your employees need it. In summary, to be successful, a well-being program must be able to do two things at once:

1. Easily adapt to changes at the organizational level, and
2. Stay relevant and meaningful to each individual.

WebMD ONE has that capability, which makes it unlike any other in the well-being industry. Interested in learning more about how our segmentation solution can help your organization achieve its well-being goals? Contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Related Content:

• Blog: Thinking About Well-Being Incentives for 2021? Here Are Some Things to Consider
• Blog: Gen Z and Well-Being: What This Generation Needs From Employers
• Whitepaper: Well-Being Disconnect: Employees Want More From Employers

A persistent stigma around mental health prevents employees from opening up.

Despite the fact that one in five adults will experience a mental health condition in a given year, few feel safe opening up about their experiences with colleagues or employers.² Instead, they hide what’s going on and are more likely to call in physically “sick,” versus admitting they need time off to tend to their emotional health.³

Beyond Well Solutions offers the privacy, accessibility and affordability employees need—now and in the future.

Podcasts are an excellent medium for mental health support, since individuals can listen in the privacy of their own home or during their commute—whenever and wherever it makes sense for them. No one needs to know they’re accessing the podcasts, minimizing concerns of being “outed.” And, while not a complete substitute, they provide a valuable resource for those who can’t afford therapy.

Beyond Well Solutions podcasts are available on a desktop computer or any mobile device, right on the WebMD ONE platform. New podcasts are released each week. Employees can choose from a range of topics like:

• Anxiety
• Company downsizing
• Coping
• Creating balance
• Caring for the caregiver
• Dealing with insomnia
• Domestic violence

Resources like Beyond Well Solutions show your organization’s commitment to mental health.

Studies show employees want their employers to be more open and accepting about mental health, and desire clearer information about where to go or who to ask for support. ⁴ Providing access to mental health resources, like Beyond Well Solutions, demonstrates your organization’s understanding of the importance of mental health concerns and your commitment to helping.

Mental health resources can also act as an entry point to other resources your organization offers. For example, WebMD ONE clients and their organizations have access to other mental wellness solutions besides podcasts, including phone calls with stress specialists via WebMD Coaching and a Daily Habits Plan called Coping with the Blues.

These resources can even boost the utilization of one of the least-used employee benefits—the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Despite a wide array of behavioral health services available through an EAP, the Society for Human Resources estimates that less than 10% of employees actually use the service.⁵ Beyond Well Solutions drives engagement with and utilization of EAP services by directing employees immediately to the EAP after they listen to a podcast.

A team of leading mental health professionals provides help and inspiration.

Beyond Well Solutions, founded by renowned journalist and author on issues of mental health, Sheila Hamilton, features a team of licensed clinical psychologists. The podcasts offer a source of inspiration and motivation, and give employees the tools to engage in self-exploration and discovery.

For more information on how Beyond Well Solutions can help your organization address mental health concerns, contact us at connect@webmd.com.

Forge ahead with wellness challenges. 

Even though people are physically apart, we encourage organizations to continue with any wellness challenges they might have planned for spring.

With a little tweaking you can still hold a walking challenge, like our popular Invitational Team Steps Challenge. Have people form teams with co-workers and get family members involved, too. A little virtual “cheering” on the wellness portal is also strongly encouraged! Team-based challenges might be just what we need right now to help people feel like they are still a part of something with co-workers.

Well-being challenges are still popular.

In our recent white paper “How Well-being Programs are Failing Women and Millennials.” 87% of those surveyed were interested in participating in wellness challenges, especially women and millennials.

Here are a few other ideas to keep folks active and engaged in their well-being:

• Individual steps challenge: ask people to calculate how many steps it takes to walk completely around their homes or apartments and come up with a plan for getting to 5,000 steps. Share the plan and some photos on workplace social media.
• Water challenge: urge everyone to drink more water throughout the day. May 3-9 is Drinking Water Week, so that could be a great tie-in.
• Meditation challenge: people who may have been reluctant to practice in meditation may be more receptive to it now. May is Mental Health Awareness month, so get a challenge going to kick start a meditation habit.
• Virtual workout streak: there are so many great streaming and recorded fitness classes out there right now – many for free! – so challenge folks to record how many days in a row they’ve taken a virtual fitness class.
• Push-up or plank challenge: see who can hold a plank the longest or who can do the most push-ups.

As with any challenge, getting leadership involved and leading by example is key. Can your CEO share her tips for working out at home? Or, perhaps managers can start meetings by sharing a well-being tip of the day.

Don’t forget the rewards.

If you do hold a challenge, don’t forget to reward employees’ healthy behavior. Consider purchasing gift cards to local healthy eating establishments and fitness stores – it’s a great way to support businesses who were hit hard by mandatory closures.

Leverage telephonic or text-based coaching.

• WebMD Health Coaches are available via phone or Coach Connect and are regularly checking in with participants to help them adapt their health and well-being routines to a new home-based reality. Just a quick touch-base might be all people need to stay accountable and motivated.
• Text-based coaching programs allow individuals with specific health goals (e.g.. losing weight, quitting tobacco) and those who are managing chronic conditions (e.g., diabetes or heart disease) to get the personalized support they need via text. Now, participants can also sign up to receive COVID-19 updates, including CDC recommendations, tips for staying healthy, and referrals to other trusted resources.

Tap into resilience.

Our collective resilience is surely being tested in the face of this pandemic. Fortunately, many organizations have resilience programs – like the meQuilibrium program through WebMD ONE – that give people the skills and tools needed to manage stress, deal with challenging situations, and recover when the going gets tough. Make sure the individuals in your organization know how to access resilience programs that could be a huge help during this stressful time.

Keep the lines of communication open.

Communication is always essential to well-being program success and this is even more true now. We are all being bombarded with information, so make it easy for people by providing a quick list of well-being resources and how to access them. If your organization has created a dedicated COVID-19 section on their intranet, be sure to list well-being resources there as well.

We’ve created our own COVID-19 resource page with guides you can share with the individuals of your organization, helpful blog posts, and relevant webinars from our Health Coaches.

Though we may be physically separated, you can still keep people connected to the culture of well-being you’ve built by promoting available programs and engaging the organization in some fun well-being challenges. Need more ideas? Contact us at connect@webmd.com.

Related Content:

• E-Book: Putting Well-Being Challenges to Work For You
• Blog: The Impact of Resilient Leaders
• E-Book: The Power of Personalization