Framingham Co. Gets In Shape On The Job
PHOTO/EILEEN KENNEDY
Mark Pover, CFO of Virgin HealthMiles in Framingham, demonstrates one of the company's blood pressure monitoring systems.
Employees at Framingham-based Virgin HealthMiles Inc. don't have to look far if they want to burn off some extra calories with a walk or jog during lunch.
That's because the company houses an indoor running track and fitness center at its 139 Newbury St. location.
But that's just the beginning of the healthy perks at the company, which practices what it preaches to its customers.
Step By Step
Virgin HealthMiles, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, was founded in 2004 under the name Virgin Life Care, but moved to Framingham last year and changed its name. It offers a health rewards system that pays workers with incentives to become more active. Workers whose companies contract with Virgin earn points for things like walking certain number of steps. The points can then be turned into cash or gift cards from national retailers like Amazon.com, Target, or Best Buy, according to Mark Pover, Virgin HealthMiles' CFO.
Workers at Virgin's client companies receive electronic pedometers to measure steps. The pedometers store data that can be downloaded through the employee's computer to an individual web page that tracks their progress. Virgin also provides participating offices with weight scales and blood pressure and body mass index machines.
And it's no surprise that Virgin HealthMiles offers its programs to its Framingham employees, including $150 toward health club memberships. In addition to the onsite gym, the company offers major incentives for its employees to be fit. Workers can get 80 percent of their health insurance premiums paid by the company upon reaching a certain level of fitness. The company usually pays 65 percent.
"If you're going to talk to the talk, then you have to walk the walk," Pover said.
Thanks to the company's emphasis on fitness, Virgin HealthMiles was recently profiled by Outside magazine in its May issue as one of 30 best places to work in the United States.
If Virgin HealthMiles claims are to be believed, the savings from their programs can be substantial. Spectrum Athletic Clubs in Texas and Southern California, one of its 100-plus customers, was able to save $250,000 on its 2007 health care premiums because it could track the activity levels and wellness of its employees and provide that data to its insurer.
Virgin HealthMiles is pushing for a paradigm shift for the field of health care.
"The whole health care insurance industry needs to move from being reactive to proactive," Pover said during a recent tour of the company's Framingham location. "Right now it's based on if you're sick, then we'll fix you."
The company has one local customer, the MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick.
Becky Heffernan, human resources director for MetroWest, said the medical center chose Virgin HealthMiles after looking at various wellness programs. MetroWest started the program in January 2008, and has about 300 of its 1,300 full-time employees enrolled in the program.
"Our employees have really enjoyed it," she said.
Its simplicity was a big selling factor, too. Other wellness programs give employees information about healthy practices and in some cases health coaches, but none had direct incentives that could be easily implemented while it tracked activity, she said.
Heffernan also speaks from direct experience. She participates in the program.
"They help you get into the habit of being more active," she said.
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