Sarah Perkins is healthy living manager UK at American Express. Her wellbeing initiative won an HR Excellence Award in 2012, and she says metrics have been central to its success.
“In 2010, we launched ‘Healthy Living’, a global wellness initiative to communicate with employees about health benefits, preventative care and, above all, to inspire them to adopt new, healthier behaviours.
“Developing global metrics and data gathering and analysis are fundamental to the programme. They allow us to track and report on health improvements and identify areas we need to invest in more in, order to support our employees to be the healthiest they can be. We capture data from various sources to ensure we’re providing a full snapshot of our population. For example, in the UK we use quarterly data from our health checks, occupational health, private medical, physiotherapy, employee assistance programme, and engagement surveys. All the data is anonymous and aggregate.
“Having a benchmark is essential; whether it is engagement levels, population health risk or any other elements that the organisation decides to measure. This allows you to understand where you’re starting from and will help inform where you need to get to. It is also important to consider ‘best fit’ rather than ‘best practice’, as every organisation has its own culture and nuances, which will make some metrics and measures more appropriate than others.
“Leadership support is fundamental to the success of a programme. It is important to provide a robust business case to leaders to secure their support. From there, provide updates on the results of high-profile campaigns, share successes and ensure they are part of the journey.”
