What a great day.

Here in Portland it genuinely feels like spring. I think I’ll go take a walk right now.

Hope to see you out there!

This month I selected a really dedicated and involved admin – I’m talking weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, communications to her walkers with encouraging words, wellness information and congratulations to participants who excel in the program.  Not only has she inspired her walkers to be active but she has also given me many of the ideas I use with other programs in designing challenges, incentives, and maps.  Announcing… Candice Cutler from the City of Scottsdale, read what she has to say below.

1. Why did you start a walking program?  My organization wanted to implement a step program that would motivate people to get moving.  We felt that a pedometer where employees could visually see their daily activity would encourage them to meet their goals.  Having a customized portal was a big benefit for us as well.  The previous program we used required walking by a station to upload data.  The self-reporting online option was the perfect fit for our needs and has helped increase activity amongst our employees.
2. What is the hardest part about keeping/getting people active?  The hardest part is getting communication to those that do not use a computer every day.  Many of our employees work in the field and don’t need to use a computer for work.  Getting them to participate is tough, but a little motivation from their co-workers has been helping to increase participation.
3. What has been the most rewarding part?  The most rewarding part is hearing people say how the pedometer and the Walker Tracker Program has changed their exercise habits!  The program is really encouraging lifestyle changes for those that use it.  Co-workers are motivating each other to get out on breaks, before and after work and encouraging each other on the website.  It is great to see positive communication among employees that is focused on activity.
4. What advice would you give to people who want to start a walking/wellness program?  Get upper management to buy-in and participate.  When employees see their supervisors with a pedometer and they are encouraging participation, it really helps the workgroup get motivated.  Also, find your wellness champions in each workgroup and have them encourage participation amongst their co-workers.
5. Favorite feature on Walker Tracker?  I really enjoy the email and points download function.  I send out weekly emails reminding employees to enter their steps and to get a certain number of points per week to be entered into a weekly drawing for a gift card.  I then download point totals and enter employees into the raffle.  The winner is also announced via email and includes a bio of the employee.  This has been a fun way for co-workers to get to know each other and it motivates them to keep participating so that they can be the next winner.
6. Future plans/ideas/hopes for your walking program?  I am excited for the new feature that separates steps from activity conversion.  Many people in our group have been requesting a step only challenge.  In the past, that required turning off the activity convertor completely.  That option was not going to go over well with those that use it regularly and I didn’t want to discourage activity.  This new function gives the option to add up just steps and we are looking forward to our next steps only challenge.
7. Any other comments – I really appreciate Taylor’s help with all of our challenges.  I love the ideas she comes up with and the maps and information she puts together for our group.  Having her help out with all of the administrative works really makes my job easier.  Thanks Taylor!

Here at Walker Tracker we’re always on the lookout for new and exciting technology relating to health and wellness. So, we were really jazzed when we learned about emerging pedometer technology that is truly astounding. You may already be aware of pedometers currently on the market that track sleep and stairs-climbed in addition to traditional step data.

There’s a new device that will take it to the next level.

Based on university and industry research on exercise physiology, this new “pedometer” tracks not only steps that you took physically, but also steps that you considered taking. It’s all driven by the science of how (and why) people make decisions to change their lives by adopting new exercise habits. When starting out, people first think about exercise, then, finally, they put these thoughts into action. Nike’s popular “Just do it” campaign tapped in to this inner decision process and urged people to move from contemplating exercise to actually exercising.

Enter the next generation brain wave pedometer.

The pedometer uses advanced technology called Fourier Analysis of Real and Contemplated Exercise to read brain wave patterns, capturing and recording steps, stairs, contemplated steps, and contemplated stairs. As the name indicates, this device uses sophisticated mathematical analysis based on the modified Hilbert FFT algorithm to capture brain wave patterns and isolate the unique wave forms that indicate actual physical steps, but also steps you might be thinking about taking.   Available at a slightly higher price, the FARCE XL also captures and records sleep steps.

Needless to say, this will transform walking-based exercise programs by allowing participants to better understand how their brain influences decisions on whether to get up and walk, or sit there through another Seinfeld rerun. Users can plot actual steps vs contemplated steps – very useful information. The FARCE pedometer also enables users to rate their reluctance to take stairs instead of the elevator – contemplated stairs are just contemplated steps with slight changes in  hypothalamus activity (release of the stress hormone hydrocortisone), the brain’s chemical response to, “oh sheez, four flights and I’ve got groceries”.

Now, think long and hard about going for a walk…or maybe…just walk.

Last week I had a chance to attend the Reservation Economic Summit, a trade show put on by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. While the central theme of the show was to promote business activity and Native American owned companies, there were also a number of presentations aimed at health and wellness. It’s pretty clear that health issues have a direct and substantial economic impact and this is especially true in Native American communities where the statistics are quite alarming.

Early detection is one of the keys to turning this around. I spoke with a number of companies that are serving the health needs of this community, but one in particular caught my attention. They are doing screenings to detect early stages of diabetes through a simple, non-invasive eye exam.

If you’re like me, you hate going to the doctor in the first place, and getting blood work done makes it even worse. DIsease detection via eye exams is based on recent advancements in digital imaging and promises to dramatically improve access to accurate and timely diagnostic testing. It involves a quick and simple exam where high-resolution photos of the retina are used to reveal markers that indicate early stages of diabetes (and other diseases). No needles, no long appointments, instant results.

According to one company, they can predict onset of diabetes over a year in advance – enough time to make some lifestyle changes and hopefully reverse course.

Time will tell if this testing becomes mainstream, but it sure looks promising.

As a wellness program vendor, we often find ourselves talking to clients about the positive ROI that activity-based programs can have. Program benefits include reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, fewer hospital visits, and reduction in the number of major medical procedures. This all sounds great and it seems intuitive that all these benefits accrue. But, in order to run a really effective program that transforms your organization, you need to verify your cost savings and justify the expenditures you’re making. You should also make sure that the stated program goals are themselves measurable.

Before you start your program, think about how you plan to measure results and build these measurements into the system from the get-go. Here are a few examples:

Absenteeism:  some companies lump all paid days off together so “sick days” are not tracked separately. A few technology companies even offer employees unlimited paid days off as a way to compete for scarce talent. If you don’t track absenteeism, you’ll need to find a different way to measure unplanned days off due to illness. You may need to resort to indirect reporting methods that rely on employee feedback. Consider correlating year-over-year attendance numbers with the percentage of employees participating regularly in the wellness initiatives. Improvements here should take effect relatively quickly as employees adopt new and healthy lifestyle choices.

Presenteeism:  this is much harder to measure, and it’s probably advisable to avoid spending resources to capture this information. To measure presenteeism, you’ll need to devise productivity metrics that can be applied consistently across departments and job functions. In the end, you’ll likely just have anecdotal information from supervisors. You can catalog this information and keep is as supporting data, but it likely won’t contain hard numbers or facts. If you have a vendor touting the savings you’ll see due to reduced presenteeism, the skeptic in you should kick in – ask how they plan to measure this.

Hospital Visits: coordinate with your plan administrator to track these numbers on an annual basis.  Start now and communicate this number to employees. They need to be invested in the process and understand that lowering costs is critical to the organization’s long-term survival.

Major Medical:  the downside of using these metrics as a way to justify your program is that you won’t see a meaningful effect of your wellness program on major medical expenses for 2-3 years at a minimum. Nonetheless, it’s critical that you start measuring (and communicating) these numbers now.

Chronic Disease: this is where much of the costs are. This is also where prevention programs can have their biggest impact. Work with your plan administrator to monitor the percentage of people at risk for Type II diabetes. To do this, you’ll need to build health risk assessments into your wellness program. You can also begin to tie program goals directly to improvements in measurable health indicators such as blood chemistry. These numbers, as an aggregate, should be top of mind with your wellness team, executive management, and most importantly, with the employees themselves.