Employee wellness programs will likely be transformed in the coming year by intelligent personalization, social recognition, virtual wellness and smarter analytics, according to MediKeeper's white paper, "Four Emerging Employee Wellness Trends for 2019." "Embracing change and knowing what organizations need to keep driving wellness offerings forward in the next few years will help them lay the groundwork for building stronger employee wellness programs and increasing employee engagement," says MediKeeper's CEO David Ashworth. "With health care costs on the rise, companies that pay attention to these key trends will have the greatest success investing in their employees' overall well-being." Related: 6 statistics highlighting the trends in employee health and wellness today Intelligent personalization allows companies to make more informed decisions based on understanding risks and their causes and identifying what is driving present and future cost, according to the white paper. "Every person is different, so it only makes sense that everyone's wellness portal experience should also be different -- this includes personalization, targeted messages and offerings.," the authors write. "Adding business intelligence/data mining capabilities delivers the ability to take data captured within the portal, manipulate it, segment it and merge with other sets of data to perform complex associations all within each population groups' administration portal will be the key to truly managing the population's health." In the coming year, workplace wellness programs will also implement a multitude of ways to include social recognition that fosters a team-oriented atmosphere intended to encourage people to perform to the best of their abilities, according to the white paper. "Through social recognition, which can include posting, sharing, commenting and other virtual interactions, employees can help motivate each other to reach their goals," the authors write. "These interactions foster both a competitive and team-oriented atmosphere that encourages people to perform to the best of their abilities." In addition to support from coworkers, managers can also promote their employees' achievements by offering praise in an online public forum, or even further boost morale by handing out incentive points that can be redeemed for tangible rewards. In 2019, the importance of offering virtual wellness programming will grow as more employees work remotely or set flexible hours, according to the white paper. "Since employees may work variable hours or work in several locations around the world, it simply doesn't make sense to solely rely on lunch time health seminars that may not be accessible to much of the workforce," the authors write. "Instead of providing physical classes, consider hosting virtual programs that can be viewed at any time or any place. By making your wellness program available online, you're able to reach a broader audience and make more of an impact within the entire working population." Smarter analytics will also be at the forefront in 2019, according to the white paper. "Now you can generate reports targeted specifically to the information that you are seeking, as well as layering various reports including biometrics, incentives, health risk assessments and challenges, to see what is working and what is not," the authors write. "You can use these results to inform and better customize the intelligent personalization side of your wellness program. You'll also be able to send messages from the reports, making them actionable instead of just informative." As employers continue to evaluate the effectiveness of their wellness programs, they should keep these four emerging trends in mind in order to ensure that their business is providing all the tools necessary to keep their employees both happy and healthy, according to the white paper. "Remember that just because you've seen success in the past, you can't just sit back and relax now," the authors write. "Continual advances in wellness technology mean that you need to stay on top of the trends and adjust frequently in order to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive workplace environment." Whip your 2019 wellness program into shape: |

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