5 Tips for Boosting Wellness Engagement - Advice from a Motion Connected Admin

12.08.20 09:54 AM By Motion Connected

Before joining the Motion Connected team this year, I was running the corporate wellness program for an auto dealership group with over 2,000 employees. We used the power incentives and a high level of program promotion to maximize participation and increase healthy habits among the employee population. I’ve put together a list of five important tactics I implemented after five years as a Wellness Director using the Motion Connected platform.

 

Rather listen in? Watch our recorded webinar to hear these tips in Rachel’s own words. 

#1. Increasing Program Sign Ups/Activations

 

One of the significant ways to measure the success of a program is how many people are signing up and registering their accounts. This will measure engagement across your population, and also measure success of the communication of the program

 

How are you getting the message out about your program to employees? Telling employees one time about the program in the beginning of the year, or on their first day, is not enough.

 

The Marketing Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to hear or see the advertiser's message at least 7 times before they'll take action to buy that product or service.

 

This can absolutely relate to wellness programs in the workplace. Whether it’s an intranet post, an email, or a poster in the bathroom, employees will need to see the program in their face a few times before they take action.

 

So, think about what you’re doing now, and how you can add a few vehicles of communication in 2021 to increase your activations.

 

Another way to increase program participation is to create urgency. Don’t let them say, “Sure I’ll do it when I get home,” because we know it will not happen!

 

For Motion Connected clients, utilizing The Daily Activity Points in scorecards is such a good way to entice immediate sign ups. Remind employees: Activate your account, link your device, and you’ll literally start earning points TODAY!


Also, remember to simplify the process. Include information in new hire paperwork, break down instructions on how to sign up, how they’ll be rewarded, and what’s included.

 

The great thing is that Motion Connected supplies you with all these tools. We also have our support line and app walk-through videos that are super helpful for employees.

 

#2. Re-engage Lost Users


There will always be people who sign up, are engaged for a week or maybe a couple months, and then drop off. You want to make sure you are keeping up with these people as well, not just the new sign up or new employees.

For Motion Connected admins, one way to find these people is to run the Activity Engagement Report. You can run it for any period of time, like the past 6 months or past 90 days. This report can show you the last time an employee signed in or synced data.

 

If you have any sort of reporting or data available, you can take a look at the people on the bottom, reach out, find out if something is holding them back or if they simply just forgot to sync data. Is there a reason they are not engaging? This is where you have to be really hands-on if you want your program to be long term successful.

 

If you don’t have access to reporting, or know lack of interest or spice may be the issue. One idea to implement is a pop-up challenge.

 

For example, At Koons, we announced a quick Memorial Day “Pop Up” Challenge that helped reengage people mid-year. Get 30,000 steps in the 3-day weekend and earn some extra points. You could do a gift card drawing too.

 

Its super easy to set up, and quick and easy to get the results. Plus, announcing a new and exciting challenge is a great way to energize people again, get them to sync their data, and pay attention to the program again.  And another way to just get people talking and create some buzz.

 

Lastly, don’t forget to remind employees about the incentives of participation. Maybe they forgot, you told them once in the beginning of the year. Don’t be afraid to dangle that carrot. One thing I liked to do is run a scorecard report and see who is close to the next level, remind them of the incentive for the next level.


#3. Keep Employees Engaged with Rewards


Make sure you are spotlighting the incentives of participation!  

 

There are so many ways you can structure your rewards within Motion Connected. You can do a reward at each level if you have a yearly score card, you can do a flat rate each quarter if you do a quarterly score card. Some clients do premium incentives or gift cards and/or cash.

 

But it’s important to make sure the reward is known. 


If you are thinking about changing up your rewards for 2021, remember: rewards too high could backfire. It makes it hard to decrease once you set that threshold, and it could encourage cheating. But rewards too low won’t create that behavior change you are looking for. You really have to find that level that works for you and your culture.


#4. Organizing Your Population


Whether your group is 10 or 10,000, all at the same location or spread out, it can be a lot to keep up with.

 

One recommendation is to break up your population into segments, create groups or teams, even if you don’t have different locations or departments.

 

Find cheerleaders at each location or assign a Head Coach for each team. It helps to have more leaders for small groups, rather that one leader for a very large group. It keeps it organized, people know who to turn to, and it makes them accessible.

 

Don’t forget about deleting employees. This can be overlooked, but make sure you keep up with employees coming and going. It can cloud your data to have employees who left the company still in your system. Set yourself a reminder monthly or quarterly to run a report and remove any users who are gone.

 

Also, for Motion Connected clients, remember to utilize the customer care team. As a former admin of the program, I cannot commend the Motion Connected Support Team enough! Not only for admins, but your employees as well. 

 

#5. Keep it Simple

 

This one may sound like a no-brainer. As wellness professionals we know the value of health and wellbeing, but it may be very new to some people, especially when associating it with their workplace.

 

Remember that most successful programs encompass wellness as an overall achievement not just one small victory here or there.

 

You want to keep it easy and less intimidating. Make sure the rewards are attainable. Our job is to support the employee on their wellness journey!


Overall, as wellness professionals, it is our mission to guide employees to a healthier lifestyle. Whether those changes are big or small for them, we need to make sure it is easy and attainable. Hopefully these suggestions have sparked ideas for a happy and healthy 2021!   


Rachel O'Holla

Wellness Strategist lness Strategist 


CONNECT WITH ME ON LINKEDIN!

Motion Connected