One of the benefits of the modern-day workplace is the emphasis on health and wellness. Gone are the days where the company-employee relationship starts and ends with a paycheck. Today, many companies and organizations are utilizing various resources to ensure that their employees are healthy and happy. 

Studies have shown that ensuring employees’ wellbeing not only increases productivity. It also improves engagement, health, and mindset. These conditions are causally related to the company’s performance. Satisfied employees mean higher retention rates, lower rates of absenteeism, a better workplace, and improved teamwork — which all leads to higher customer satisfaction and more ROI for the business. 

So how do you create health and wellness in the company? Do you start implementing happy hour, adding incentives, or giving paid gym membership? 

A Holistic Wellness Solution 

Christine Muldoon, Vice President, Marketing and Strategy at WebMD Health Services, says you can provide personalized well-being solutions for your employees. After all, health and well-being are personal. We all have different goals and routines. There is no one wellness activity that fits all. We need a solution that will cater to our needs.

WebMD adds value to the health ecosystem by offering a well-being solution that is providing the right tools at the right time. This company offers a five-dimensional holistic well-being solution, the five dimensions being Physical, Emotional, Social, Financial, and Clinical Management. Each dimension is important because it can impact the overall wellbeing as well as other dimensions. 

“We believe that if you’re not effectively managing a health condition that you have or if you’re at risk of a health condition, it certainly can impact your well-being and the other dimensions. In today’s current situation with Covid-19, it further emphasizes that need and importance to deliver a holistic well-being solution that is providing the right tools at the right time. We need to be able to support individuals in their health journey. Right now, we have many people working from home. They are practicing social distancing. Maybe they need emotional support. Maybe they need that motivation, maybe a team-based challenge that keeps them active and social even though we’re not all in the same office location.” Christine explained in our podcast interview.

I like the idea of a holistic well-being solution. People are at different points in their lives. One employee may need emotional support because he is going through a divorce. Another employee may need physical support because he is trying to lose weight. At this point in my life I may need social support, maybe two months from now I’ll require clinical management. The idea that a well-being solution that offers a flexible, personalized approach is innovative and maximizes the employer’s benefits to the employees. 

The WebMD Health Services Difference 

WebMD stands out from among the plethora of consulting agencies in the market, thanks to its focus. 

“I would say that what makes WebMD Health Services difference is our focus on behavior change. We are not just looking to drive people to use solutions or what I call a click-for-engagement strategy. What we really focused on is building daily habits that align with an individual’s interest.” Christine said.

Behavior change can be challenging. Habits are actions that have been formed for years. Saying goodbye to a habit does not happen overnight. Take New Year’s resolutions for example. How many New Year goals do you keep doing for the rest of the year?

Christine explained two things we are doing wrong. One is setting lofty goals. Two, we want immediate gratification or success. Doing it this way is setting ourselves up for failure. 

To successfully create behavior change, WebMD’s solutions are based on a scientific behavior change methodology. 

“At the core of our wellbeing approach is a solution which we called ‘daily habit’. It offers a variety of small manageable actions to help people form healthy habits in a way that focuses on their personal situation. From there, ‘daily habit’ gives individuals the freedom to choose what activities they want to do to help them achieve a goal and complete those activities that are relevant to their current lifestyle.’

According to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 18 to 284 days for a person to form a new habit. When you want to achieve a goal, you must do it daily for many days before it becomes a part of your routine. The good part of WebMD’s holistic wellbeing solution is that the individual can choose the activities he thinks can help him achieve his goal. 

Successfully Helping Individuals Change Behavior

Christine shared that they are happy to see successful results. They have observed behavior improvement in many employees of their clients and are also happy to know that the change in employee behavior has improved their organizations’ performance as well. 

Truly, wellbeing is an important part of company culture. It is not just nice to have, it’s a must-have. 

To listen to my exciting conversation with Christine, please visit: https://anchor.fm/outcomesrocket/episodes/Fostering-Well-Being-with-Clinically-Driven-Behavior-Change-with-Christine-Muldoon–Vice-President–Marketing-and-Strategy-at-WebMD-Health-Services-ed5ivs