Knowing the stress and constraints of business travel can cause even the most health-conscious of people to toss aside wellness habits while on the road, Cindy Heston, director of travel and events for managed health care firm Anthem Inc., recently deployed a program that incentivizes healthy traveler behavior.
As part of a larger Anthem—formerly known as Wellpoint—communication program that targets employee engagement through the company's travel services organization, Heston partnered with mobile app VisFit, a tool that provides travelers with personalized messaging offering health and wellness recommendations while on the road. Through the app, Heston launched a campaign in which participating travelers earn points for healthy travel habits—working out and eating well—and the chance to vie for such incentives as free flights and hotel stays. Through VisFit, employees submit a note or photo depicting their healthy activities, which the tool tracks through a company-viewable leaderboard.
With corporate travel buyers as its primary user base, VisFit is designed to benefit both travelers and employers, said Siobhan O'Brien, VisFit vice president of business development. Graham Holdings director of travel services Nicole Hackett helped to lead its development, so it had its beginnings in the corporate travel space.
Travelers benefit from the wellness advice and employers benefit from a healthier workforce, which can lead to savings in such areas as health insurance costs, O'Brien said. Wellness programs in general tend to generate a decline in healthcare costs at companies within one to three years, according to United Benefit Advisors.
"The product gives healthy solutions in a proactive manner to business travelers," O'Brien said. "Some [business travelers] think that healthy eating is having only one doughnut. We give suggestions on walking or having a fruit and vegetable smoothie versus a yogurt and canned-fruit smoothie."
Heston strategically timed the program to run in October and November, prior to the company's annual open-enrollment period for health benefits. Employees who get favorable health assessments and show a commitment to a healthy lifestyle are eligible for incentives to reduce the cost of medical coverage, so the program made for a good lead-up to that, she said.
Heston worked with BCD Travel, Anthem's travel management company, and BCD's Advito consultancy to craft and develop the messaging and communication around the program, which added to its return on investment, she said.
The program also helped drive compliance to preferred air and hotel suppliers, Heston said. The program was "supplier-slanted," meaning employees earned points only for travel with those preferred suppliers, but it was not limited to business travelers, she said. Employees using those preferred suppliers for personal leisure travel also were eligible, which allowed her to engage with a new set of employees.
"The business travel piece ended up getting the lowest traction, because from a client-engagement standpoint, it's been done," she said. "The leisure and wellness engagement was very positive, and we got awareness up."
All of VisFit's corporate travel manager users to this point have sought to bring in human resources managers as part of the program to make sure they are considering a companywide perspective, O'Brien added.
The program brought Heston "the best-ever feedback of my whole career," she said. Of Anthem's 2,000 travelers, about 13 percent participated during the campaign, which she said was "great" and higher than industry averages.
Launched last year, VisFit currently is working with a handful of companies of varying sizes and hopes to double its client base by the end of the year, O'Brien said. VisFit then plans on expanding to more directly target human resources departments as well as traveler users, she said.
Heston, meanwhile, said she plans to use VisFit again, with a special focus on group travelers in addition to transient travelers.
"From the travel-manager standpoint, you sometimes feel like you're an outsider looking in on an organization," Heston said. "This campaign really brought us back into the fabric of the company, supporting wellness and healthy behaviors."