How Technology Can Help You Motivate, Not Just Manage Employees

In recent years, employee wellness and mentality has been a focus for many businesses who have invested to help their employees thrive in the workplace. However, as businesses and employees reconsider how workplaces will operate and their importance, technology is taking centre stage and providing volumes of opportunities.

Heather Cameron has diverse experience that covers clinical and integrative medicine. Over the last 25 years she has specialised in exercise rehabilitation and lifestyle behaviour change. She is passionate about integrating the latest technology to facilitate her clients to make the right lifestyle changes for them. Heather gave us her opinion on how technology can help motivate employees and tend to their wellbeing.

“Few people would disagree that the first six months of 2020 have been life-changing. Not many people have escaped the impact of the changes that have occurred.

Our social and emotional boundaries, both personally and professionally have been changed. Critically, partners, directors, management, and employee all need motivational tools, but resources have been cut, more people are having to work remotely, and stress levels are rising with juggling zoom calls, family meals and art and craft lessons for example.

The challenge in our new business paradigm for the modern company is motivating, fuelling, and inspiring employees in remote environments to achieve their personal goals, while both delivering best potential for the company’s bottom line.

The Energy Project, in partnership with the Harvard Business Review, set out to assess the factors that most influence how people feel at work, and how they perform as a result. Over 20,000 employees located around the world took part in a quality of life at work study, where four predictable core work needs are physically, to rest and renew; emotionally, to feel valued and cared for; mentally, to be empowered to set boundaries and focus; and spiritually, to find a sense of meaning and purpose in their work. Since the dawn of capitalism, time for money was the core value exchange between employees and employers. This is no longer mutually beneficial. Paying for time no longer guarantees energy, engagement, focus, or passion. Conversely, money is not enough to meet employee core needs.

“In today’s knowledge-driven economy, the best measure of productivity is no longer how much time people invest. Rather, it’s how much energy they bring to whatever hours they work — and the value of the work they produce as a consequence. The challenge for employers is to free, fuel and inspire their employees to bring more of their potential to work every day.”

In order to implement this strategy of meeting employees’ needs, companies should introduce the workplace wellness programmes. This will help employees maintain and improve their health and overall well-being, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

We know that how people perform is inextricably connected to how they feel, but companies have not had the tools to help employees in the past. Now motivating wellness and behavioural change is essential for businesses and will improve their product offerings.

We have all witnessed the benefits of technology since the onset of Covid-19. Employee health is a primary concern and motivational wellness is vital for productivity.

When considering where to start, here is a check list of features and benefits that a robust integrated wellness system should offer:

• Employee screening — health, energy, emotions
• Online employee wellness portals
• Bio-metric screening — health monitoring for rewards
• Health coaching, education and mental support
• Aggregate reporting
• Incentive tracking via mobile devices and app connections.

Employees will work harder and more willingly for companies that meet their individual needs on a human level.

Providing employees with opportunities to focus on their physical and mental wellbeing combats burn out, improves company morale, and ultimately creates an inclusive thriving and motivating work culture. Companies find it hard to know where to focus or where to begin. Technology allows a personalised bridge of connecting with staff and customising emotional and health needs in a motivated and collaborative way, while providing aggregates on staff population data. This helps the company to make Evidenced-based decisions which improve the bottom line.

Technology will undoubtedly be at the core of reopening society and businesses after Covid-19. However, employees need to feel that they can trust the technology which they’re using and that it supports and empowers them. User’s data security and ownership is integral to tested.me, as we give the users full control over their own data. Our Health Verification Solution allows a business owner to monitor the health status of their employees to help create a safe and Covid-secure environment. If you want to find out more about our solutions, visit tested.me.