Consumerism 4.0 is here. In a recent post, we discussed how viewing your employees as health and benefits consumers can help you make sense of the current explosion of digital consumer health applications. That post lays the foundation for what I’ll discuss here: how to design and execute a sustainable health program strategy that delivers for your people and your organization. Start with three guiding principles:
To translate these principles into action, try “human-centered design thinking.” You’re probably already practicing it to some extent. We discussed this approach in recent webinar in our Health Insight series Cracking the Design Code to Engage Employees. There are five aspects to human-centered design thinking. They’re not steps to follow in any particular order; rather they constitute a new way to approach problem-solving in your benefits operation. It may be challenging for your benefit team at first, but the ideation, iteration and interplay that is inherent in human-centered design can produce more creative and insight-driven solutions – and a more satisfying experience for the people involved in the process.
We’re big fans for human-centered design thinking at Mercer. It’s the creative force behind Mercer Marketplace 365+ and a host of new solutions that we’re developing in collaboration with our clients and strategic partners. As you start to consider how you might infuse design thinking into your own health and benefits program, feel free to reach out! In today’s complex healthcare system, when you connect stakeholders and give them license to think broadly and creatively, big problems get solved. Care to join us?
Africa