PULSE POINTS
CO M P I L E D B Y A L E X A N D E R M E N R I S K Y
Employees Make Use of
Wellness Tracking Devices
in Wellness Programs
A
ccording to a report entitled
“Wearables in Wellness: Employer Use
of Wearable Tracking Devices in
Wellness Programs” by nonprofit
health research firm Health Enhancement Research
Organization (HERO), nearly one half of employer
respondents offered a tracker as part of a well ness
program, ranging from wearables like Fitbit (77
percent) to pedometers (24 percent). Eighty-three
percent subsidized trackers for their employees while
91 percent permitted an employee to use a tracker
device they already owned.
The survey gathered information from 188
respondents representing a variety of industries and
sizes. Respondents indicate that they incorporated
the use of trackers into their employee wellness programs in order to encourage employees to increase
their physical activity (94 percent), increase engagement in health (77 percent), improve wellness
program participation (59 percent) and improve
employee performance and productivity (51 percent).
The majority of organizations offering these
tracker-based programs plan to continue doing so
due to a perception of genuine interest and enhancement of existing wellness programs.
Expectations for Economic Expansion High in North
America But Mixed in Other Parts of the Globe
R
eleased earlier this year,
the eighth annual American
Express/CFO Research
Global Business and
Spending Monitor surveys finance
leadership around the world to determine
how they view the pace of economic
recovery in their own countries and what
they plan to do to strengthen business
in their sector.
12 PULSE
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October 2015
Results from the annual survey
indicate that respondents from North
America (the U.S. and Canada) plan to
continue building on the forward progress
of 2013 and 2014, with 83 percent of U.S.
respondents predicting expansion. Outside
North America, expectations are mixed,
though India leads the world in economic
confidence with 94 percent of respondents
predicting an economic expansion.
In terms of employment growth,
anticipation in this area is strongest in
India (78 percent), followed by Spain (66
percent) and the U.S. (61 percent). Russia
and France had the weakest forecast in
employment growth.
The survey results are based on the
responses of 565 respondents from
companies with revenue of between
US$500 million and over US$20 billion.