How to get the best technology for delivering wellness benefits

Offering great benefits is only half the challenge - the other half is getting employees to use them. Engaging technology can help

The workplace wellness market has grown in recent years as employers recognise the importance of employee wellbeing to productivity, engagement and retention.

But as the growing cost-of-living crisis places an increasing strain on wellbeing, employers should consider once again how wellness technology can support employees to lead healthier lives.

Wellness technology are applications and devices designed to improve employees' physical and mental health. The apps give staff the digital tools they need to take control of their own wellbeing.

According to the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), there are seven connected domains of employee wellbeing:

Health
Good work
Personal growth
Values
Social
Good lifestyle choices
Financial wellbeing

An effective and robust employee wellbeing strategy taps into each one of these domains. The question for employers is how can technology deliver a well-rounded employee wellbeing offering?

There is an abundance of wellness technology providers offering similar products with seemingly identical technology. If you can’t differentiate between them, you are likely to end up with a bad investment.

To ensure you choose the right technology, here are four key technical questions employers can draw on as part of their vendor due diligence process:

Is there an app for that?

When introducing any type of technology, always ask this question for three reasons:

The Data: Data obtained from wellness technology apps are huge opportunities for employees to review their health and wellbeing and for organisations to access anonymous aggregated insights. But this isn’t without potential obstacles. A global study found nine out of 10 health apps collect and track user data.

However, 28% did not provide any privacy statement explaining how they gather, use, disclose and manage users’ data. So, ensure the wellness technology provider has a robust privacy policy in place.

Accessibility: According to Statista, 80% of the UK’s population uses a smartphone. Therefore, leveraging a provider that also has an app makes the wellness technology more accessible to employees. Furthermore, employees are more likely to repeatedly interact with content at their fingertips.

Personalisation: The data acquired from an app allows it to provide personalised content tailored to employees’ interests, needs and location and this is key to making the most out of mobile technology. Presenting content that is highly personable and relevant boosts engagement and ensures they repeatedly return to use the app’s content.

Can you trust that your data is secure?

In September 2021, Fitness app database GetHealth was subject to a data breach and more than 61 million records were accessed illegally. As this shows, selecting a provider with robust protocols and security in place is vital.

When selecting wellness technology, employers should also look out for features that can help ensure user data remains safe:

Single-sign-on – this enables users to securely authenticate and login to multiple platforms and websites by using one set of credentials.
Two-factor-authentication – this requires additional details on top of the username and password for login. For example, a one-time passcode sent to a mobile.
Password requirements – having a minimum password length or including special characters can include preventing weak passwords like ‘Password1’ .

What support is available?

A provider that offers a good integration experience and long-term support goes a long way in making sure your employees make the most out of the wellness technology platform. Key things to look for include:

Readily available training material, which anticipates and resolves potential issues and queries and is easily accessible.
A well-thought-out communications plan to promote the service and drive engagement.
Dedicated support and simple routes for contact after app introduction.

How does this technology benefit employees?

Employers need to have a clear vision of the problem they are looking to solve, and identify exactly how the technology will overcome that problem. To do so, it’s important to consider employees’ needs:

The technology has to make employees’ lives easier in some way, such as by enabling them to search for local pharmacies in a few clicks. Empowering employees to find information will be a crucial component of the technology’s success.
It must offer a positive and seamless experience, meaning it should be intuitive to use, with information that’s easy to find and clearly presented. If you have to explain it, it’s usually not good enough.
It should be suitable for use across multiple platforms. Users do not stick to one platform and shouldn’t risk losing their data or facing issues when they transition from one platform to another. This is known as an ‘omnichannel experience’.

These aren’t hugely technical questions, but as buyers are lured in by the latest trends, they can often forget basic issues to protect them and their employees. Considering accessibility, data, technology and support alongside strategic wellbeing objectives ensures you bring in the best solutions for your business and employees.