Wellness in the workspace:

A Technology Review

 

Wellbeing 2015 is an event revolving around the future of employee wellbeing and health. It took place on 25th July in London, where we presented our bold new vision for corporate wellbeing.

A Technology Review

After the event, Robert Smith, our technology researcher reviewed a few health and wellbeing gadgets, and gave his thoughts on their implications for the workforce. Let us see a few notes about each tested gadget.

Jawbone UP™ The Jawbone UP™ gadget tracks physical

activity, quality of sleep and helps you manage your fitness goals. The gadget connects with a variety of iOS, so you can track your weight, map your bike rides, access extensive food libraries and more.

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How useful it could be for workplace wellness? The Jawbone could be easily integrated into workforce culture as it’s something everyone can wear. It could be a great first step for a wellness program.

Philips Wake-Up Light Philips Wake-Up Light simulates a sunrise with nature sound, where the sunrise simulation starts 30 minutes before the alarm. The light slowly begins to brighten, simulating sunrise. It uses a choice of two sounds; bird calls, ocean noise or the radio.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? The Wake-Up Light could help create a better rested workforce, but it would be difficult to fully implement seeing as it would be used at home.

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Breezing Breezing is a portable metabolism tracker that syncs with your smartphone. It analyzes user's metabolism, then advises them on exercise and diet requirements needed to meet their fitness goals. Breezing combines innovative design with proven science.  How useful it could be for workplace wellness? The tracker could be used in a work program to promote healthy eating, but fully integrating it might be difficult. It needs to be used when first waking up and offers more details than the average person needs.

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QardioArm QardioArm is a blood pressure monitor with a revolutionary design and effortless user experience that conveniently fits your modern lifestyle. The idea behind the product was to create a medical device that looks like a daily object and is simple and convenient to have around at all times for daily measurements.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? On the same note as the Breezing Tracker, the QardioArm could be used in a program, but offers information that might not be relevant to an entire workforce.

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Vessyl The Vessyl digital cup lets you know what you’re drinking and how many calories it contains, while acting as a normal cup. Liquid calories are a source of a lot of sugar and fat, so the Vessyl could be useful in illuminating that.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? The Vessyl could be a great tool for an individual, but I don’t see it being critical or easily used in a wellness initiative. It’s received some great early publicity, although not the best overall review.

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Scio Molecular Sensor A group of scientist, biologists and technologists developed a device that shines a light on a substance and sends information on the nutrient values, ripeness, spoilage analyses and more to an app. It’s the Scio Molecular Sensor It’s main purpose is to analyze food, but it could have uses for medication, plants, jewelry, clothing etc. How useful it could be for workplace wellness? Although not a necessity, having a Scio in an office could be a great way to help employees get access to accurate nutritional information.

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Dharma Cushion The Dharma measures heart rate, respiration, stress levels and posture. It connects to an app available on iOS operating systems that can remind you to calm down, stretch or correct your posture.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? The Dharma Cushion has the most potential to be a cornerstone of a wellness initiative, especially in environment where employees are at their desks for most of the day.

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Lumo Lift The Lumo Lift is a wearable device that tracks physical activity and helps improve posture. It calculates how much time users spend in a ‘strong confident posture.’ The Lumo Lift comes with a free iPhone app that tracks both activity and posture over time.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? In the same vein as the Dharma Cushion the Lumo Lift could be a powerful tool for a sedentary workforce, but you would have to rely on individuals to make sure they are wearing it (unlike the cushion.)

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Cuff Cuff went a step further when it presented its wearable jewelry that lets users call loved ones for help when in danger. It is a small wireless token that slots into any of the Cuff range of accessories. It links via Bluetooth with an accompanying app on the user's smartphone.

How useful it could be for workplace wellness? You could argue that the Cuff provides peace of mind, improving the mental wellbeing of employees. However, it is not really a workplace wellness initiative.

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To find out more on health and wellbeing technology, visit wellbeing2015.com