Motivation and inspiration are temporary feelings.¹ Too many of us sign up for gym memberships and then never use them, purchase exercise equipment just to let it gather dust or make other commitments to improving our health and well-being—only to give up after those fleeting moments of initial motivation pass.

Many of us also use opportunities such as the start of a new year to set new health-oriented goals. However, when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, just eight percent of people actually remain committed long enough to accomplish them.² That may seem discouraging, but it is possible to make lasting change.

By utilizing the principles of behavioral science, organizations can encourage their employees and members to make healthy choices an ongoing part of their lifestyle. What exactly is behavioral science? Well, it’s a school of knowledge that examines human behavior and provides theories on how to best influence them. It can be used to develop effective strategies for encouraging your population to initiate healthy habits, discontinue unhealthy ones and work toward better well-being—even after their initial inspiration begins to fade.

Why behavioral science pays off.

Companies across the country are feeling the financial burden of the expenses associated with unhealthy lifestyle choices. This includes the cost of health care expenses, and it also includes the costs associated with lost productivity for individuals who are unable to work or fulfill the full duties of their job role. In fact, one out of every four dollars employers pay for health care is related to unhealthy lifestyle choices or conditions—despite the fact that most large employers have workplace well-being programs.³

The good news is, many of these health risks and their associated costs can be mitigated. When behavioral science is utilized for the development of well-being tools and programs, employees can have a better chance of achieving and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. They’ll be more likely to follow healthy habits such as exercising, eating healthy, avoiding tobacco and getting regular health screenings. Together, these lifestyle changes can help to prevent chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes—which account for 75 percent of the nation’s health spending. ⁴

How WebMD utilizes behavioral science.

WebMD is committed to ensuring our own employees have access to evidence-based resources to support them with living healthy lifestyles. To make this happen, our employee well-being strategy leverages four behavior science principles:

1. Inspire your audience.

Confidence is key when it comes to well-being. It’s important to help people feel assured that they have the ability to achieve their health goals, whether they’re managing a chronic condition or simply trying to get more steps in each day.

• Create a trigger and provide reinforcement – Utilize various forms of outreach and messaging (web, app, phone, mail) to inform, inspire and encourage people to engage in your well-being initiatives. As they engage and begin to make progress, follow-up with congratulatory messages, encouraging them to keep going and remain engaged.
• Avoid decision fatigue – Rather than overwhelming people with so many participation options that they don’t participate in anything at all, craft a program design that aligns with your key strategic initiatives. Focus on your population’s unique needs and desires.
• Leave room for personalization – Behavior science demonstrates a positive correlation between autonomy and satisfaction. Allow people to set their own health goals and determine their priorities. You may find that their satisfaction with your well-being program improves as a result.

2. Start with small steps.

For many people, focusing solely on long-term health goals can be so daunting that they’re discouraged from getting started at all. While people should be encouraged to pursue long-term goals, supporting them achieving shorter-term accomplishments along the way helps them to appreciate their success and builds the motivation and confidence they need to continue their efforts.

For example, remind individuals working toward a target weight goal that every time they tighten their belt size, they’re losing weight! And, that they can and should keep going.

3. Celebrate accomplishments.

People have an innate desire to complete a meaningful “chunk” of something. Providing recognition and rewards throughout a well-being program experience can be a great way to help people celebrate smaller health accomplishments. Rather than offering a large incentive at the end of a well-being  challenge, divide it into smaller rewards throughout the challenge.

4. Inspire new social norms.

What others say and do can influence the way we act. According to a recent study, people eat a more nutritious diet and get more exercise when they perceive their co-workers as eating healthy and being physically active.⁵

To inspire your population and make well-being the norm at your organization, encourage participation in health-oriented games and competitions. At WebMD, we offer The Invitational Team Steps Challenge. During the competition, employees join a five-person team and compete against their co-workers to see who can track the most steps over the course of five weeks. It’s fun, easy and helps to encourage our entire staff to keep moving throughout the day.

Lasting change and a healthier outlook.

Healthcare costs related to poor health behaviors can be a burden for organizations. According to a recent study, the average health care cost for a healthy employee is roughly $3,000, and roughly $10,000 for an employee with at least one medical condition. ⁶

Improving the health and mitigating the health care costs of your population will require you to leverage the evidence-based techniques of behavior science. By following these principles, you can help encourage people to make day-to-day changes that can lead to lasting long-term health.

Related Content:

• Guide: How to Incorporate Behavior Science Into Well-Being
• On-Demand Webinar: How to Effectively Change Consumer Behavior

Welcome to Coaches’ Corner;  our blog series dedicated to bringing you actionable health and fitness tips directly from our WebMD coaches. With extensive education, certifications and training in everything from mental health to exercise kinesiology and more, our coaches are devoted to sharing valuable advice on a wide-range of well-being topics. 

By Amanda Burleson, Training and Development Specialist

The next time you head to the grocery store, make sure to bring your reading glasses. Why you ask? Well, there’s valuable information you may be missing that could influence your health and well-being.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued new guidelines for food labels—those black-and-white things on the back of a box or container. These guidelines reflect new scientific information linking diet to chronic diseases.

Yes, that means what you put into your mouth matters and potentially can do you harm down the road if you aren’t paying attention. On the flip side, the right choices could actually help you. The hope is that the new food label will make it easier for you to make more informed food choices and understand more about what you are consuming.

What’s changing on food labels?

• Servings: Serving sizes have been updated to better reflect what people actually eat and drink today. For example, the serving size for ice cream was previously ½ cup and now will be 2/3 cup.
• Calories: The font is now larger and bolder to help it stand out from other information.
• Fats: Calories From Fat has been removed because research shows the type of fat consumed is more important than the amount.
• Added Sugars: Added Sugars include sugars that have been added during processing or packing of a food. This is now required on every label and can be found underneath the Total Sugars section
• Nutrients: Vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium are now required because Americans do not always get the recommended amounts.

When will these changes take effect?

Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales have until Jan. 1, 2020 and those with less than $10 million in annual food sales have until Jan. 1, 2021 to comply with the new requirements for the Nutrition Facts Label.

While these changes are positive, I’d recommend the addition of exercise equivalents for calorie amounts as well. For example, chicken wings might state, “Four chicken wings have about 375 calories. It takes roughly one hour of jogging for a 150-pound person to burn that amount of calories.” If you saw that on a food label, would it influence your decision to purchase and eat it? Now that’s food for thought.

Amanda Burleson, RD – Education & Certifications
Bachelor of Science in Dietetics
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Weight Management Certified
ACSM Physical Activity in Public Health Specialist
ACE Certified Health Coach

WebMD Health Services is excited to announce James Beckerman, M.D. has expanded his role within our company to Medical Director. Moving forward, he will provide clinical oversight for WebMD’s disease management program and serve on our Quality Oversight Committee.

Dr. Beckerman brings passion and vast expertise to WebMD, with a focus on prevention and lifestyle modification. As a long-standing member of the WebMD Health Services Clinical Advisory Board, he has been instrumental in providing clinical direction and guidance on evidence-based clinical guidelines, industry best practice approaches for mitigating health risks and emerging solutions for impacting population health.

In his expanded role, Dr. Beckerman will participate in the Quality Oversight Committee efforts to establish, document and monitor quality standards for WebMD. To achieve this, he will provide guidance on policies related to content standards, editorial practices, clinical reviewer qualifications and other variables that impact the safety and clinical integrity of our site.

Dr. Beckerman will also oversee the development and implementation of our disease management programs. He will provide guidance on the ongoing refinement of program processes and protocols and ensure program alignment with professional standards for clinical and non-clinical care.

Get to know Dr. Beckerman and what drives his passion for health:

What is the inspiration behind your passion for well-being?

I’m inspired by what we call the “80 percent opportunity”—the idea that approximately 80 percent of heart attacks are preventable by eating, moving and living in a healthier way. But, the challenge is how we get there! I’m excited by programs that are evidence-based and emphasize the power of community to make us healthier, combined with the right mix of inspiration and messaging to keep us going.

How do you empower individuals to focus on their health?

It’s sort of ironic that individuals might focus best on their health when they do it as part of a team. For years, I have coached a 5K training group that really leverages the impact of community and accountability to make real change happen. I believe that by helping to create a community infrastructure, we ultimately build a better self.

What excites you about working with WebMD Health Services?

I have had the pleasure of working with WebMD for over ten years. I appreciate the company’s whole-person focus and commitment to high quality, evidence-based content to help steer our national health conversation in the right direction.

Technology is changing the way Americans take care of their health. Today, anyone can monitor and analyze key health indicators like their activity, heart rate and stress levels by simply opening an app on their mobile device.

This ability to use technology to more easily track personal health, manage disease and partake in competitive fitness and health regimes could lead to a re-imagination of how we experience our personal health on a daily basis.¹

Most already agree that it’s making a difference. 96 percent of health app users believe apps help improve their quality of life and 76 percent of healthcare professionals believe mobile apps and wearable trackers will help patients with chronic diseases.²

The benefits of wellness technology can make a difference for your organization, too. By encouraging your employees to use health apps and trackers, your workforce may become healthier—leading to fewer sick days, more productive workers and lower health insurance costs for your organization.³

Convenience-first health solutions.

Health apps and wearable trackers make it easy for your employees to make healthy decisions. It provides them with the ability to create a food diary, record their exercise or set sleep reminders—which can help make it easier for them to make better choices throughout the day. Eventually, these healthy behaviors can become second nature.

But that’s not all health technology can do. When an app is combined with an activity tracker, your employees will be equipped with a more comprehensive set of well-being tools. It may give them access to a variety of convenient features, including:

• A range of health tracking abilities.
• Motivational messages that encourage healthy behaviors.
• Easy access to doctors and healthcare professionals.
• Reminders to take medication.⁴

Encourage health tech at your organization.

At WebMD Health Services, technology is a core part of our well-being program and we’re always looking to grow partnerships that can help us deliver effective well-being solutions.

To help you improve the health and well-being of your employees, we’ve listed the top three ways you can incorporate wellness technology into your organization.

1. Make trackers a part of health challenges.

At WebMD, technology is a big part of our healthy workplace challenges. We encourage employees to sync a Fitbit or similar fitness device with our wellness portal—giving them the ability to automatically track their progress during wellness challenges.

If your organization doesn’t already, you should also give your employees the ability to use trackers during wellness challenges. Without them, it can be difficult for employees to manually log 10,000 steps, keep a journal of everything they eat or record their exact hours of sleep for a week. But with fitness trackers, your employees will be able to more easily stay on track toward completing challenges and reaching their health goals.

2. Offer disease management apps.

About half of all adults suffer from one or more chronic diseases, which account for seven out of 10 deaths and 86 percent of U.S. health-care costs.⁵ But by offering disease management apps, you can help reduce the impact chronic disease has on your organization.

It will always be difficult to encourage employees to take better care of their health. But, disease management apps use a combination of remote monitoring, behavior modification and personalized intervention—which can help improve the outcomes of some of the most costly and difficult-to-manage conditions like diabetes, heart disease and lung disease.⁶

3. Start discussions using social media.

Social media is another powerful tool that can help encourage your employees to improve their health. Try creating community forums where your employees can connect and discuss healthy habits. You can create discussion boards about hiking, basketball, gardening or any other healthy interest your employees have. Then, let your employees share ideas, stories and inspiration to help each other stay on track toward a healthy lifestyle.

You can also create community forums for employees with chronic diseases. It will create an in-office support system and provide an outlet for employees to share their challenges, victories and tips for better managing disease and living a healthy life. Plus, it could provide an opportunity for your employees to connect with co-workers they may not have otherwise.

Use health tech to improve your employee’s lives.

Health technology is transforming the way people think about well-being. It’s making it simpler than ever for us to work toward our health goals, manage chronic disease and start open discussions about health and wellness. Not to mention, it’s making it easier for organizations to support their employees on their journey to wellness.

A two-way street

The employer-employee relationship is just that—a relationship. Just like any relationship, both parties have parts to play in order to make it work. There may be ups and downs but sharing an underlying set of values goes a long way toward weathering tough times and even coming out stronger in the end and can make the good times more enjoyable. A company’s mission and values comprise the pillars of the company’s culture.

It starts at the top

Management must take the lead in establishing the foundational elements of a corporate culture. This culture must, of course, focus heavily on the end customer or client. However, it should not stop there. How employees are treated and the environment in which they work are equally vital components to building a strong and positive culture. This can take many forms such as flexible work times or locations, standing or treadmill desks, open collaboration, executives that routinely walk the office and talk to all employees and more.

Employee accountability

At the same time, you—the employee—need to step up to the plate and take ownership of the environment in which you work. An employer can offer the most wonderful set of benefits, amenities and flexibility possible but none of that matters if you don’t take advantage of it. It’s like signing up for a new gym membership but then never going. You won’t get the results you say you want—and you really can’t blame anyone but yourself for it.¹

If your employer offers free snacks, enjoy them. If your employer has a wellness program, participate in it. If your employer sponsors a community service activity, become part of it. You might just be surprised at how your active involvement transforms your view of your job, the company you work for and your life in general.

WIIFU vs. WIIFM

Instead of looking only at what can be gained from working at a particular company (compensation, benefits, etc.), think about what you, your co-workers and the company can gain by working together. Doing your best work helps the company but it also helps you by keeping you employed. Engaging in group challenges or initiatives connects you with others and is what teams are built on. Ditch the “What’s in it for me?” attitude and replace it with “What’s in it for us?” instead.

The ultimate win-win

As the importance of wellness in our society continues (as well it should), the need for individuals to take an active role in their own wellness increases. Being involved and part of a group feels good. That principle holds true at work just as much as in other areas of life. Finding ways to make the employee-employee relationship a truly healthy and mutually beneficial one becomes an integral way of creating personal wellness.