Your kids play so many video games you’re worried they might actually turn into computer-animated creatures. You secretly really love Angry Birds. And now you’re hearing a lot of buzz about the “gamification” of work. You’ve even wondered about introducing a social health game into your wellness program.
What are the benefits? Is it worth the investment? Will people really use it?
We were excited to discuss the promise of games for health as part of CoHealth’s monthly tweet chats — here is the must-read recap. Lots of great questions raised and discussed, lots of assumptions turned on their heads, abundant food for thought.
Afterward my brain was so abuzz that I sat down with Brett Powell, our Regional VP and the point person for our own online wellness challenges. Together we sketched out a few reasons any wellness manager might want to try out a social health game.
Scalability
Multiple locations? Lots of work-from-homers? Different shifts or schedules? Large company? Small company?
Not a problem with an online wellness program. Employees can participate when it’s convenient for them.
You can do it with specific groups or with everyone in your company. Use an out-of-the-box program or create a custom program that targets your organization’s specific needs. Try one challenge at a time or design a series of challenges over the course of a year.
You could host a comprehensive flight of wellness challenges for weight loss, nutrition, stress management and physical activity, or you could tackle one major problem at a time, like that walking program you’ve always wanted to start.
It sounds cliché, but the sky’s the limit.
Social, social, social
Social everything. Support. Competition. A little friendly pressure. It’s like a lunchtime support group on steroids: it’s 24/7, it reinforces specific actions, and it’s intrinsically motivating to play as a team — and win.
One question raised during the CoHealth chat approached the difference between in-person social support: Is a company recreation league any different or better than the support that you get from an app- or web-based social game?
I personally wondered if concerns about digital privacy might make people more likely to participate in a pick-up soccer game than an imaginary trek across the Great Wall of China, where every step is logged and compared to group progress.
But most gaming tools are anonymous — in our program, you get a pseudonymous username and avatar. And that could make people more, not less, likely to join in. (I know I would be reluctant to join a company sports league because I am so bad at sports.)
After mulling it over, we think old-fashioned social health games — the kind you play in person — reinforce the principles behind online social health games. “Social” is a time-tested idea. It’s just been re-imagined for new technologies and the way we have adapted our behaviors to those technologies.
It’s fun
It’s that simple. Employees like these games. They actually play them. And that leads to measurable lifestyle change.
Why? Our theory: Health games remove punitive “get healthy or else” directives, like the threat of higher premiums for unhealthy behavior. They empower employees to own their well being and change their lives on their own terms.
We’ve been offering online wellness challenges for over a year, and the response so far has been tremendous. If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to drop us a line. We can even show you how it works if you’re curious.
Game on!