Employee Assistance Programs enhance corporate wellness with brain training

Com­pa­nies turn to brain games to tack­le work stress (For­tune):

“As more and more jobs rely on knowl­edge work, cre­ativ­i­ty, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, it’s not enough to have work­ers sit­ting at their desks — they must also be men­tal­ly sharp, emo­tion­al­ly present, and free from dis­trac­tion. The answer for some: brain training.

The fun, game atmos­phere of My Brain Solu­tions helped Nation­wide achieve anoth­er goal: mak­ing the employ­ee assis­tance pro­gram more appeal­ing and stig­ma-free. While over­all EAP use at Nation­wide was at 7.7% in 2007 — already high­er than that year’s indus­try aver­age of 4% — after intro­duc­ing My Brain Solu­tions in 2009, EAP use sky­rock­et­ed to 18.4% in 2011.

My Brain Solu­tions con­tributed to greater effec­tive­ness of the broad­er well­ness offer­ings, Herath says. For instance, Nation­wide’s per­cent­age of obese and over­weight work­ers has declined between 2010 and 2012.

“In 2012, for the first time more than 70% of the pop­u­la­tion is low risk. Our high-risk pop­u­la­tion is at an all time low of 7%,” says Herath. “This is a great mech­a­nism to do by itself. It’s a great mech­a­nism to do with coun­sel­ing. There are appli­ca­tions to it that run across the gamut from our most healthy to our most critical.”

To Learn More

• Work­shop @ 2012 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit: How Nation­wide Insur­ance rolled-out a Brain-based Cor­po­rate Well­ness Ini­tia­tive. An in-depth case study out­lin­ing busi­ness ratio­nale, ven­dor selec­tion, pilot test and roll-out, and return-on-invest­ment  (requires registration)