Recent data shows that employers are opening their budgets to accommodate the growing trend of adding wearables to employee wellness programs.  According to a study by Salesforce, 86% of employers who have adopted wearables plan to increase their spending for the devices over the next 12 months.

To be sure, many employers are also shopping for wearables for the first time and looking into the cost of these devices. According to Springbuk, the cost of a device can range from $50 to $500 and the average cost is said to be around $85. The “ideal” price that employers are seeking is about $79.

Adding smartwatches to wellness plans will definitely increase the costs, depending on the size of the employer’s workforce. A study by the National Business Group on Health puts the cost of a wellness plan with wearables at between $600-$800 per employee.

Springbuk advises that the cost will depend on whether the employer will add wearables just for a division or factory or for their entire workforce. Also, some organizations may be eligible for discounts.

So far, about 35% of employers with wellness plans have integrated smartwatches into their programs with the specific goals of reducing healthcare costs and improving employee health.

“Employers are integrating wearable devices into their workplaces to increase worker productivity, increase worker efficiency, and engage employees in corporate wellness initiatives,” according to the Springbuk report.

More data is emerging showing the concrete benefits of wearables. For example, a study points out that employees with wearables were 8.5% more productive than employees without wearables. One report indicates that 76% of employers show improvements in business performance since deploying wearables in the enterprise.

Another vital concern, do employers understand how to make best use of wearables and track the data they generate? According to the Salesforce study only 8% of firms that adopt these devices indicate they know how to gain actionable insights from the volume of employee and customer data produced by wearable technology. We hope our goal of spreading medical technology education can help this number increase with time!

How Much Do Wearable Devices Cost an Employer