Fitbit Wants To Help Corporations Track Employee Health 206
jfruh writes: Fitbit is pitching its iconic fitness trackers to businesses as a tool to save money on health care costs. Many companies have wellness programs to encourage workers to exercise more, and Fitbit will help employers quantify (and monitor) employee progress. “We think virtually every company will incorporate fitness trackers into their corporate wellness programs,” Fitbit CFO Bill Zerella said
Is it 1984 yet? (Score:2, Funny)
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I bet employees at Konami WISH they only had to deal with Big Brother.
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Anything for a buck - especially with that Apple iWatch thingy out as potential competition, eh?
Re:Is it 1984 yet? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oops, PHil...appears you've been regularly stopping off at bar on the way home, that's gonna be a bit of a risk to us for your health ins....
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Just my thought. Of course, we are more comfortably tracked than by televisor and the invariable economic collapse of any totalitarian society has not progressed as far, but the direction is pretty clear.
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"We're from the Corporation and we're here to help."
Great idea! (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they can come monitor my food when I'm at home or out about town, too?
And maybe they can monitor when I wake and sleep.
And maybe monitor what kind of air I breath in my part of town.
And maybe they can just get a direct pipe into all my medical records? I mean, since apparently we give no fucks anymore, right?
I have a better idea: You hire me to do a fucking job and I'll do the fucking job and we'll leave our involvement with each other right fucking there.
Re:Great idea! (Score:5, Funny)
I'll willingly give them a stool sample if they like.
Re:Great idea! (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Great idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe they can come monitor my food when I'm at home or out about town, too?
And maybe they can monitor when I wake and sleep.
And maybe monitor what kind of air I breath in my part of town.
And maybe they can just get a direct pipe into all my medical records? I mean, since apparently we give no fucks anymore, right?
I have a better idea: You hire me to do a fucking job and I'll do the fucking job and we'll leave our involvement with each other right fucking there.
"They know when you've been sleeping,
They know when you're awake,
They know when you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake."
And who says childhood never ends?
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What you have to consider is that the company is trying to monitor and control your behaviour at work anyway. Unchecked they want you to be constantly busy, concentrating on tasks and giving 100% output 8 hours a day 5 days a week. There is pressure to over-work and ignore your own health needs for the benefit of the company. If your boss is failing they may try to simply crack the whip a little more and force you to work harder.
This kind of health monitoring can counter-balance that. The same boss that wan
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Your logical fallacy is strawman.
No one ever said anything about tracking you at home, or while away from the office. Meanwhile, study [cnn.com] after study [www.cbc.ca] after study [washingtonpost.com] continually show that sitting all day, per the office drone norms, is terrible for you.
Wearing a little watch-sized gizmo that tells you to get up and stretch your legs every few hours is hardly the most Orwellian oversight I can imagine. And really, the company has entirely pragmatic reasons for the idea, beyond BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING. Simply put:
Re:Great idea! (Score:5, Insightful)
I see both sides on this one and I'm not sure which is the better argument. It doesn't seem right to force workers to have their privacy invaded at such intimate levels in order to qualify for a benefit. I do also see the argument that unhealthy sloths can jack the cost of insurance up for everyone at the company. IMO, the real answer isn't wellness programs, it's get health insurance out of the hands of employers. I want to buy my own policy that I can keep wherever I work. Technically that's possible today but going from a group to an individual means the premium is unapproachable. Yet if everyone or even a significant number of people did this, it'd be like auto insurance where they'd be a healthy marketplace for it and premiums would be approachable. Instead of trying for single payer, Obamacare could have been a slam dunk if it could pull this off. Instead, we got the worst possible outcome. The states don't want the marketplace approach nor should they, and the employers remain the dominant path to getting coverage. We need a free market, not a state market, not employer provided.
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yeah. doctors - and admin staff in hospitals - should also have full access to patient's financial records and not only be allowed to but actually required to euthanase those they deem too poor or too sick to deserve treatment.
this will result in huge cost savings and also serve to discourage the poor and the chronically ill from seeking treatment. win win win!
in fact, they could even raise money by performing various entertaining methods of involuntary euthanasia for a reality TV show, and rake in lots o
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yeah. doctors - and admin staff in hospitals - should also have full access to patient's financial records and not only be allowed to but actually required to euthanase those they deem too poor or too sick to deserve treatment.
this will result in huge cost savings and also serve to discourage the poor and the chronically ill from seeking treatment. win win win!
in fact, they could even raise money by performing various entertaining methods of involuntary euthanasia for a reality TV show, and rake in lots of advertising dollars.
Wow! I have fond my equal or even my better on over they top replies! Well played cas2000! Well played indeed.
But yeah, some times folks don't understand how they sound, or how things work in real life, so some severe sarcasm is called for.
Doctors, for better or worse, tend to like to make sick people better. And for better or worse, we don't live in the world of the 1950's, where care and insurance was a lot more rudimentary.
And as irascible and likewise over the top Bill Maher notes, Health care
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as long as you forego the health insurance benefit of your fucking job.
Oops - can't even do that anymore if you live in the US...
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Bug 7863763
Subject: employer and government now have reason to interfere in every aspect of my life
Status: Confirmed, Won't Fix
Last maintainer comment: "Works as intended."
Old New (Score:4, Informative)
Old news, my company started it last year. It is an optional program, but you are necouraged as you get a free fitbit, and money if you hit certain goals.
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may I need that option where I work. I already have a fitbit, but the goals would be cake.
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may I need that option where I work. I already have a fitbit, but the goals would be cake.
I think maybe you have the UNfitbit if the goals are cake.
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I work at HAL. The lay-offs had nothing to do with the fitbit program, The lay-offs have a lot to do with performance or salary.
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Did the company also have an onsite gym in which you could exercise? Was it actually a good gym?
So they track you (Score:2)
but where is the diet and eating habits programs?
Not just corporations (Score:5, Informative)
I work for the University of Washington (so I'm a state employee), and starting with 2015 our health plan has included a "wellness incentive" which, if met, drops $125 off an employee's annual deductible. For this current year, it was a simple matter of making a couple attestations ("I don't smoke", "I exercise at least 3 days a week"). For 2016, though, it's gotten a bit more intrusive - one of the ways you can earn points towards the incentive is to record daily step counts and exceed 35000 steps per week, which you could either do manually or by giving the website access to your FitBit data (it also supported several other trackers). Other ways to earn points included "Try Tai Chi", "Fill out an Advance Directive", "See a Mentor", "No Stress Mondays", and so on.
Given the move Washington State has made towards both intrusiveness and nanny-state-dom, and given that by state law pretty much all our job-related data is public record, I would not be surprised if at some point people who gave permission to access their fitness trackers to find that someone in the monitoring chain started checking when activity is occurring. This could be a problem for someone if, like me, they often don't get a conventional lunch hour due to job duties. I'm often eating after 1pm (or even after 2pm) simply because it works better with tasks I'm doing - so when I go for my lunchtime walk, it's not usually between 12 and 1. Fortunately I'm not naive enough to give them access to my Garmin Viviosmart data, but a less paranoid person could end up with a nasty surprise come annual evaluation time.
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"No Stress Mondays"
So if I send them a picture of me with a bong, binge-watching TV on Monday they'll give me a discount??
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That would be pretty hilarious - and as far as I know, as long as you attested that lowered your stress it would work!
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How do they handle people with disabilities? Exercising 3 times a week (for most common definitions of exercise) and 35,000 steps would be impossible for me due to health problems. Is there a scheme for people like me to get that $125 bonus some other way? I'm always trying to improve my health but the goals seem incredibly minor to most people.
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You need 2000 points total to get the annual incentive.
I just went to the website (haven't been there since I met the requirements for next year) and looked. I don't see anything specific to people with disabilities; but there are enough nanny-state-ish activities that still earn points - "take a break from technology" (50 pts/wk), "healthy snacks" (25 pts/wk), "grow/harvest a garden" (100 pts/wk), "keep a journal of your thoughts" (25 pts/wk), "drink water" (50 pts/wk), "get your zzzz's" (50 pts/wk), and q
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Interesting, it might indeed be possible for someone like me to make it then, even with reduced options.
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There is talk of changing this one after one employee drank water every week for 40 weeks, then tried to go for three months straight without drinking any water.
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It'd be pretty funny if, when you logged in to affirm you've "taken a break from technology", the system comes back with "how are you accessing this website, then?"
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Simple solution for you: buy a metronome, fasten step-tracker to it, then turn on metronome.
Occasionally stop the metronome to read the step-count, adjust the speed & time to hit your step-target.
Repeat daily or weekly to hit your target, then share the data with your plan.
Meanwhile you can watch TV, read a book, relax in a hot-tub, etc.
If a metronome won't swing with tracker attached, perhaps a paint-shaker?
Or build something with motorized Lego or Erector set.
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Much more practical suggestion for /.ers.
1. Put your step counter on your wrist.
2. Fap.
3. Profit.
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"Mr Wumpus, according to your Fitbit, you apparently walked to Tierra del Feugo and back on your lunch break. Can you explain?"
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Do you know the specific RCW that makes your job-related data into public record?
No, I just know that over the years announcements have come down the pike from the state, from the university, and from various supervisors reminding us that our emails, work history and salary information, performance reviews, etc. are all subject to public records requests.
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Oh, I also forgot to mention that, by default, any entries a person makes on the health incentives tracking site are visible to every other logged-in person on the site.
You can make them private, but you have to do it entry by entry - there's no default setting you can change.
Accuracy of the data? (Score:2)
I also work out on a treadmill every morning before work. It counts my steps very accurately (it can even tell if I "cheat", and stop counting).
The Fitbit gives completely fictional numbers vs the treadmill. I mean, on most days, it would come to within 75% correct, but on one particular day, the Fitbit literally said I did 3x as many steps as I really did. I stopped even bothering to wear it after that.
Privacy
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which fitbit is it? I have the surge and it is very accurate, like within 1% of the treadmill or the mile makers on the track
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Still - Pedometers don't exactly count as high tech. A $75 toy should at least beat a $5 one.
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A coworker was notified of reaching some milestone for number of steps taken by her fitness tracker. It baffled her because she was at a family get together and definitely didn't take that many steps. Then she remembered she spent most of the time in a rocking chair that apparently counted the rocking as steps.
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A coworker was notified of reaching some milestone for number of steps taken by her fitness tracker. It baffled her because she was at a family get together and definitely didn't take that many steps. Then she remembered she spent most of the time in a rocking chair that apparently counted the rocking as steps.
I see a FitBit fooling device on it's way.... You need 10K steps today? Put it on this device for 2 hours....
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At the plantiff's table as part of a class action lawsuit.
But you'd be doing it wrong. Poor quality control means that you should be able to figure out how to errs and get unearned discounts.
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I carry one on my belt. It agrees pretty closely with expected results for known-distance walks (distance measured with a GPS tracker).
Though it is possible to game the device - just tap it repeatedly, and it'll count the jolts as steps. Hardly worth the bother though, since it's easier to do the walking than to tap it 10000 times....
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I carry one on my belt. It agrees pretty closely with expected results for known-distance walks (distance measured with a GPS tracker).
Though it is possible to game the device - just tap it repeatedly, and it'll count the jolts as steps. Hardly worth the bother though, since it's easier to do the walking than to tap it 10000 times....
ahh until you get a machine that will tap the device for you! Then you can sit there and read a book or play Duke Nukem Forever while the thing racks up the miles walked!
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The Fitbit gives completely fictional numbers vs the treadmill. I mean, on most days, it would come to within 75% correct, but on one particular day, the Fitbit literally said I did 3x as many steps as I really did. I stopped even bothering to wear it after that.
I have a Fitbit One (clips on your waistband or goes in the pocket-watch pocket in jeans). My research online shows this is a much more accurate location than the wrist.
When I used it on an elliptical for half an hour it was within 5 steps of the number of strides counted by the machine. Plus I don't look smug when I'm out in public for having a fitness wristband thing.
Nope. (Score:2)
The day this happens is the day I pay my coworker to wear my bracelet. or give it to my seven year old. or leave it on the dryer during spin cycle.
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The dryer is a spin cycle. No spin cycle is "hang it on the clothes line out back" :)
[John]
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Turn it on, mail it to a relative far away, and when they return it, let your company know that you ran over 1,000 miles in the last week.
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its not a GPS. it measures ups and downs, steps, its an accelerator..... .
Sorry no (Score:2)
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HIPAA doesn't cover this at all. have you ever read that legislation? as an employee, you agree to allow your employer to see that data.
Re: Sorry no (Score:2)
The Privacy Rule does not prevent your supervisor, human resources worker or others from asking you for a doctorâ(TM)s note if your employer needs the information to administer sick leave, workersâ(TM) compensation, or health insurance.
But I f your employer asks your health care provider directly for information about you (personal health information, or PHI), your provider can't disclose any information without your authorization.
Really? (Score:2)
“We think virtually every company will incorporate fitness trackers into their corporate wellness programs,” Fitbit CFO Bill Zerella said
Yeah, well I think virtually everyone is going to buy my new, improved Pet Rock.
Seriously, I wouldn't work for a company that required or even suggested that I wear their FitBit Corporate Monitoring Device.
Been there (Score:2)
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funny how the weightlifting arguably has more of a health benefit than any number of steps.
Cycling though, would be a problem wouldn't it? as your total risk for requiring medical attention goes up due to accident risk? hmmmmm.
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My company distributed Fitbits to every employee. Was kind of worthless for me as my two main forms of exercise are cycling and weight lifting- neither were really tracked by the fitbit. I lost it after a few weeks. Fortunately, there was no actual monitoring of our use.
Try wearing a fitbit when you are doing jui-jitsu, it's ridiculous. With three hours of fighting a night *5-6 days a week, fitness isn't the issue, avoiding injury is though.
I probably not fitbit's core market
Garmin already provides this (Score:2)
Garmin has already started down this path, although they have a lot of room for growth.
Currently my company uses the vivofits as wellness programs where participation is optional. But so much participation is expected out of the employee to minimize health care costs. An employee can fudge what they do, take a bunch of tests and save about $100 a month on their health insurance. Otherwise they don't have to do much at all and pay the extra. Now there are ways to get out of the extra work, such as if your
I smell a business line here... (Score:2)
Fit Bit fooling...
All you need is a device designed to mimic "steps" that you put your FitBit on. Have it emulate walking, jogging or even sprinting. Then the employee wares this FitBit most of the day, except for the 2 hours when the "exercise" session takes place. I don't imagine that this device will be too expensive either, making the whole "I'm healthy so give me the bonus money" fiction worth the investment.
Who's with me?
Top performer (Score:2)
I predict the guy at Home Depot working the paint mixer will be a top performer.
Trash toys (Score:2)
Someone gave me a Jawbone (competitor to Fitbit) as a gift. I refuse to use it, because it an functionally opaque piece of garbage that requires that I sign up for an online service. This nearly always means that someone plans to sell my data.
These punk-ass little toys would not survive my principal physical activity, which requires seawater immersion tolerance to at least 3 meters, and occasional water impacts at upwards of 40km/hr. The other is yoga, and I am not wearing any encumbrances during that
Buy N' Large (Score:3)
We're headed that way. Commerce and government will become indistinguishable from each other.
We have a (laughably ineffective) separation of Church and State.
We desperately need to even more fiercely deploy and enforce a separation of Commerce and State. No more lobbying by religious groups. No more lobbying by commerce -- or proxies of, at least not on the positively obscene way it is being done today
And by State I also include the federales.
Just to be clear... (Score:2)
The Corporate Greed Scheme (Score:2)
Funny how Corporations have managed to do away with pensions, reduces pay amount, rarely pays for vacation days, sure as fuck doesn't want to pay for pregnancy leaves, and been raping it's employees to line it's shareholders & CEO's pockets and people just accept it. Now they want to keep track of your health, so they can pay less healthcare cost, which they hardly pay much of at all, unless you are of course a Congress critter.
Think how worse it will be when the TPP crap goes thru and instead of Co
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Funny how Corporations have managed to do away with pensions, reduces pay amount, rarely pays for vacation days, sure as fuck doesn't want to pay for pregnancy leaves, and been raping it's employees to line it's shareholders & CEO's pockets and people just accept it. Now they want to keep track of your health, so they can pay less healthcare cost...
...while pumping your brain full of advertizing to eat more junk food, more fizzy sugar drinks and buy a new fucking car to sit in traffic and listen to more advertising to eat more junk food, more fizzy sugar drinks and buy a new fucking car. every minute every hour buybuybuybuybuy
I think I might become a shrink because it sure as shit looks like we are going to need A lot of them!!!
Take your monitoring elsewhere... (Score:2)
Fuck off fitshit (Score:2)
I do exercise, a lot. I fitbit wants to *help* my employer monitor my fitness, then my employer can pay my gym fees and give me time off *every_fucking_day* to work out.
is is sure that sport is good for employers ? (Score:2)
Elephant in the room: WP's don't actually work (Score:2)
WP's are largely a means by which 'health consultants' make money off corporations.
And now FitBit is simply trying to get in on that action.
Now there's a difference between actually caring about your employee's health, and just trying to save money.
But let's be realistic: most companies are trying to save money by doing this.
Multiple independent research studies (have shown that Wellness Programs don't work, and don't save companies any money, nor make them any additional revenue, and actually harm health i
Re:Fat Shaming (Score:4, Interesting)
That's what always creeps me out about any sort of "employee wellness" programs in the workplace. There is an all-too-fine line between an optional program with fun rewards and a de facto mandatory program with harsh punishments.
Re:Fat Shaming (Score:5, Interesting)
...and yet many companies use United Healthcare, which has this neat little program where nicotine users (cigs, dip, vape, whatever) get to pay an extra $70/mo. for their health insurance, and if your spouse smokes? That'll be $140/mo that you get pay, please.
Oh, you don't partake and claim yourself exempt? You get random annual bodily-fluid testing where you get to prove that you're nicotine-free.
Did I mention that if caught smoking when you said you didn't? You get fired for-cause.
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Oh, you don't partake and claim yourself exempt? You get random annual bodily-fluid testing where you get to prove that you're nicotine-free.
What if you just like chewing nicotine gum? I can't imagine anyone who would, since it tastes gross, but it's possible.
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Actually, United Healthcare program you are referring to covers use of tobacco products. The FDA doesn't currently categorize e-cigarettes as a tobacco product so they don't count, for now. I know because we have United Healthcare and I filled out this form about a month ago and it specifically mentions that e-cigs are not currently recognized as tobacco products.
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...and yet many companies use United Healthcare, which has this neat little program where nicotine users (cigs, dip, vape, whatever) get to pay an extra $70/mo. for their health insurance, and if your spouse smokes? That'll be $140/mo that you get pay, please.
Oh, you don't partake and claim yourself exempt? You get random annual bodily-fluid testing where you get to prove that you're nicotine-free.
Did I mention that if caught smoking when you said you didn't? You get fired for-cause.
You've got two people who want you to lend them $1000. One is an alcoholic gambling addict, the other is a responsible adult with a long stable work history and no debt. Which do you lend money to?
This isn't rocket science here. Insurance companies aren't non-profit charities. Their ability to stay afloat relies on their ability to accurately assess risk and charge accordingly. If you engage in high risk behaviors (smoking, excessive drinking, weighing 400 lbs and eating nothing but cheeseburgers and donuts
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It is not fat shaming to want to help your employees get/stay in shape. As a fatty trying to lose weight to get healthy I love this idea. But who said it was be enfoced? I have not seen one of these programs that is not optional.
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That's the concern. Optional benefits (on campus gym, free/reduced cost gym membership, paid personal trainers, reimbursement for exercise classes, paying for home equipment) are cool. Forcing people is not. And if an employer is tracking my health, that falls into category 2 not category 1.
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That's the concern. Optional benefits (on campus gym, free/reduced cost gym membership, paid personal trainers, reimbursement for exercise classes, paying for home equipment) are cool. Forcing people is not. And if an employer is tracking my health, that falls into category 2 not category 1.
I have not yet heard of an employer actually forcing people (and I would hear of things being in the benefits administration field). But, I have seen employers raise the price of health insurance, and then offer a "discount" for participation in healthy incentives.
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The part I don't like is the privacy aspect. If you have serious health issues you may be healthy enough to work but not healthy enough to hit the default fitness requirements of the wellness program. The programs do offer tailored goals for such people, but that requires a worker to "out" themselves which puts their employment in a precarious state. It also requires involvement from their primary care, who no doubt has too much work to do already, making it more of a burden for the not quite disabled.
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The part I don't like is the privacy aspect. If you have serious health issues you may be healthy enough to work but not healthy enough to hit the default fitness requirements of the wellness program. The programs do offer tailored goals for such people, but that requires a worker to "out" themselves which puts their employment in a precarious state. It also requires involvement from their primary care, who no doubt has too much work to do already, making it more of a burden for the not quite disabled.
Most incentive programs I have seen offer the discount for participation -- just trying. Even some of the tobacco cessation programs only require that one be enrolled, not actually quit. But how far are we from those programs becoming mandatory to qualify for certain [things -- other benefits; company bonuses; etc.]? That I do not know; however, I do know that even though I can easily pass all the biometric screenings I still do not participate because I'd rather fork over a few dollars a month than let my
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That's the concern. Optional benefits (on campus gym, free/reduced cost gym membership, paid personal trainers, reimbursement for exercise classes, paying for home equipment) are cool. Forcing people is not. And if an employer is tracking my health, that falls into category 2 not category 1.
I have not yet heard of an employer actually forcing people (and I would hear of things being in the benefits administration field). But, I have seen employers raise the price of health insurance, and then offer a "discount" for participation in healthy incentives.
My boss talked about his former workplace. There was basically some mandatory BMI reading that had some impact on health benefits cost. He was pissed because he lifted weights, so his BMI said he was overweight, meanwhile he had a fairly low % bodyfat (he's not even a ridiculously jacked bodybuilder).
My current workplace has a a program where you can go to a voluntary screening (BMI, %BF, Glucose, and cholesterol), the results supposedly aren't sent to the employer, but for participating you get a couple hu
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My current workplace has a a program where you can go to a voluntary screening (BMI, %BF, Glucose, and cholesterol), the results supposedly aren't sent to the employer, but for participating you get a couple hundred bucks to apply towards gym memberships, fitness equipment, etc.
My workplace has that as well, but there privacy policy states they can share that medical data with anyone they like for marketing purposes. I passed on the $50 voucher.
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I am fit (El Capitan climbing kind of fit, even at my age). Now what if someone says I'm too slim? Or I am simply more than fit enough?
The company's idea of optimal may be that you are fit while working and die within five years of retirement (saving money on pensions,of course). Or someone decides rock climbing is too dangerous and says I have to quit to be covered?
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I have not yet heard of an employer actually forcing people (and I would hear of things being in the benefits administration field). But, I have seen employers raise the price of health insurance, and then offer a "discount" for participation in healthy incentives.
So basically you are punishing an employee who chooses not to participate in healthy incentives or can't participate. I have scaring on my lungs due to multiple medical issues over the years so work outs are hard for me because I feel like I can't get enough air and so I tire out easy. So I guess someone like me is just screwed, sorry pay more employee because of your past health issues? That just seems so wrong to me.
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That's the concern. Optional benefits (on campus gym, free/reduced cost gym membership, paid personal trainers, reimbursement for exercise classes, paying for home equipment) are cool. Forcing people is not. And if an employer is tracking my health, that falls into category 2 not category 1.
I have not yet heard of an employer actually forcing people (and I would hear of things being in the benefits administration field). But, I have seen employers raise the price of health insurance, and then offer a "discount" for participation in healthy incentives.
The Penn State Wellness fiasco? Unless you think that what amounts to a yearly fine is not forced,, I'm pretty surprised that a professional in benefits administration field would not have heard of that. It was dropped due ot employee outrage (some were even daring to breathe the dreaded "U" word, but it was going to be forced until cooler minds intervened. I posted a link above, but here it is again http://lcbpsusenate.blogspot.c... [blogspot.com]
Any thoughts?
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It is not fat shaming to want to help your employees get/stay in shape. As a fatty trying to lose weight to get healthy I love this idea. But who said it was be enfoced? I have not seen one of these programs that is not optional.
Here was a plan that was as planned to be enforced by what amounted to hefty fines.
At a well known University, they tried to mandate physical examinations for the entire university as part of their "wellness program" . http://lcbpsusenate.blogspot.c... [blogspot.com]
The short version is that they planned on mandating blood tests and physical examinations, and were planning on punitive surcharges if you didn't comply. The information gathered could also be shared or sold to third parties, and if you didn't comply,
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Why does your employer need to track you? If it's really about your health, why wouldn't they just give you a fitbit account as part of your compensation?
For employers reducing health care costs isn't about making employees healthier. It's about getting rid of the employees who are going to cost money.
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It's not remotely "fat shaming". Healthy people have lower health care costs on average. Everyday people like me and presumably you want to spend less on insurance, which means we need to actually cost less. Programs like this (my employer does it, and I participate) don't stigmatize you in any way if you don't participate. I didn't for the first few years it was in place. No one said a word about it. I finally did because I felt like I was leaving free money on the table.
There's zero stress. You car
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I don't know. Active people get themselves into situations where they grind away their knees or other joints, break bones and what-not. I had some crazy healthcare costs after slamming into the pavement in a bicycling accident. 15+ years later and I'm still dealing with it. I wonder how those numbers would actually break out.
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Way to ignore the fact that I already addressed that. I played the paranoid for a few years and didn't participate. Nobody said a word. Not everything is a conspiracy.
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I played the paranoid for a few years and didn't participate. Nobody said a word.
...did you consider that you may not have been high enough on the corporate food chain for it to matter? Once you get up into middle management and beyond, little crap like this begins to matter a lot when it comes to promotions, layoff decisions, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
That's a fair point. I don't know how to deal with that aspect, honestly. As someone who has enjoyed an "extreme sport" (I hate that term...) or two, I definitely sympathize with the desire not to be penalized for actually living, not just riding a rocking chair into the sunset.
There's definitely a line I draw in what information I'm willing to share. How many steps I take when I'm actually carrying my device. Ok. GPS all day every day? No.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you say why it is aweful?
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My discount for typical disclosures knocked my premium down to 66% of my last 2 years premium.
Re: No... HELL no. (Score:2)
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What about the executives?
The last place I worked as an employee (not a contractor on my own medical plan), mahogany row was chock full of lard-assed drunks. The company even took out D&O (Directors and Officers) insurance that covers them in the event one of these fatsos drop dead at an inopportune time.