Asia in the Spotlight: Employers Build Wellness Culture with Aid of Wearable Technology

Print 11 August 2015
Cornelia Zou / BioWorld

More device and data service companies are tapping into the $6 billion corporate wellness tracking business and Asian companies are finding that they have the tools to track the health of their employees with simple wearable devices and tailor-made features.

“Technology has changed the way people think about health, it can affect our behavior as individuals, and is also a powerful engagement tool for employers,” Rajeshree Parekh, Director of Health and Corporate Wellness Asia Pacific at Towers Watson, told Medical Device Daily. “Using technology effectively can present a big opportunity for employers to build a culture of wellness at their organization. This is a major focus for most employers in Asia Pacific.”

Towers Watson, a professional services company, has launched an online health management solution, HealthVantage, in partnership with Healthlogix and Fitbug this May. The company has found that rising health costs are becoming more of a concern to Asian employers. New technologies could be the most efficient way of better managing their employee’s health and reduce these costs.

“Employees today are more likely to take an active interest in their health than past generations. But from our client experience, engaging staff in health topics is still a major challenge for most employers that have rolled out wellness programs,” said Parekh.

Wearable medical devices could make it easier to tackle these health challenges.

The ability to quantify employee wellness and overall health condition through wearable devices is increasingly common in some workplaces.

Advisory service provider Tractica forecasts that shipments of enterprise and industrial wearable devices will hit 27.5 million with revenues of $6.3 billion by 2020. This growing market will take up 17 percent of total wearable device revenues. Smart watches and fitness trackers are increasingly important tool to track the health of employees.

Under the many categories of wearable medical devices, fitness trackers have the biggest potential because of their low price and long lasting battery life. This potential is likely to remain even after smart watches become popular. However, Tractica expects the value of fitness trackers to decrease by 2018 as smart watches equipped with more sensors and better battery life hit the market. Other devices including wearable cameras, body sensors and smart clothing will account for less than 10% of revenues from enterprise and industrial markets.

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