Validic, a leading digital health platform, announced today its selection by WELCOA, the Wellness Council of America, to power the National On The Move Wellness Challenge. The On The Move competition is focused on fueling national corporate health initiatives to combat physical inactivity and initiate behavior change.
On The Move Overview
On The Move is a completely turnkey, 12-week challenge designed to engage employees in physical activity, help better manage their stress levels, and make long-term behavior changes. The On The Move Challenge provides a corporate wellness platform for all employees to access complete with educational resources, behavior change incentives, physical activity tracking and social support functionality. Validic is powering the platform’s digital health data connection to enable participants to connect almost any brand of fitness device and application.
Registration for the challenge is now open, with company onboarding taking place in February of 2016, and the challenge kicking off April 4, 2016. Companies will be awarded points based on participants’ involvement and engagement with the program. In June 2016, the Top 100 Most Active Companies will be announced.
“We are excited to be the key technology provider for WELCOA’s On The Move Challenge and help make this a great initiative,” Validic CEO and Co-Founder Ryan Beckland said. “Employee wellness challenges and programs are more important than ever to help combat the rise in obesity and chronic diseases in the workplace. Validic will deliver verified, actionable participant health data to help power this cause and make On The Move a great success.”
There is an increasing need for wellness challenges in the workplace as sedentary jobs have increased 83% in the last 70 years, according the American Heart Association. Not only are there more desk jobs, but the average American is spending more time at his or her desk. The average work week is about 400 hours longer a year meaning a person who spends the majority of their day at a desk experiences around 18 hours a day of physical inactivity.
It is not just employee health and well-being that is a concern for employers – employee productivity, absenteeism, attrition and morale are all ultimately tied to the employee’s lifestyle and health. Gallup estimates that the cost of lost employee productivity, due to employee absenteeism related to chronic condition or obesity, is expected to reach $153.4 billion this year alone. Wellness programs and challenges, like On The Move, can help combat these issues and costs.
WELCOA is also partnering with internationally renowned author, exercise physiologist and speaker, Sean Foy, MA, to help design and execute the On The Move Challenge. The On The Move model, previously used on a smaller scale by WELCOA, incites long-term behavior change with more than 80% of participants committing to continuing physical activities post-challenge. Employees participating in the program were also 130% more active each day.
For companies interested in learning more about or participating in the On the Move Challenge, please visit http://onthemove.welcoa.org.
