How To Select the Right Corporate Wellness Program

How to evaluate corporate wellness programs.

Evaluating corporate wellness programs can feel like a daunting task because there are so many factors to consider. To make it easier, we’ve narrowed the list to seven key elements:

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

Let’s look at each in detail.

1. The participant experience.

Whether it’s shopping for clothing, choosing a restaurant, or deciding what to watch, as consumers we’ve become accustomed to 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 access and start using the solution.
• Intuitive navigation so people can easily find what they want.
• Mobile and desktop access to reach all employees 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.

2. Programming flexibility.

Well-being is personal, which means employees 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 corporate 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 connections—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.
• Lifestyle coaching support for weight management, tobacco cessation, incorporating exercise, improving food choices, managing stress and more.
• Wellness challenges that engage even the healthiest members of your population.
• An incentives platform that rewards engagement in a way that resonates with employees.

3. Solution integration.

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

Get more bang for your buck with a solution that:

• Provides multiple components that seamlessly integrate with each other.
• Connects with point solutions and programs to make it easy for employees to get the help they need when they need it.
• Easily lets people share fitness tracker, app and other device data, such as steps taken or calories burned, with your well-being program.
• 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. Targeted communication.

A well-being program can’t succeed if employees don’t know about it. To maximize well-being program impact and drive greater participation, it is essential that your corporate wellness program vendor provides targeted communications and a comprehensive communication plan.

Look for vendors that:

• Include segmentation capabilities. This might mean grouping participants by their unique attributes, occupation, location, demographics, health risks, interests and goals.
• Provide participants with a mix of digital, in-person, social and traditional communication methods to ensure broad access to the specific resources they need. This includes a well-being platform, one-on-one, group, in-person, text and phone support.
• Have strategic and robust communication plans. To reach a population and truly impact health, communications must be comprehensive and ongoing; inclusive of individuals across various life stages, cultural backgrounds, and health goals; and aligned with the organization’s brand and culture.

5. Brand trust.

Whether they’re working with a health coach, getting a biometric screening or 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 wellness 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.

6. Client and participant support.

You should be able to get help whenever you or your participants 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.
• Gives you a designated account management team who learns your company culture and helps you make programming decisions to support your goals.
• Makes it easy to communicate about your program with an in-house team that can create custom materials.
• Provides you with regular data and feedback you can use to evolve your program over time.
• Delivers exceptional support to your participants, ensuring only the most positive experiences.
• Offers onsite or remote services to help increase awareness of the benefits you offer, drives program engagement, and coordinates an array of wellness services.

7. Investment value.

As with any investment, it’s important to track the value of your corporate 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.

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 loyalty.
• A trusted brand that promotes the strong engagement you need to achieve positive outcomes.

Putting it all together

Choosing the right corporate wellness 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.

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 organization.