Weekly Roundup: Employee Wellness Experience At Leading Companies

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, employee experience is becoming more important. According to “The Employee Experience Advantage” by Jacob Morgan, there are three primary environmental factors matter most to employees: cultural, technological, and physical. This week in employee wellness experience we will look at Uber’s latest move to combat turnover and a toxic culture, Apple Watch’s latest developments, and the secret to sustained fitness motivation.

Culture

Uber Hires Harvard Business School Professor For A Cultural Revamp
Facing a stream of allegations and bad press for its toxic culture, Uber is taking necessary steps toward redemption. In its latest press release, Uber announced the arrival of Professor Frances Frei, an expert in organizational change, from Harvard Business School. Professor Frei has an extensive background in organizational management and has published many studies as well as books on the topic. Hopefully, her presence will halt the outpour stream of execs leaving the company.

Technological

Apple Watch Gets An Update – Activity App To Deliver Intelligent Coaching

Apple announced many updates coming to the Apple Watch at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last Monday, including updated fitness tracking capabilities. With the new watchOS coming this Fall, the Activity app will be delivering intelligent coaching and personalized encouragement so th

at users can close Activity Rings more often and get longer streaks. Monthly challenges are also coming, signaling Apple’s entrance into the social fitness sphere.

The Workout app will also be smarter, now including “auto-sets for pool swim workouts and new motion and heart rate algorithms for High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts.” This functionality is more useful for seasoned athletes but hopefully will trickle down to mainstream users.

Physical

Relaxed Attitude Makes It Easier To Exercise
A new study focusing on women exercising tendencies found that bringing a relaxed mindset to the workout leads to more sustainable motivation. The lesson for employee wellness program administrators? To start out, focus less on the intensity and more on happiness and enjoyment. You can always build it up, and scaring people away with intensive on-site classes and big goals gets the program nowhere.