Gamified Employee Wellness Initiative

Researchers wanted to investigate the impact of a new gamified employee wellness application on physical activity and social support among remote software development teams.

Initially, employees worked in their standard home-office setups with no structured wellness program. At a later date, the company introduced a mobile application that awarded points and virtual badges for physical steps completed and social milestones reached. The researchers monitored employee behaviors during both phases.

The researchers recorded two types of behavior:

• Physical activity was measured using synchronized wearable smartwatches that recorded the daily duration (in minutes) of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
• Virtual peer support was measured quantitatively by counting the total number of encouraging comments and "high-fives" sent through the application's community feed.