An Opportunity for Wellbeing to Make a Daily Impact

CVS Health’s 2018 acquisition of Aetna led to the merging of employee groups and benefits programs just as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the daily lives of their workforce, many of whom spend 8-10 hours on their feet as front-line essential workers. Since Aetna had an existing relationship with Grokker, Tenney’s team —already in the process of exploring more holistic, actionable wellbeing programs— decided to expand the offering to all CVS Health colleagues to help them cope with their higher stress and added responsibilities.

They introduced the entire workforce to Grokker through a customized, charitable giving-based Gratitude Challenge designed to lift employees’ spirits and motivate them to work towards a shared Grokker Wellness Minutes goal. “We realized that there wasn’t really a lot that people could look forward to,” Tenney says, “but there were actually lots of little things to be happy about or grateful for every day. Grokker was a really big part of us being able to execute on that,” she adds. By making it fun and rewarding to carve out time to breathe, meditate, stretch, find a healthy recipe, or sneak in a workout, Grokker helped inspire people to give back while focusing on their own wellbeing at an uncertain time when not much else was in their control.

Results That Matter

For a company whose innovative and cutting edge approach to taking care of customers and employees shines through in the best of times, their response in the wake of the pandemic was nothing short of exemplary. Within seven months, CVS Health achieved over 42,500 registrations (14% of their eligible population) and made a $25k donation to their Employee Relief Fund.

The initiative was really successful,” reports Tenney, who received strong endto-end administrative support from Grokker’s customer success team, who, aside from designing and deploying the challenge on their app, managed a seamless prize fulfillment process through Tango Card and handled direct employee email communications to promote record participation and engagement.

People liked receiving the Grokker email notifications and the ‘I Did This’ for instant gratification.” And since social connectedness is one of CVS Health’s 6 Dimensions of Well-Being (part of Aetna’s legacy program) Tenney appreciated Grokker’s Group Classes feature. “This was big,” she says, as “utilization with the program was really high for emotional health and social connectedness!”

Tenney notes that with Grokker, “there’s no barrier, as people don’t need to have certain devices to partake. It can be tricky trying to reach retail employees because they’re in a store, not necessarily in front of a computer.” Accessible via any computer, connected device or streaming service, “the fact that Grokker is so flexible and versatile makes it very appealing to our colleagues.”

While CVS Health has seen incredibly positive results in the form of utilization, engagement and interaction within the product, “what’s been the most outstanding,” Tenney says, “is the outpouring of employee testimonials and quotes on the impact Grokker has had on their health and their gratitude to CVS Health for offering a program that truly improves their everyday life at work and at home.”

Moving forward in the wake of the pandemic, Tenney plans to continue incorporating Grokker into CVS Health’s key wellbeing initiatives. “We want to keep our colleagues healthy year-round, to keep coming back to Grokker and motivated to prioritize their wellbeing!”

Testimonials from CVS Health Employees:

“I am enjoying this challenge so much. Usually the wellness events are step challenges to get moving, but actually, it’s nice to slow down since mostly our jobs are standing on our feet for 10 hours. This app makes it easy so I actually do feel better, even though it is ‘cold and flu season’ in our business.”
— from Slow Down Challenge

“LOVE the Grokker workouts! Thank you SO much. Take Care and keep up the awesome work (outs)!”
— from customer support

“Such Great Advice! I will be sure and share kind words each day with my co-workers!”
— from Work Well From Home by Kara Mohr

“I liked the videos, the feedback from the experts, and the variety of activities in the challenge. Some days, I work 8 or 9 hours on my feet and didn’t feel like doing strenuous activities after work. Other days, I was off, or only worked four or six hours so I wanted more physical activity to participate in. I loved the feedback, the positive interaction, and motivation the experts provided.”
— from 15 Minutes a Day to a Happy, Healthy YOU Challenge

“Glad this is here to motivate me to do something I have wanted to do for a long time.”
— from Sugar Reset Overview by Sue Mah