Finding the employee view of a critical health issue

Association of top employers in North America 

Challenge: What should the largest employers in North America understand and do to engage employees on the issue of obesity, in order to improve health care costs and quality of life for employees and their families?

Methodology:

Using a “customer” experience approach to define employee needs, we:

• Designed and executed highly complex field research.  Participants were employees of $1 billion + companies, grouped by combination of gender, race, ethnicity, age and body mass index.
• Summarized employee views and then defined employer implications for program and policy design, and for communication strategies.
• Facilitated discussions with the Board and leadership of the association.
• Partnered with a board member and top healthcare industry executive, at its annual meeting, to lead an action-oriented discussion about the research findings and its implications for employers.

Benefits realized:

Findings of this study were among the first to use the employee experience and point of view to define how employers can increase engagement on this critical topic, and members of the association such as General Mills and Dell used the research findings to inform employee programs, messaging and policies.