Limeade Institute launches new guide on how to measure employee well-being and engagement programs

Based on research and rooted in care, The Limeade Results Model illustrates that an active and reciprocal commitment between companies and employees ultimately leads to better people and business results.

Bellevue, WA, Sept. 06, 2017 — The Limeade Institute released its research-based Limeade Results Model to help business leaders understand the best ways to measure and demonstrate the impact of well-being and engagement programs. As employee engagement, well-being, social recognition and benefit aggregation programs merge, the Limeade Institute designed a formal, evidence-driven approach for measuring results.

“We’re taking a more holistic approach to program measurement,” said Limeade CEO, Henry Albrecht, who started Limeade in 2006 to improve well-being in the world. “Traditional wellness programs rely on health cost reduction to demonstrate value. Engagement and recognition programs use self-reported measures that vary widely by vendor and program. And aggregation programs often measure how many people use programs, without presenting a clear return on investment.”

“Making clear connections between well-being, engagement and business results will ultimately elevate discussions about programs like Limeade from HR and Benefits silos into the C-Suite,” Albrecht added.

“The Limeade results model gives us the opportunity to measure the impact of our employee engagement program on our company, without sacrificing our primary focus on improving the well-being of our employees,” said Kerstin Aiello, senior benefits manager at Synopsys.

The Limeade Results Model
The Limeade Results Model offers a more advanced method for determining the business value of program and company investments. Specifically, it identifies the results companies should expect from a strategic program tied to the goals of the organization. Successful programs foster participation and help people build habits that improve their well-being. This impacts how employees perform at work, which leads to better business results.

“When it comes to measuring, it’s easy to start with metrics around participation and user satisfaction,” said Dr. Laura Hamill, managing director of the Limeade Institute and Chief People Officer at Limeade. “People have to like and use these programs to form real habits and improve well-being. There is a direct connection between this and the crucial next step – measurable improvements to employee engagement and business results.”

Once leaders connect the program to company goals, they can explore metrics in the following five key areas of the Limeade Results Model:

1. Program includes metrics like participation, goal achievement and user satisfaction.
2. Habits includes measuring behavior change by seeing how people are forming new mind, body, work and social habits.
3. Well-being looks at how overall well-being improves – across emotional, work, physical and financial factors – as measured by a well-being assessment and other data.
4. People (HR) results include metrics like employee engagement, performance, turnover and cost (missed work, health costs, recruiting).
5. Business results includes metrics that connect directly to company goals like sales, customer satisfaction and profits.

“While we originally developed the model as way to prove value of a Limeade program, it’s relevant for any employee program. We want to help all HR and C-Suite leaders demonstrate the larger business value of company-supported employee programs,” said Dr. Hamill. “We’re hoping that a guide like this will advance how the industry measures and takes action – elevating the discussion and ultimately, changing how companies invest in their people.”

Read more about the Limeade Results Model on the Limeade blog. 

The Limeade Institute
The Limeade Institute team consists of researchers with doctorates in organizational psychology, cognitive neuroscientists, psychometricians, business insights experts and data scientists. The Limeade Institute will continue to launch research reports and share findings on employee engagement and well-being. To learn more about the Limeade Institute, please visit www.limeade.com.

About Limeade
Limeade is an employee engagement company that inspires commitment by elevating culture. Limeade technology creates an immersive experience focused on the whole person, the whole company and the whole ecosystem with integrated well-being, engagement, social recognition and aggregation software. Learn more at www.limeade.com.