Virgin HealthMiles work with US-based companies to help them engage employees in long-term healthy behaviours and provide tools and data to measure the impact of their investments. 

Over 120 industry leaders, representing more than 700,000 employees across the US, have selected Virgin HealthMiles’ award-winning solutions for their employees. 

A unique approach

Their entire business is built upon sustainability and good health. In an industry where people are thought of as patients or cases, Virgin HealthMiles focus on the consumer.

They empower individuals to take control of their own health and provide them with the motivation they need to get active and healthy, in a way that works best for them. Then they equip them with the tools they need to make tracking their progress a breeze. 

Their approach, called Pay-for-Prevention™, combines programmes and motivation, data and reporting, to help companies promote good health and proactively manage their employee health strategies and programmes.

Their focus is physical activity, the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. On average, this attracts 40% of their clients’ employees – nearly three times the industry average – which helps organisations reduce medical costs and improve employee productivity and satisfaction. 

What do they support?

The company work to minimise their negative impact on the environment.  Their GoZone® pedometers are produced so that they’re environmentally friendly and they recycle reusable parts as often as possible.  Virgin HealthMiles have also recently redesigned their product packaging, which is made from nearly all recyclable material. 

They also: have energy reduction and recycling strategies, eliminate use of unnecessary electricity, have recycling bins placed around the office, use green cleaning products, and have replaced much of their disposable kitchen products with washable plates and utensils in an effort to eliminate unnecessary waste.

National Employee Wellness Month: In 2009, Virgin HealthMiles, in partnership with the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, created the first-ever National Employee Wellness Month in the US.  It’s an annual initiative that runs through the month of June to help business leaders learn how companies have developed successful strategies around prevention and good health.

The idea is to showcase how supportive social communities, such as the workplace, can help improve employees’ health and productivity and lower healthcare costs. It’s also about using an individual’s social connections to create and sustain a healthy workplace culture. 

Forward-looking organisations across the US are taking proactive action to curb rising healthcare costs and are turning to prevention as one of the best strategies to counter the trend. National Employee Wellness Month raises awareness about the critical role the private sector must play in their staff’s health, and offers tips on approaches businesses can take to build a culture of good health in their workplace.

Work with Virgin Unite:

Boots Crossley, Director, Client Design and Engineering, Virgin HealthMiles, said:

“Working with Virgin Unite has become a daily passion that gives me a personal feeling of incredible happiness that only comes with a few things in life. One of the best parts of my role as a Virgin Unite partner is watching my friends and colleagues have similar feelings when they give ‘little’ things in their own personal way to make that special difference in someone’s life that they will never know.”

Impact?

Over the last 20 years, America has become an increasingly unhealthy nation. And they’re struggling with record levels of debt, largely driven by rising healthcare costs.  At the heart of this problem are our own personal lifestyle choices that result in costly chronic diseases and conditions.

Virgin HealthMiles is helping to change this through its work. Clients see both short-term and long-term results with their solutions.

In just one year short-term results include:

•	29-50% of people who said they were inactive when they started the scheme become active
•	21% of people who said they suffered from pre-hypertensive or hypertensive conditions before they started the scheme said their health had improved
•	14% of people who had above the recommended body fat levels had become a more healthy weight
•	9% of obese/overweight people moved down by at least one Body Mass Index category

Long-term results include sustained behaviour changes:

•	In an 18-month study of more than 11,000 HealthMiles members, 50% of inactive participants achieved and maintained healthy levels of physical activity
•	21% of people who said they suffered from pre-hypertensive or hypertensive conditions before they started the scheme said their health had improved
•	In a study of more than 100,000 HealthMiles members, data shows members are 2.5 times more active than the average US adult.

National Employee Wellness Month: As part of their third annual National Employee Wellness Month Challenge in June 2011, teams from more than 90 US companies logged more than seven billion steps. They walked the equivalent of around 4 million miles during the three-week challenge – that’s like climbing Mount Everest 674,607 times. 

On average, participants took approximately 8,400 steps per day – an amount that reinforces the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for daily physical activity.