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10 Aug 2016
by Steve Johnson

How wearable tech can help improve the productivity of your staff

Employees at the US insurer Aetna are being paid to sleep! Aetna recognises the fact that lack of sleep leads to poor concentration among employees, and ultimately the business loses because the employees failed to snooze.

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They are so concerned about the impact of sleep deprivation on performance that their employees are offered the chance to sign up for a reward based on the amount they sleep.

Aetna staff who participate earn $25 for every 20 nights they sleep seven or more hours. The reward is capped at $300 each year. The scheme was launched in 2014. In 2015 35% of employees participated, up from 25% in the launch year.

The impact of tiredness 

Like me, you’ve probably been on training courses where the trainer talked about HALT, the concept that poor decisions are made when you are Hungry, Angry, Late or Tired. Tiredness also affects productivity and health.

In the US the average worker loses 11.3 working days productivity (average value £1,700) each year due to sleep deprivation. Research at the University of California has found that if we sleep fewer than six hours a night we are four times more likely to catch a cold when exposed to a virus. How many of the 6.9 days absence per employee per year (CIPD Absence Management Survey 2015) are due to sleep issues?

The Aetna scheme is an honour scheme; they trust their employees to report fairly. However, the rise of wearable technology presents an opportunity for more accurate measurement of how individuals sleep, and lots of additional data about how they look after their wellbeing.

The role of wearable tech

The market for wearable tech is predicted to grow ten-fold in retail value by 2019 (Wearable technology for health and wellbeing in HR magazine, September 2015). This data could be invaluable to employers, allowing them to target wellbeing programmes to address specific behaviours and problems. Obtaining this data is the challenge, but technology is likely to be the key.

The positive impact in terms of lower absence rates and increased productivity are clear. Awareness of personal behaviour is raised when using wearable fitness devices. For the generation of people who may well be working into later life, those who missed out on Defined Benefit pensions, the importance of physical wellbeing has never been more important. Chances are they’ll need to work for longer and they’ll need the physical fitness to allow them to do it.

Engaging employees

Engaging these employees should be relatively easy as it’s a simple concept that most people can understand quickly. Providing employees with fit bands should be cost neutral, given the low cost and the productivity gains.

Creating the maximum return on investment (ROI) is likely to prove more difficult, as there will inevitably be fears about whether the data will negatively impact on their employment opportunities. For the “Facebook generation” putting everything about their lives online is the norm, but when an employer is introduced to the equation will they be so open?

Aggregating data may alleviate employee fears about how the data will be used, but in aggregated form it is of limited value in targeting resources to support wellbeing. In order to collect data that is meaningful you first need clarity about how you intend to use it. Only then will your employees trust you sufficiently to be willing to share this data about their own lives.

The engagement programme can explain all the benefits for the employees of participating in the scheme; improved personal fitness, better work/life balance, improved business productivity and the employees will understand the link to potential future pay rises and job security.

Employees can also be reminded of their protections under the Equality Act and Data Protection Act. You can spice things up with inter-department/team competitions. Maybe even hold fit band challenges with competitors and customers.

A valuable result

What the Aetna initiative demonstrates is that what gets rewarded gets done. A combination of monetary rewards and the fun of competition should enable you to engage more than just the tech savvy ‘Generation Ys’ in your workforce.

Like Aetna, if you can encourage around a third of your workforce to fully participate the impact will be felt across a much higher proportion of your workforce in time, as workplace conversations encourage non-participants to consider their own behaviour as well.

The best ideas are usually the simplest ones. The concept is blindingly obvious and the reciprocal benefit to an employer introducing such a scheme is likely to vastly outweigh the costs of implementation. And you never know, people might even stay awake in meetings!

Steve Johnson is principal at JLT Employee Benefits. He is currently participating in ten concurrent fit band challenges.

This article was provided by JLT Employee Benefits. 

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