Thrive is placing wearables at the heart of its strategy to support employee health as part of its ‘Wellness Era’ initiative.
“We’re not afraid to try new things,” says Cassie Gasson, Thrive’s Co-CEO. “At Thrive, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset, and their wellbeing is directly linked to our success.”
The programme – designed to reward staff for building sustainable healthy habits – leverages a partnership with fitness wearable firm Whoop to track metrics such as activity, sleep quality, stress levels, and physical strain.
By supporting wellness, Thrive anticipates returns through enhanced productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction—underpinned by data-driven insights from wearables.
Balancing wellness incentives and employee privacy
The collaboration with Whoop allows employees to voluntarily opt into personalised tracking challenges, with cash prizes awarded for achieving goals tied to sleep, movement, and recovery.
Participants receive Whoop bands, which monitor physiological data – including heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and recovery scores – to provide actionable feedback. For instance, the Snooze for Success challenge rewards employees for maintaining high sleep scores, while Move More Monday incentivises a 45-minute activity session to kickstart the week.
Crucially, the wearable tech does more than track progress—it flags potential wellbeing issues in real time. If an employee’s data indicates prolonged sleep deprivation or elevated stress levels, Thrive intervenes with tailored support, such as wellbeing kits, spa vouchers, or access to mental health resources.
Those who opt in can join 12 monthly challenges aligned with themes like Healthy Eating Week and Stress Awareness Month. Each challenge is communicated via internal campaigns and leadership broadcasts, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose.
The data collected is anonymised and aggregated for company-wide analysis, ensuring individual privacy. Thrive uses these insights to refine its wellness offerings, such as adjusting challenge difficulty or introducing new activities based on collective trends.
Complementary programmes for broader engagement
While wearables form the initiative’s technological backbone, Thrive has introduced supplementary schemes to ensure inclusivity.
Employees who decline tracking can still participate in the “Sport Back” Programme, which reimburses sports like badminton or rock climbing, or join subsidised running events and family-oriented challenges.
Adam Dobinson, Learning and Development Business Partner at The Bannatyne Group, commented: “Thrive is demonstrating that putting employee wellbeing first leads to a more productive, innovative, and successful business.”
Thrive’s experiment reflects a broader corporate shift towards quantified health. According to a 2023 Deloitte report, 30% of UK employers now incorporate devices like wearables into their employee wellness strategies. Early internal data suggests participants report higher energy levels and job satisfaction.
“True wellbeing is a continuous journey, not a fleeting trend. That’s why we’re committed to cultivating a sustainable culture of wellbeing and we’re constantly looking for innovative ways to improve their lives, both inside and outside of work,” concludes Gasson.
(Photo by Denys Nevozhai)
See also: Samsung and Stanford Medicine advance sleep apnea research
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