Annoyed. Anxious. Joyful. Happy. There are a lot of ways to describe how employees feel about participating in biometric screening programs at work. A quick keyword scan on Twitter yielded these tweets about health screenings. Some are inspiring, some humorous and some are downright scary.
Here are just a few of the tweets:
- My biometric screening at work was far less than impressive. Time to get back into a workout routine.
- Get an extra $150 added to my paycheck for signing up to do a free health screening? Yes, please.
- I had to leave sticky notes around to remind me not to eat because of a health screening this morning. I just ate one of the sticky notes.
- Had biometric screening done. Am only 44 and high risk for a stroke. Time for major changes.
- Health Screening today: My blood pressure is low, my cholesterol is low, but I need to eat more healthy fats. Sounds like an oxymoron.
- I had brownies for breakfast. 2 cups of coffee. A donut. And 3 Arby's sandwiches at lunch. I couldn't be more ready for my health screening.
- My health screening came out pretty awesome, I would like to thank running, my love of soda water and a healthy glass (or two) of wine.
- OK who brought in the doughnuts on biometric screening day when we all have cholesterol tests? That's just mean!
- My work requires a health screening including a body fat test so they can remind me that sitting behind a desk makes me fatter every year.
- Having a biometric screening done to get a rebate on my health insurance.
- Just did a health screening. All my numbers are perfect and I lost 20 pounds!
- A little bacon, a nice health screening. Everything in moderation, right? :-)
- Nagging all my colleagues to get their health screening done so they can get the premium credit.
- Best part of modifying my eating habits? An A+ report on my health screening. Cholesterol, BMI, all at or below recommended. Yay me!
- Health screening at work...Yikes
- According to my biometric screening, I'm gonna be dead within the year.
So what does all this mean for HR and wellness pros? For many organizations, biometric screenings are often seen as a distinct event and not integrated with other wellness offerings. Sometimes the only communication employees receive are about logistic details - date, time & location of screening. There's a huge opportunity to educate employees about the benefits and importance of health screenings. Be sure to connect employees with additional wellness resources - things like tobacco cessation, preventive care benefits, health coaching, chronic health management, or Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). You have a captive audience who might just be ready to start making changes - so make it easy for them to take positive steps.
After reading down through these comments, there is some good news - screenings served as a wake-up call to make healthier choices for some participants. But other participants are only concerned with saving money and others are just confused by mixed wellness messages. It's clear that we can do a better job of educating employees about health screenings and that we need to double check the mixed messages we might be sending.
