Last week while attending Autodesk University in Las Vegas I witnessed a very clever way to encourage employees to be live a more active lifestyle with the goal of healthier employees mean lower healthcare costs. What I saw was several Autodesk employees competing on who was the most active and recorded steps using a Fitbit unit.

At Autodesk University this team I spoke with were logging several miles a day. In the past I had seen health surveys and emails encouraging a healthy lifestyle for employees but they were done at the computer. Autodesk does have some nice gym membership and other health related benefits for the individual employees but the Fitbit was the most innovative I had seen. Autodesk had a limited time benefit for a Fitbit unit but unfortunately I did not get that email or missed it in the hundreds of emails I receive daily.

The idea of people competing on a fitness recording platform is clever and perhaps one that Autodesk had not considered as it more aimed to encourage the individual to be more healthy but the team discovered among themselves to compete daily for fun and to encourage each other to meet their goals. Seeing the fun the team was having competing and comparing statistics multiple times made me really want one and participate. Perhaps I can encourage my team into a contest on who is the most active. A healthier team is not only a cheaper and potentially longer lived team, but also a very happy team. Even an internal page showing the uploaded activity leaders would be motivating.

I wonder if groups of people who know each other could start a challenge among ourselves as Fitbit tribes. I love to hike and climb but having a group of people competing would encourage me much more than just my self motivation. Would you be interested in a Between the Lines Fitbit challenge for the new year?

Get off the web and onto the trail!

Cheers,
Shaan

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