Digital health tools offered by employers are many times not aligned with employees' health goals, according to a new report from Castlight Health, a provider of healthcare price transparency tools.
For the report, Castlight partnered with Employee Benefits News in 2017 to conduct a survey involving nearly 350 U.S.-based large employers and more than 1,000 employees from healthcare and other industries. Participants answered a myriad of questions about digital health tools in the workplace.
Here are six findings from their responses.
Employers
1. Financial wellness was identified as the fastest growing technology among employers, with 23 percent saying they are committed to offering financial wellness technology in 2018. The next fastest growing technologies were activity tracking (22 percent) and sleep improvement program (22 percent).
2. Employers, on average, offer 14 solutions obtained from a health plan or third-party vendor, according to Castlight. Thirty percent of employers with 15,000 or more employees offer 20 or more solutions.
Employees
3. Nearly all employees (98 percent) have used at least one type of health technology.
4. All generations reported high utilization of digital health, although millennials were the highest utilizers. Eighty-three percent of millennials said they currently use at least one type of technology to meet a health goal, while 77 percent of Generation Xers and 73 percent of baby boomers said the same.
5. Additionally, losing weight, reducing stress, and sleeping better were top health goals among all three generations.
6. More than 50 percent of employees currently using a children's health and obesity tool, pregnancy program, smoking cessation program, or diabetes management tool said they were willing to contribute more than $1 per month to the cost, according to the report.
Access the full report here.
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