The Importance of a Holistic Wellness Strategy (and the technology to facilitate it)

We’re in the wave of the Great Realignment as we like to say here at BlueBack Health. What seemed like a never-ending pandemic is behind us and we are moving forward with renewed invigoration towards employee wellness. 

While we have always been promoting comprehensive wellness to our clients, we are happy to see more organizations taking this to heart. We have long known employee wellness is more than just offering Fitbits and a salad bar at lunchtime. Wellness needs to support sleep, financial well-being, spiritual connection, community service, sustainability, and so much more. Beyond the comprehensive nature of type of programming, we’re dealing with more dispersed employees than ever before with the rise of remote workforce. Ensuring all can be included in, and feel a part of, your wellness program is more important than ever.

We see a lot of employers, including large ones, utilize carrier resources for wellness programming versus developing their own program. While this is definitely better than not having an offering at all, it’s important to pause and consider what you’re trying to achieve through wellness.  If you’re simply checking a box, then maybe you’ve fulfilled your goal. But if you truly want to have meaningful impact on employees’ whole health, you need a real strategy and a unique program that fits your company culture. 

Company executives have no doubt heard their HR team say or even said themselves they want to become an employer of choice this spring.  In today’s competitive job seekers market, your current and future employees are certainly reviewing the full package of benefits and culture.  The health of your company is dependent upon the health of your employees.  Is your approach to well-being in alignment with employee wishes and needs?

Using Data to Support Your Population

What are your population’s biggest risks?  What are your catastrophic claims?  Are your claims in general coming more from your employees, their spouses, or their dependents?  Relying solely on your medical and pharmacy partners to provide you this information may only be giving part of the story.  We utilize health data analytics with our self-insured clients to view a more comprehensive story about the covered population – both from a historical perspective and in future predictive models. This allows us to better understand health trends and risks and implement wellness programming accordingly. 

For example, we know generally that the United States population struggles with weight and Body Mass Index, heart health, and sugar.  But, just how much of your covered population is struggling with any one of those?  How many are adequately managing a condition like high blood pressure?  More importantly, how many aren’t?   Using these analytics we are able to better customize wellness program offerings and even provide targeted resources to employees that might need it. 

One size fits all does not work when it comes to wellness programs

Neither do piece meal offerings.  Are you offering discounts to Weight Watchers, Calm app subscriptions, and using your medical carrier’s health risk assessment all under the notion of your company’s wellness program?  Don’t think your employees are fooled by this tactic – adding more and more disjointed offerings does not equate to being impressive.  Employees have enough places to log in and remember passwords for – adding yet another wellness-y app is not going to keep them engaged, feeling cared for, or trending towards positive health.  On the contrary, it might lead to confusion, overwhelm or general disinterest.

We cannot emphasize the importance of a strategic and holistic approach with one home base for employees to access from. 

How We Can Help

At BlueBack Health we can not only support your strategic wellness planning, but also provide a platform that allows employees to access wellness programming from anywhere. Remote employees? No problem. Our BlueChip wellness program has a mobile app, built in education, and optional virtual coaching availability. Plus, we work with numerous third-party providers to augment your education or fitness opportunities via webinars at varying times throughout the day – keeping all employees included no matter where they are. 

In the middle of a plan year or an agreement with a provider?  No problem.  Our team can provide consultative services to review your current offerings and benefit plans and make recommendations for consideration based on industry best practices and the latest employee wellness trends. While you might not be able to make immediate changes, at least you’re already thinking and planning ahead for when you are able to.  

We have also worked with our clients to undergo full wellness provider RFP cycles to find the best fit for their company’s needs. Let us handle the heavy lifting of querying the market and obtaining initial pricing and capability statements before you need to get involved.  

Get in touch with our team today and let us know your struggles with employee wellness.