Smartwatches at Work
I’ve had a smartwatch for nearly four years now. Most of the time I don’t notice it, except for when it "taps” me on the wrist to let me know I have a call, text, reminder, or some other notification. But it has become an important factor understanding my biometrics, aspects of myself that I was previously seldom aware of. The watch provides information about my heart rate, breathing, activity levels, how well I sleep, as well as metrics like my heart rate variability, heart rate recovery rate, and way more measures than I care to list here.
My university, like many employers, incentivizes workers with wellness programs that might include fitness programs and smartwatches. We can be reimbursed about $200 a year for participating in fitness activities or use it towards purchasing a smartwatch. The data recorded by the watch is not available to my employer, but there are some concerns that employers that give employees watches might track their health information, and even more troubling, their whereabouts using GPS tracking on the device.
A 2024 survey found that 34 percent of respondents work for companies that use devices to “currently use wearables to track their activity and better gauge their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing,” according to an Inc. article. The survey found that companies that track employees have double the turnover rate, compared with those that don’t track employees’ biometrics.
While my employer might not be tracking my location, in order to receive a discount on my health insurance, I have the option to download an app to my phone that gathers data from my watch. I get points for exercising daily and can earn more by uploading proof of obtaining preventative care, allow it to track my location and get points for going to a fitness center or for participating in an event like a marathon or attending a wellness lecture online.
Employers promote fitness and wellbeing not just to potentially lower health insurance costs, but also to reduce sick leave and to increase productivity and overall wellbeing. It’s fair to say that these incentives are mainly geared towards the employer’s benefits from having a happy, healthy, productive workforce and reducing costs associated with absences and illness.
A 2019 Forbes article points out that providing employees with onsite workout opportunities might reduce stress and offer “an opportunity for colleagues to connect outside of a formal work environment [that] fosters healthy personal and professional relationships.” The article also touts the possibility of increased energy and productivity.
Workplace wellness itself is big business; $8 billion dollars in the U.S. alone, according to KFF. Statista estimates:
In 2022, the global workplace wellness market was estimated to be valued at over 50 billion U.S. dollars. North America dominated the market, followed by Europe, which trailed by 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in spending. Additionally, nearly 50 percent of employed workers in North America had access to workplace wellness programs in 2022.
A simple internet search of “workplace wellness” brings up sites for companies offering to make your workplace healthier and more productive, and your workers happy and healthy.
But there is scant evidence that fitness incentive programs are effective. According to a 2019 study by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF):
After 18 months, it turned out that yes, workers participating in the wellness programs self-reported healthier behavior, such as exercising more or managing their weight better than those not enrolled.
But the efforts did not result in differences in health measures, such as improved blood sugar or glucose levels; how much employers spent on health care; or how often employees missed work, their job performance or how long they stuck around in their jobs.
The KFF study also found that those most likely to benefit from such programs are those who are already active. Likewise, a 2020 study found that “the use of wearable trackers in healthy adults may be associated with modest short-term increases in physical activity.”
Back to my smartwatch: measuring my fitness has become a new hobby in addition to my fitness hobby itself. I am certainly more active than I was before I had the watch, but I was already very active and already very productive and unlikely to miss work. And while a third party vendor monitors our wellness program, it is still an open question what impact sharing my health data will have in the future.
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