New Name, Brand Identity Join Cadre of New Product Editions to Improve Employee Health Engagement, Empower Workers and their Families and Friends to Maximize Total Quality of Life
Framingham, Mass.—(October 2, 2013) – Virgin HealthMiles today unveiled a new brand for the world's leading employee health engagement platform, as the company will now be known as Virgin Pulse. The new brand and brand identity represent its evolution from a primary focus on corporate wellness programs to one squarely targeted on employee engagement and improving employees' Total Quality of Life. The new company is launched in the face of two staggering figures from a recent Gallup poll: 70 percent of employees feel disengaged at their jobs, causing more than $300 Billion in lost productivity.
According to Gallup, "To win customers — and a bigger share of the marketplace — companies must first win the hearts and minds of their employees." Enter Virgin Pulse.
The new identity for the company, which is a member of Sir Richard Branson's legendary Virgin Group, better projects its core message that to drive employee engagement and loyalty, employers must show their employees that they care about them, well beyond their physical health—corporate wellness must shift its focus to engaging every individual and enhancing their total quality of life.
Virgin Pulse provides a hub of consumer-focused strategies and innovative tools that combine to drive real change across every aspect of life—including physical, emotional, social and financial health. The company also today unveiled new product editions that support this approach.
Virgin Pulse defines "Employment Engagement" as an environment in which employees who go the extra mile for their company do so because they want to—they believe their company truly cares about them. For example, they don't need to be asked to stay late, to help a colleague—they just do what they have to do to get the job done, because they truly feel like part of something greater.
According to "Using Wellness Programs to Create Employee Engagement," an article in the Journal of Compensation and Benefits, "One of the best ways to encourage engagement of employees is to make them realize that the employer is interested in and cares about the health and welfare of both the employee and their family … (t)his effort by employers can create a powerful bond between worker and company that … creates a true congruence …"
Yet unfortunately, these bonds today are few and far between.
"Employee engagement has reached crisis proportions in America—the most recent polls from Gallup are filled with staggering figures," said Chris Boyce, the CEO of Virgin Pulse. "Employee wellness programs have sought to fix this, but to date have done little to change long-term behaviors or drive sustained employee engagement. With Virgin Pulse, we're arming employees with tools that help alleviate the worries—particularly health, financial and emotional—that distract them from doing the best work possible. Remove those fears, through tools provided by their employer, and you've got employees who believe their company cares and are able to truly focus on doing great work. We're excited to be part of the solution to a $300 billion dollar problem plaguing employers and their employees today. Every day we help our customers live our credo: we change lives for good."
Added Boyce, "Employees who are engaged at work go the extra mile simply because they want to. They're happier, healthier, and more productive. They lead richer, fuller lives. We also believe it's critical to include family and friends in helping to make this happen. These important people outside of the office contribute significantly to the happiness and well-being of employees—and we're the first employee health engagement platform that includes them for free as a critical element in the mix. In a nutshell, we believe that companies should treat their employees like people, not like patients, to show they care."
New Solutions Build on a Successful Track Record
Since its inception in 2004, Virgin HealthMiles has been the market leader in engaging employees through innovative, consumer-focused wellness programs. Virgin Pulse will carry forward the successful legacies of its previous brand and infuse new approaches and methods—including the new suite of solutions announced today, a new activity tracking device to be announced in January 2013, and its partnerships with leading health technology companies such as Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, and Polar—to drive higher employee engagement.
Virgin Pulse helps employers better engage employees and improve their Total Quality of Life with programs that support their physical, social, emotional, and financial health. Virgin Pulse will continue to focus on changing lives for good and making companies better with its flexible and impactful approach to improving employee health and employee engagement. In fact, 85 percent of members say that Virgin Pulse has changed their lives for the better, 57 percent say it makes their company a better place to work, and 21 percent say they have taken fewer sick days since joining Virgin Pulse.
To learn more about Virgin Pulse, please visit the company at Booth 849 at next week's HR Technology Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, or visit www.virginpulse.com.
ABOUT VIRGIN PULSE
Virgin Pulse, formerly Virgin HealthMiles and part of Sir Richard Branson's famed Virgin Group, increases engagement and loyalty by providing employee-centered programs and tools that go beyond physical wellness. Unlike narrowly focused, one-dimensional solutions, Virgin Pulse is a hub of consumer-focused strategies and innovative tools that combine to drive real change across every aspect of an employee's life. The name Pulse was chosen due to its universality—everyone, individuals and organizations alike—have one, and it is the backbeat to their own unique rhythm and tempo which engages and impacts those around them. More than 200 industry leaders representing 1,000,000+ employees have selected Virgin Pulse's award-winning programs for their workplace. To learn more, visit www.virginpulse.com.