Dear TheySaidWhat Nation,
Here is our most recent podcast, courtesy of Insurance Thought Leadership.
Summarized as follows:
- Conventional “pry, poke and prod” wellness has failed
- Trying to morph those 3P programs into “Wellness 2.0” will also fail, largely because you can’t spin straw into gold no matter how hard you try
- However, wellness done FOR employees instead of TO employees, like Quizzify, is a welcome addition at most workforces.*
- You can’t do that with the same vendors who created 3P programs any more than you’d hire former East German border guards as tour guides.
Al
*That was not clear in the podcast. See the comment below and my apology.
They Said What? 
I’ve read your posts from time to time. For someone who’s so dedicated to using data to take down the corporate wellness industry I think you’re guilty of broad brushing it. I listened to your recent podcast and all I ever hear you say is “wellness
industry” as if every company that offers corporate wellness programs are the same. Well what types of wellness programs are proven losers? There’s a wide variety of services offered from bodymass indexing weight loss to gym memberships, smoking cessation programs to on site stretch/yoga to newsletters. I think you need to be more specific about what programs are such failures.
I used to work at a national corporate wellness program that performed myofascial work on employees. We were trained to do techniques for repetitive stress related musculoskeletal pain issues and teach self care stretches to support the hands on work. The numbers my company used to sell the program were admittedly subjective based surveys from participants who took part in it but from strictly personal experience, a majority of people saw noticeable improvements in lowered pain levels and joint mobility. Some people saw very significant improvements and some didn’t see much change. I understand you’re bent on getting rid of any and all corporate wellness but I think your ideas of corporate wellness are lumped together as a monolithic industry based on the big companies that do big glossy programs and you’re ignoring smaller programs that offer different services that might be more effective than you give the industry credit for.
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You are quite correct and I apologize! I didn’t mean to conflate wellness done TO employees with wellness done FOR employees, which is what you are describing. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify!
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@Jason The fact that obesity and sickness are still prevalent and corporate wellness is has been around well over a decade would support that it is a failure. Just because you went around and gave rub&tugs to office managers AND their angry staff hardly demonstrates it is a winner solving the countries wellness issues,
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