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Health promotion often struggles with engaging the groups that need the most help. The thinking usually goes:
“The people who will benefit the most should want to use the resources we’re offering.”
When this doesn't happen, we usually see this transition:
"Maybe if we attach financial incentives and promote well-being more, these groups will engage.”
Why can this still fail in engaging the groups that need well-being the most?
At this point, the factors that have been addressed include:
Access - they have resources and help available to them.
Awareness - we promote the program heavily.
Incentive - we give them an extrinsic motivator.
What’s missing? There’s something holding them back.
Many organizations will assume they need a better offering, better resources, or maybe even full-time, onsite health promotion employees.
These are all possible solutions, but we want to challenge you to think about this problem from another angle.
Take a closer look at who your non-engagers are. It’s generally not a person from this department, two people from that location, etc.
In our work with clients over two decades, we often hear phrases like, “Our ABC branch is the one we always struggle to engage.” Often times that same grouping the client is worried about has poor health numbers too.
Much like a detective investigating multiple crimes of a similar nature, you want to look for the connections. How are the non-engagers linked? Are they located in similar work settings? Are they in a similar age range? Do they report through the same person?
Engagement closely follows key behavioral factors like social proof (I see people around me doing something), clear mid-level manager support, and an integration of well-being into the daily rhythms of employees. Where these things are missing, gaps in engagement will occur.
To address a lack of engagement, we must first find the hidden connections that we are overlooking.
Key Takeaway
Engagement closely follows group behavior and a person’s environment. Reaching the “hard-to-reach” population requires us to find the connections between those choosing not to engage and develop creative solutions to address the root cause.
During annual strategy sessions with our clients, we do a full review of the challenges each organization is having and come up with 3-5 creative, tangible solutions (usually focused on behavioral economics and structural changes) that will help a client hit their goals.
If you have a specific case you’d like some help with, we’re happy to share how we might approach it. Set up a call with our team by clicking here.
Unlike most things these days, this was handwritten by a human. If you have recommendations on what we should answer next, feel free to reply with your thoughts.