N^o 8 – Wearables Programs: Avoiding Pitfalls

“Wearable technologies paired with an advanced analytics platform provide significant advantages to health and safety teams. However, the value of these tools can be quickly undermined if the program design and rollout is not managed properly,” Join LifeBooster’s Program Manager & Ergonomist, William Thomas, as we discuss common pitfalls in rolling out a wearables program and how you can avoid them. 

Wearable technologies paired with an advanced analytics platform provide significant advantages to health and safety teams. However, the value of these tools can be quickly undermined if the program design and rollout is not managed properly.

Avoid program complexity by setting clear, targeted goals.

The first step in preventing pitfalls for your wearables program is having a clearly defined program goal with a focussed scope of work. Many organizations launch their wearables program with either no clear program goal, or as a highly complex project which tries to capture multiple variables and use cases of interest. Clearly defining and aligning on a program goal allows for a targeted strategy with a clear timeline and success criteria. Work with your wearables partner to progressively build your program with clearly defined goals and use cases.

Avoid deployment challenges by using a stepwise approach.

This feeds into our second important step which is utilizing a stepwise process for building out your wearables program which helps overcome the logistical and program management challenges. This is especially important when wearable devices are deployed at scale across a large population of employees or in a number of locations. To address this challenge it’s important to work with your wearables partner in developing a progressive strategy which focuses on bucketing program activities into manageable portions. Utilizing a proven stepwise process which accounts for planning, training, scheduling, employee orientation and deployment enables you to better manage program logistics. This ensures that the right work is being done at the right times to drive program success. The fastest way to program failure is to overwhelm management with a scope of work they can’t comfortably support.

Avoid program inaction by operationalizing risk analytics.

Another common pitfall is indecision or a lack of clarity around how to translate risk insights into meaningful risk improvements. Determining  the best risk improvement strategies which target the right risk factors is challenging if you are not presented with the right information. Utilizing a risk analytics platform which provides clear, concise and actionable data insights and which enables prioritization of risk to identify highest impact opportunities is key to translating insight into action. 

Avoid hesitancy by providing transparent communication.

Finally, As we covered in a previous Booster Shots video, it’s essential to bring all stakeholders along in the process, this includes frontline employees, supervisors and management, and your leadership team. Being transparent in program goals, timelines, data collection requirements, program expectations,  program benefits, and keys to success enables you to build buy-in and drive program engagement. This is essential in ensuring program engagement, and in delivering a sustainable strategy which can navigate any potential pitfalls.

At LifeBooster our mission is to ensure that not only do you have the right tools to collect risk data on your workforce, but you have the right processes in place to drive a sustainable program that can deliver on your goal of continuous improvement!

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