“Sitting Disease” is becoming more and more of an issue in our society. This new health issue has arisen as people spend more and more time sitting and developing a sedentary lifestyle. According to Mayo Clinic, 50-70% of people sit at least 6 hours per day, and 20-35% of people spend over 4 hours every day watching TV. This shows us that the sitting disease is spreading between home and work and can quickly and easily infect your workforce.

The Bad News

Many people are jumping on the wearable wellness technology bandwagon, but not everyone knows how to make the most out of these devices.

This lack of understanding is even more pronounced in the context of employee wellness programs, where the potential benefits of wearables may not be fully realized.

February is the month of love in our culture. Love is a matter of the heart. It only makes sense then, that February is American Heart Month. American Heart Month is sponsored by the American Heart Association, and is meant to be a time set aside to focus on heart health. Heart Month is an excellent time to take a look into the effects of cardiovascular disease, and what you can do to maintain a healthy heart.

When it comes to your employee wellness program, participation and engagement are not the same thing. It’s important to distinguish between the two because the first might boost numbers, but the second will ultimately determine your success.

Do you extend your employee wellness program beyond your biometric screening? Odds are, you get aggregate results from your screening vendor. If you don’t analyze and act on those results, you aren’t taking steps to improve the health of your employees. If you aren’t trying to improve the health of your employees, your wellness program isn’t going to have the effect you’d like.

Data security is increasingly important in our shift towards a digital world. A lot of the hesitation about wellness program participation deals with privacy. In order to increase engagement, it’s your job as a wellness program manager to answer those difficult security questions, and be sure you’re keeping your employees safe. 

The cat is out of the bag about the flu shot. As you have probably seen, this year the effectiveness of the flu shot is not quite up to par because of a mutated flu strain that seems to be circulating. That’s not to say, however, that the flu shot is worthless!

In recent years, there has been a huge movement towards providing incentives for employee wellness programs. It’s estimated today that on average, employers provide perks worth $521 per employee that participates in their wellness program. While it’s also estimated that for each dollar, the companies are seeing a significant ROI, the fact remains that some companies simply can't afford to spend that much building a wellness incentive program.

Here at TotalWellness, we believe that incentivizing your program really can improve your engagement. Here are nine ideas for employee incentives that don’t have to break your bank!

Last week we hosted the first webinar, “How to Use Positive Messages to Inspire + Motivate Employees,” of our new 2015 series. Our very own Kenton Hicks, National Account Executive, spent some time going over trends, truths and tips on positivity in the workplace. If you couldn’t make it, here’s what you missed!

Building motivation to work hard and be productive throughout the day is often slow moving. While you as the employer can’t necessarily address what happens before your worker bees get to the office, it’s important to build an environment that promotes healthy habits and productivity when they do get to work. This healthy environment should focus on five key morning wellness activities to jumpstart the day.