fitness trackers and HR
April 9, 2018 10:13 AM Subscribe
Am I right to resist using a work-connected/sponsored fitness tracker?
My company has contracted with Virgin Pulse to offer discounted fitness/wellness wearables to employees, and they are promoting it in a big way. My VP has twice-so-far invited my dept. to opt in and connect with him and each other to form teams that will have ongoing challenges and hold each other "accountable" for staying on track and meeting goals, etc.
I do not want to do this. Am I right to resist this element of the borg? I am concerned about my privacy [related reddit thread], for one. But on the flip side, I am concerned about being viewed as literally not a team player.
What other kinds of fallout can I expect? And how can I explain why I am not opting in in a way that minimizes that fallout? My dept. is responsible for promoting this across the organization so I will have to explain this more than once, to more than one person, over a period of time.
Note that this is not about not wanting to be active. I love coming in on Monday and talking with my coworkers about where we hiked on the weekend, the condition of MTB trails, etc. But while they use Strava and Mapmyrun and have Apple watches that remind them in the middle of meetings that they've been sitting too long, the idea of that makes me edgy in the extreme. I am a relatively private person, and not at all competitive. For me, tracking my speed and miles traveled and heart rate on a long hike would eliminate everything that is positive about walking in the woods or riding my bike. And afterward, I want to savor the achy, tired feeling in my legs for as long as I want, not in anticipation of my watch telling me to get moving an hour later.
I can understand workplace health programs that use goalsmy doctor may set for me to improve this number or that. But I don't want to opt in to violating my own HIPAA protections across the board so HR and my insurance company can track my activity and my sleep and my heart rate every damn moment, compare them to insurance-defined goals, and share/sell the data or use it to make decisions that affect me.
My question should probably be "how long can I resist this before my insurance costs skyrocket, or before I get demoted?" But for now, how best to say "no thanks" to the "invitation"?
My company has contracted with Virgin Pulse to offer discounted fitness/wellness wearables to employees, and they are promoting it in a big way. My VP has twice-so-far invited my dept. to opt in and connect with him and each other to form teams that will have ongoing challenges and hold each other "accountable" for staying on track and meeting goals, etc.
I do not want to do this. Am I right to resist this element of the borg? I am concerned about my privacy [related reddit thread], for one. But on the flip side, I am concerned about being viewed as literally not a team player.
What other kinds of fallout can I expect? And how can I explain why I am not opting in in a way that minimizes that fallout? My dept. is responsible for promoting this across the organization so I will have to explain this more than once, to more than one person, over a period of time.
Note that this is not about not wanting to be active. I love coming in on Monday and talking with my coworkers about where we hiked on the weekend, the condition of MTB trails, etc. But while they use Strava and Mapmyrun and have Apple watches that remind them in the middle of meetings that they've been sitting too long, the idea of that makes me edgy in the extreme. I am a relatively private person, and not at all competitive. For me, tracking my speed and miles traveled and heart rate on a long hike would eliminate everything that is positive about walking in the woods or riding my bike. And afterward, I want to savor the achy, tired feeling in my legs for as long as I want, not in anticipation of my watch telling me to get moving an hour later.
I can understand workplace health programs that use goalsmy doctor may set for me to improve this number or that. But I don't want to opt in to violating my own HIPAA protections across the board so HR and my insurance company can track my activity and my sleep and my heart rate every damn moment, compare them to insurance-defined goals, and share/sell the data or use it to make decisions that affect me.
My question should probably be "how long can I resist this before my insurance costs skyrocket, or before I get demoted?" But for now, how best to say "no thanks" to the "invitation"?
I would absolutely resist that—and I have so far. My workplace does something similar, but they at least dilute it to suggesting that people try to form teams and compete against each other—plus they limit it to a certain number of weeks every once in a while. We're a giant company, however, and so it's easy to hide. I already wear a Fitbit every minute of every day, but I don't share the data with anyone other than Fitbit.
In your position I'd keep ignoring the invites until directly confronted, and then just say "oh, I get loads of activity every day on my own, thanks. Good luck with it!" I can't imagine that they'd push further. Your situation is more complicated thanks to your department promoting the initiative, but hopefully you can just remain quiet. If your company tries to tie the activity tracker data to your health insurance rates, you must do everything you can to resist that. And maybe by not opting in to this program there won't be enough warm bodies participating to make it worthwhile to tie it to insurance.
posted by clone boulevard at 10:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
In your position I'd keep ignoring the invites until directly confronted, and then just say "oh, I get loads of activity every day on my own, thanks. Good luck with it!" I can't imagine that they'd push further. Your situation is more complicated thanks to your department promoting the initiative, but hopefully you can just remain quiet. If your company tries to tie the activity tracker data to your health insurance rates, you must do everything you can to resist that. And maybe by not opting in to this program there won't be enough warm bodies participating to make it worthwhile to tie it to insurance.
posted by clone boulevard at 10:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Are you comfortable with explaining that you don't want this data to end up in the hands of your medical insurer? I think that's a great reason - you're still a team player - and many of your colleagues may not have thought of this aspect yet.
My medical insurance gives a (tiny) kickback if we do their online health assessment, which includes entering our last known BP, cholesterol, and waist circumference. Many of my coworkers have basically said "F your kickback" and declined to participate.
posted by Knowyournuts at 10:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
My medical insurance gives a (tiny) kickback if we do their online health assessment, which includes entering our last known BP, cholesterol, and waist circumference. Many of my coworkers have basically said "F your kickback" and declined to participate.
posted by Knowyournuts at 10:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
This will turn something you do for fun into ... not fun anymore. It could actually _reduce_ your desire to hike and your time hiking.
In other words, just like trying to motivate employees with awards has backfired, this could backfire too.
Competition can be really motivating, for some, if they had positive experiences winning while growing up. Not so much otherwise. For the rest of us, it can have the opposite effect.
posted by amtho at 10:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
In other words, just like trying to motivate employees with awards has backfired, this could backfire too.
Competition can be really motivating, for some, if they had positive experiences winning while growing up. Not so much otherwise. For the rest of us, it can have the opposite effect.
posted by amtho at 10:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Forbes: How to Demotivate Your Best Employees
Not about fitness trackers, or fitness, but illustrates how a well-intentioned program can have the opposite of its intended effect.
posted by amtho at 10:43 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Not about fitness trackers, or fitness, but illustrates how a well-intentioned program can have the opposite of its intended effect.
posted by amtho at 10:43 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
So my employer rolled out Virgin Pulse this year, across a multistate region. In some places, NBD, people signed up for it and connected their FitBits etc. But here, oh my. So many people were concerned with the privacy agreements, the invasiveness of having to log into an app daily, etc. to "earn" their health incentive (we get a contribution to our HSA, but no one knows what it will be for 2019 yet so it's unclear what we'll "earn" for the effort). Spouses/adult benefit recipients have to do it, too. Formerly it's been a lot less involved to get the credit.
This generated the single most comments ever on our CEO's blog, running about 9:1 being upset/unhappy/angry/concerned, so you're not alone. Management has also pushed it heavily here.
The quarterly challenge we had so far was based on steps; you get credit for participating as long as you self-enter steps once a week (no tracker required). If you're active/enter steps on a regular basis and do your "cards" and track your "healthy habits," you can accrue points that way, maybe 150 a day or so. The have a health risk assessment that earns you points. You can just say you don't know for a lot of the questions if you decide to do it (BP, cholesterol, etc.). We get a lot of points for going to see a doctor and inputting that we had a visit, but many many people are creeped out in the extreme by that one and aren't doing it.
TL;DR: some people opted out, but their insurance will effectively cost more next year (works out to about double here if you don't get the incentive and are single). If you can handle that financially, it's a solid choice. For those who can't, you can opt in light by not connecting a tracker and just self reporting what you choose (or looking at recipes or other stuff to earn points). If you are active and choose to report you activity, you'll earn points pretty quickly. Supposedly Virgin doesn't share your health data back to employer/insurer. Feel free to memail if you want specifics, but it sounds like you don't really want to do this. If you can afford not to, it's fine to opt out.
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 10:46 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
This generated the single most comments ever on our CEO's blog, running about 9:1 being upset/unhappy/angry/concerned, so you're not alone. Management has also pushed it heavily here.
The quarterly challenge we had so far was based on steps; you get credit for participating as long as you self-enter steps once a week (no tracker required). If you're active/enter steps on a regular basis and do your "cards" and track your "healthy habits," you can accrue points that way, maybe 150 a day or so. The have a health risk assessment that earns you points. You can just say you don't know for a lot of the questions if you decide to do it (BP, cholesterol, etc.). We get a lot of points for going to see a doctor and inputting that we had a visit, but many many people are creeped out in the extreme by that one and aren't doing it.
TL;DR: some people opted out, but their insurance will effectively cost more next year (works out to about double here if you don't get the incentive and are single). If you can handle that financially, it's a solid choice. For those who can't, you can opt in light by not connecting a tracker and just self reporting what you choose (or looking at recipes or other stuff to earn points). If you are active and choose to report you activity, you'll earn points pretty quickly. Supposedly Virgin doesn't share your health data back to employer/insurer. Feel free to memail if you want specifics, but it sounds like you don't really want to do this. If you can afford not to, it's fine to opt out.
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 10:46 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
how can I explain why I am not opting in in a way that minimizes that fallout?
I think if it were me I'd go another way. Say you can't use their system because you already use one of your own. May involve some minor lying.
I don't know if this is possible within your system but "Hey I am already plugged in to my own fitness tracking/apps/devices and really don't want to change over because I use the one my whole family is using and I'm already doing this. So! I understand why this is important, is there another way I can participate as part of the team without using/wearing a tracker?" and see where it goes. Keeping your non work time private is absolutely an OK thing to want and even demand. Maybe another possible compromise is just "OK I'll wear the stupid thing at work."
posted by jessamyn at 10:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think if it were me I'd go another way. Say you can't use their system because you already use one of your own. May involve some minor lying.
I don't know if this is possible within your system but "Hey I am already plugged in to my own fitness tracking/apps/devices and really don't want to change over because I use the one my whole family is using and I'm already doing this. So! I understand why this is important, is there another way I can participate as part of the team without using/wearing a tracker?" and see where it goes. Keeping your non work time private is absolutely an OK thing to want and even demand. Maybe another possible compromise is just "OK I'll wear the stupid thing at work."
posted by jessamyn at 10:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the responses so far. Just a followup to say that the program and app will link to other trackers you may already have, like fitbit or whatever.
posted by headnsouth at 11:02 AM on April 9, 2018
posted by headnsouth at 11:02 AM on April 9, 2018
We had some fitness goal teams at my work, and I successfully opted out. Luckily it didn't get into the territory of affecting our insurance. A few things that helped:
- I already exercise a lot so there isn't really a fitness benefit for me using a tracker. Like you, I like to just walk because I want to walk, not make it a competition. I explained that the competitive aspect would take the fun out of my already healthy lifestyle and people left it alone.
- I was happy to join group events like taking a 20 minute walk at lunch so I was still considered a team player.
- If people were pushy I explained that I had privacy concerns about the specific tool we were using, which conveniently for me had had a high profile hack.
Good luck!
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:07 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
- I already exercise a lot so there isn't really a fitness benefit for me using a tracker. Like you, I like to just walk because I want to walk, not make it a competition. I explained that the competitive aspect would take the fun out of my already healthy lifestyle and people left it alone.
- I was happy to join group events like taking a 20 minute walk at lunch so I was still considered a team player.
- If people were pushy I explained that I had privacy concerns about the specific tool we were using, which conveniently for me had had a high profile hack.
Good luck!
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:07 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
No, of course you shouldn't do this. The privacy issue is so obvious it doesn't need to be calculated.
Since you don't seem to like confrontation I would just ignore until someone buttonholes you, then say "no thanks", but if that fails, resort to the truth: you're not willing to share your private data.
posted by tel3path at 11:10 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Since you don't seem to like confrontation I would just ignore until someone buttonholes you, then say "no thanks", but if that fails, resort to the truth: you're not willing to share your private data.
posted by tel3path at 11:10 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Look, if people only opt out on an individual, if-they-can-afford-it basis, then insurers and companies will gradually - probably not that gradually - move to only insuring those who are willing to, or feel they must, do what's asked. This will gradually become the default, and people who won't or can't participate will, bit by bit, fall outside "the system".
Health insurance isn't optional. That means that this system could eventually become non-optional. If you see a problem with that, don't just take care of yourself and ignore the problem of other people having to go along with this. Eventually, you won't have a choice, and the side effects will be significant.
This kind of tracking will become normalized, and this data will become just as hackable as, I don't know, other large tempting data sets.
It's not that easy to imagine how such a data set might be misused -- but that failure of imagination doesn't mean it _won't_ be misused, just as a failure to see how other large datasets could be turned to nefarious purpose didn't mean it didn't happen.
So, yes, consider your own options, but not _just_ for yourself.
posted by amtho at 11:12 AM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
Health insurance isn't optional. That means that this system could eventually become non-optional. If you see a problem with that, don't just take care of yourself and ignore the problem of other people having to go along with this. Eventually, you won't have a choice, and the side effects will be significant.
This kind of tracking will become normalized, and this data will become just as hackable as, I don't know, other large tempting data sets.
It's not that easy to imagine how such a data set might be misused -- but that failure of imagination doesn't mean it _won't_ be misused, just as a failure to see how other large datasets could be turned to nefarious purpose didn't mean it didn't happen.
So, yes, consider your own options, but not _just_ for yourself.
posted by amtho at 11:12 AM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
MyFitnessPal was literally just hacked. Data from Strava was used to identify secret US military installations. These are things you can point to and say there is a real risk to your privacy and you don't want to participate.
posted by vogon_poet at 11:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by vogon_poet at 11:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
I would also resist this. Just a no thank you I'm not interested should be enough. For years my husband's workplace has offered these incentives and more (if you do everything they offer you could probably get a grand off of the price of your health insurance over the year). This year they said given the data they've received from their employees they're bumping up our premiums and restricting who has access to the plus plan. Nothing is free. If they're paying you, they have their reasons and they're probably not in your best interest.
posted by Bistyfrass at 12:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Bistyfrass at 12:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you feel you have to explain beyond "no thanks," or "this won't work for my department," I would say no due to one or more of: privacy concerns, an encroachment upon off-the-clock time, or unfair pressure upon those with disabilities and other health issues.
posted by kapers at 12:28 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by kapers at 12:28 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Absolutely do not do this! Here is how I got burned by something very similar a few years ago. I signed up for an insurance discount through work (a big corporation insuring through Blue Cross). The promise was simple enough: answer a basic questionnaire about your health and take a basic blood test, get 20% off your monthly premiums and free goodies such as the ones they are offering to you. The reality was soooo different, here are just a couple examples:
One, I was "diagnosed" with depression. It was based on several sleep-related questions such as "How long would it take to fall asleep if you lay down in the afternoon". I chose "5 minutes" because I have a super active kid who doesn't let me get much sleep and also I am really good at relaxation and visualization techniques so I can fall asleep quickly. But the letter I got back stated that based on the questionnaire I likely had depression. So now I have a permanent record as someone with a pre-existing condition which I am sure will at some point be used against me. I've been blessed with good mental health and I have always enjoyed a lot of energy and a positive outlook but good luck proving that.
Two, the blood test was all about cholesterol, and my cholesterol is excellent so I got very good results. Nevertheless, the insurer wrote up a requirement for me to improve my cholesterol next year, or else my insurance rates would go up. And if I didn't reach my "targets" the year after that my rates would go up even more. These improvement targets make no sense for someone whose cholesterol is already on the low end of the normal range but again, good luck proving that.
In case I need to point it out, this was the outcome for a healthy person with no pre-existing conditions! I can only imagine what my "diagnoses", "targets" and rate hikes would be otherwise.
So yeah, never ever take any "deals" offered by your insurance company or your work. If political fallout is your main concern then play up a medical issue... doesn't matter if it's true or not, they are not playing fair so do what you have to do. Personally, I would write a short, neutral-tone note to HR, cc'd to VP and marked "Confidential", stating that you have a long-standing medical issue that flares up if you don't follow a very specific regimen so regrettably you cannot participate.
posted by rada at 12:48 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
One, I was "diagnosed" with depression. It was based on several sleep-related questions such as "How long would it take to fall asleep if you lay down in the afternoon". I chose "5 minutes" because I have a super active kid who doesn't let me get much sleep and also I am really good at relaxation and visualization techniques so I can fall asleep quickly. But the letter I got back stated that based on the questionnaire I likely had depression. So now I have a permanent record as someone with a pre-existing condition which I am sure will at some point be used against me. I've been blessed with good mental health and I have always enjoyed a lot of energy and a positive outlook but good luck proving that.
Two, the blood test was all about cholesterol, and my cholesterol is excellent so I got very good results. Nevertheless, the insurer wrote up a requirement for me to improve my cholesterol next year, or else my insurance rates would go up. And if I didn't reach my "targets" the year after that my rates would go up even more. These improvement targets make no sense for someone whose cholesterol is already on the low end of the normal range but again, good luck proving that.
In case I need to point it out, this was the outcome for a healthy person with no pre-existing conditions! I can only imagine what my "diagnoses", "targets" and rate hikes would be otherwise.
So yeah, never ever take any "deals" offered by your insurance company or your work. If political fallout is your main concern then play up a medical issue... doesn't matter if it's true or not, they are not playing fair so do what you have to do. Personally, I would write a short, neutral-tone note to HR, cc'd to VP and marked "Confidential", stating that you have a long-standing medical issue that flares up if you don't follow a very specific regimen so regrettably you cannot participate.
posted by rada at 12:48 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
I am you. The way I get around this at my work, where they don't give us wearables but where there are often MapMyRun or other app-based challenges, is to basically say, in a very polite way, what you said - basically, that I'm athletic but not competitive, and that tracking my activities/steps/miles takes all the fun out of exercise for me. I have never had anybody at my work try to convince me to do one of the challenges once I frame it like that.
posted by pdb at 1:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by pdb at 1:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
uuuuugh. Those things are already creepy AF without the damn workplace getting involved. If this happens where I am, I'm going to ask my doctor to write a note that says he advises all his patients not to wear a tracker and he assumes no rational employer would ask employees to act against medical advice.
posted by Don Pepino at 2:31 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by Don Pepino at 2:31 PM on April 9, 2018
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