Clearly, health and wellness programs are only effective as long as employees are actually participating. But according to Peter Saravis, CEO of Evive Health, millions of workers are still slipping through the wellness gaps.

"Employers continue to offer some of the most affordable and most comprehensive health, fitness and wellness programs available in the fight to help Americans get healthier, manage chronic disease and lower health costs," says Saravis. "But improved health and cost savings are only possible if employees choose to participate in the programs."

In a recent survey by the National Business Group on Health, employers cited low employee engagement as the number one obstacle to improving employee health and reducing healthcare costs. In honor of national Employee Health and Fitness Month, Saravis and Evive Health offers employers four tips for increasing employee health engagement.

1. Understand employee barriers to engagement. Studies have revealed that the key reasons many employees remain unengaged in their health include: lack of time, feelings of being overwhelmed, low education or health literacy levels, cultural or logistical issues, poor health, or an inability to understand the value of preventive services. Employers and health plans can identify these barriers to health utilizing new engagement technologies that collect health, social and behavioral data about individuals, creating health behavior profiles. By understanding these profiles, employers can develop support tools that assist, educate, motivate and activate individuals to make positive health decisions.
2. Tell employees what they need to do. Far too many member wellness programs offer only broad "calls to action," such as "Get your flu shot today." Employers can increase success rates by utilizing personalized messages that provide specific information, such as a flu shot (or other activity) appointment time and date, the address of the medical office, a description of why the shot is needed, how long the appointment will take, how much the appointment will cost the employee, and a phone number to call to change appointment dates, if needed. Studies show that the more specific the message, the greater the chance the recipient will understand and respond.
3. Incorporate decision-support tools. Learn from consumer marketing strategists. They have for decades successfully utilized behavioral decision-support tools that help individuals make purchasing commitments, such as check-mark boxes and peel-and-stick decision tools. Similarly, decision-support tools can help purchasers of healthcare make health commitments. Mailers with "save-the-date" appointment minders, magnets that can be posted to refrigerators, or response cards that allow individuals to choose their own dates or times for appointments can help engage members in a current or future health activity.
4. Track and refine messaging based on results. Member engagement is a long-term proposition requiring long-term strategies. Utilize engagement technologies that automatically track member responses to messaging and then refine and execute new messaging and actionable opportunities based on monthly member health analytics.