Wearable devices (1 Viewer)

[Galbreath34]

Could be, but would have to be one of the other company divisions within the bigger corp, since I'm pretty sure they have no plants near you. I'd imagine whatever insurance company set up the program probably does the same with lots of companies though.

 

[zeetes]

I feel like this would have been a Mitch Hedberg joke if he were still around to tell us jokes.

RIP Mitch.

he's just on a search and rescue mission to find my missing relatives. only man who cares.

 

[SquiggyFreud]

I did some unrelated consulting for a company that had newly implemented incentives around the fitbit devices. If employees bought and registered one with their HR and met certain upload goals for daily steps and other exercise goals, then every few months they got a rebate back, basically discounting or mostly covering their personal contribution to their own insurance. I really don't know the details, just know how much water cooler talk there was about them. I'm also not sure if the insurance agreement also kicked back some of the money to the company or whether the data was shared with them too (I'd imagine both).
QUOTE]

We have this "Wellness" program at work, and use Power of Vitality. 5000 steps equals 5 points, 10k equals 10 and so on. I had a fitbit for just under 2 years before it pooped out. Using the vitality points earned, I bought a Vivosmart HR. (the fitbit was bought with points as well) I have also gotten a few $100 dollar Amazon gift cards with points.

Yearly we do a bio screening, if your numbers are in line they put $500 in our HSA. We also have events that will award points for Vitality.

It is free money so I use it faithfully.

 

[Galbreath34]

Honestly, I think it's a great idea, even with data issues. It probably does encourage a lot of people to live better lives, who cares if it's sort of self serving for companies looking to cut costs. I can pretty much guarantee if I was on such a plan $100 gift cards and other things would motivate me to jump through a few simple hoops knowing it's good for me anyway.

 

[zeetes]

a fitbit is good for keeping track of how long you are willing to wear a fitbit

anita said it best.

from someone stuck in meetings 3/4 of a work week, **** all of that garbage. meetings are boring enough without watching a table full of people head bobbing to glance at their wrists like its a god damn fastest dick lick competition.

i'd rather just have the same people staring at their crotch, pretending that they aren't texting the whole time. there was a lot less questions, meetings seemed shorter. you know why? no one gave a **** and didn't listen, nor care. now i have to suffer longer because these are the same ***** who all of a sudden have an urge to prove they are listening, by not ******* listening at all, then asking stupid questions about **** talked about ten minutes ago. **** all that and **** cyberdyne.

(like a real man, i own one of these, just the e-strap, their watches are meh, that i don't even bother with)

 

[Devildog]

I have a UA Band that I got for free from Wounded Warriors. I've never used it.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

We have this "Wellness" program at work, and use Power of Vitality. 5000 steps equals 5 points, 10k equals 10 and so on. I had a fitbit for just under 2 years before it pooped out. Using the vitality points earned, I bought a Vivosmart HR. (the fitbit was bought with points as well) I have also gotten a few $100 dollar Amazon gift cards with points.

Yearly we do a bio screening, if your numbers are in line they put $500 in our HSA. We also have events that will award points for Vitality.

It is free money so I use it faithfully.

We use Vitality here as well (it's called Go365 now). It's a pretty neat program that has sparked some motivation from employees to live a better left. It's crazy seeing that some of the most unhealthiest people I've ever met work in healthcare...

But it's good to see people walking around with their FitBits and Garmins on their wrists.

 

[cdogg]

I did some unrelated consulting for a company that had newly implemented incentives around the fitbit devices. If employees bought and registered one with their HR and met certain upload goals for daily steps and other exercise goals, then every few months they got a rebate back, basically discounting or mostly covering their personal contribution to their own insurance. I really don't know the details, just know how much water cooler talk there was about them. I'm also not sure if the insurance agreement also kicked back some of the money to the company or whether the data was shared with them too (I'd imagine both).

The idea is good for people that are motivated by constant measurement and feedback, which is most people. The fears about more personal data getting out there are probably accurate too, but I think that horse left the barn long ago and is never ever going to be wrangled back in.

I long ago made my peace with the fact that unless I wanted no smartphone and wanted to spend 2 hours every day just to set up and wind down measures to avoid tracking on the Internet, that Google, Amazon, Microsoft, all of them were going to know the texture of my last poop and be able to predict better than myself what my next meal would be. The thing I hate now is when they just rub it in my face for no reason. Like when my phone vibrates with an update from Google Maps threatening me by saying I'm x minutes away from home when I didn't ask. They just have to rub in that they're watching and know where I am at any minute as well as where I live, WTH?

When I worked at the bank, they have out pedometers and if you walked a certain amount per week, you got incentives. Everyone just sat at their desks shaking them to add fake steps for free money.

 

[Galbreath34]

Not surprising. Bankers, lawyers and politicians would put babies in blenders if it gave them a slight personal gain.

 

[redlandssaintsson]

I have 2 Pebble watches. Wear them constantly. Super bummed they don't exist anymore.