Phil Beene knows that workplace wellness programs can be a huge hassle.
Whether it's the human resources department spending hours to set up a program, or employees forgetting to turn in their participation sheets, workplace fitness programs rarely run smoothly, he said. That's why he and several other business partners joined together to create Nudge, a wellness application designed to get people engaged in healthy lifestyles through their work environment.
"Basically what we do is go into an office, provide an administer interface, send out participation emails and encourage people to log what they do," Beene explained.
The company, which was co-founded in May 2011, has developed an online platform and mobile app that allows users to participate in company team competitions and achieve their own goals by logging their personal hydration, nutrition, activity, sleep and indulgences.
"We actually want people to be real," said Nudge Director of Marketing Aaron Hoffman. "If you go cold turkey on everything, you're setting yourself up for failure. Research shows that the more honest you are with logging, the more likely you are to succeed."
The program generates an individual score for people based on their overall wellness and allows them to receive different achievement medals for doing things like getting more than six hours of sleep for an entire week or drinking enough water every day for a week. Participants are encouraged to note all aspects of their wellness, but the only information shared publically is physical activity entries.
With a lot of different things to log, Hoffman and Beene stressed the simplicity of the online interface and mobile component.
"Seeing the idea of different wellness programs, a lot of times there's a huge stigma with it because it's so involved and really invasive," said Hoffman. "We wanted to do this in the easiest, most friendly way possible and create something that could engage people and change their behaviors without taking away productivity from the companies."
By incorporating achievements, a light social component and daily logs, Hoffman said the program "gamefies" fitness in a way that makes it fun, accessible and motivating.
Companies can get the program set up in about a week's time or less, said Beene, and the cost of the program is usually less than $2 per employee per month for companies with 200 employees or less.
For more information visit www.nudgeyourself.com.