How the Wellbeing program for J&J led to record engagement

Objectives

To launch a record-breaking engagement program, reaching out to employees of all backgrounds.
Strengthen team spirit and mutual understanding through joint activities and challenge games.
Find the keys to increase energy, motivation and productivity of employees.

Solution

Our solution: A customized app + Elements of gamification and Motivational Mechanics.

For the program period (1.06.2024 - 30.06.2024), we created a customized app with a global unifying goal: to collect 190,000 “charges” (activity units) and light a symbolic “Torch of Energy”. This vivid metaphor became a powerful driver of positive changes in the team.

Charges visualized personal contribution to the overall “Torch of Energy”, creating the excitement of competition and team spirit. Progress on the charges was visible in the ribbon, encouraging mutual support and healthy competition.
Social engagement is a key focus of the program. The app introduced an activity feed, likes, comments - everything necessary to create a platform where you can communicate and get to know your colleagues better.
The platform is maximally oriented to the user's needs and speaks his language: for convenience, there is integration with Apple Health/Google Fit, auto-synchronization with trackers, personal/team progress widgets, motivational push notifications. There's a Wellness journal and activities for people of all fitness levels.

95%

project engagement

451

registrations

431

active users

368

participants took part
in Challenges

Results

Almost all registered employees (431 out of 451) became active participants, giving the program a record 95% engagement rate. By comparison, the average engagement in loyalty programs is around 40%.

The minimal user churn rate of 4.5% proves that the project showed value from the first steps, met expectations and retained the audience.The activity was not “for a tick”, but regular and intensive:

20,744

kilometers traveled: more than halfway around the Earth at the equator.

196,343

charges were collected: each “charge” was a session of activity (jogging, training, active walking).

7,913

hours amounted to training time: almost 330 days!

130

million steps+: a huge contribution to participants' health and well-being.

20+ activities - and each one spoke to the needs of the team

Participants selected more than 20 activities, indicating successful outreach to audiences with varying interests and fitness levels:

Increased physical activity

At the top of the list in terms of popularity is walking. Walking is easy to incorporate into your routine, it's not costly, so it's an ideal start for those who haven't exercised before, and according to WHO it's the most popular physical activity in the world.

Mental Health

Meditation ranked in the top 3 - a direct signal that J&J employees are consciously combating stress and burnout.

Meditation is a gym for the mind, improving focus and stress tolerance, critical for work. As with Siemens (15% less likely to miss deadlines) and Salesforce (22% less tardiness after implementing mindfulness), we see mindfulness practices linked to performance.

Final employee evaluations confirm this: many noted a surge of energy and vigor for work tasks.

Top 10 workouts:

walking, fitness, meditation, running, cycling, swimming, yoga, tennis, gym, elliptical, rowing. The more advanced chose niche activities: sailing, hockey, ice skating.

Surveys showed an increase in mental energy and spiritual energy by +0.5.

About cohesion: a new level of team spirit

The app became an internal social platform where employees:

Chatted and sent 2,647 messages.
Share happy moments and 96% viewed each other's stories.
Shareed emotions with 27,331 likes and 4,139 reactions to posts.

A Gallup study proved: having a “best friend” at work increases satisfaction by 50%. Our platform created an environment for these connections.

Team activities were a catalyst for cohesion:

156 people completed the “Nature Walk (10,000 steps)” challenge.
139 employees opened up to their colleagues by posting about their hobbies.
127 participants shared their personal sports goals.
25 team training sessions were held.

Challenges and rapid response

Some employees initially had difficulty navigating the app and understanding the mechanics of the Global Challenge. The care department resolved the issues promptly:

209 inquiries were handled.
The average response time was 39 minutes.
Participants manually uploaded ~121 activities and synchronized ~311 activities daily.

Portrait of a participant

Our typical protagonist is an employee 36-50 years old (52%), more often female (59%). The user shows outstanding passion: on average, he/she does 5 workouts per week of 52 minutes each and collects 6 charges per day (short but frequent interactions). The participant tends to adopt healthy habits: 76% reads a Wellness magazine (on average 3 articles per month) and actively consumes storizas (17 discoveries per month). And most importantly, he is active: he takes 10,877 steps per day!

Assessing employee wellbeing

To assess satisfaction and wellbeing, we used the Cantril Ladder - a simple and effective way to find out how participants feel.

The essence of the method is simple: you need to rate your level of happiness on a ten-point scale, where 1 is hopeless and 10 is “Succeeding”. Cantril's Ladder is a method with proven effectiveness, and it is the method used by the researchers of the world-famous World Happiness Report.

In a month of physical activity, mindfulness work, and closer interaction with employees, participants' satisfaction level increased from “Everything is great” to a 0.5-point “Thriving” rating.

After a month of physical activity, mindfulness work, and closer interaction with colleagues, the participants' satisfaction level increased from "Everything is great" and approached a score of 0.5 points for "Thriving."

Employees felt positive changes in the company:

A surge of physical energy +0.8
Emotional energy +0.7
Mental health +0.5
Spiritual energy +0.5.

Business value - energized employees

Although the peak impact of wellbeing programs on metrics like sick leave or turnover often shows up after 6 months, J&J has already gained:

More motivated and task-focused employees.
A strengthened team spirit and an atmosphere of mutual support.
A team with increased energy levels and resilience to stress - key drivers of productivity.

Ready to “light the torch of energy” in your company? Contact us! - we will develop a step-by-step plan for your successful program!