GLP-1s are shaping a new era of wearable benefits

It was 2010. Obama was president. Rihanna was on the radio. (Remember when she used to release new albums nearly every year?) And everyone was trying to get 10,000 steps.

This era of Millennial optimism was also the era of Fitbit. In the years after the step tracker device first came on the market in 2009, it also gained a foothold in corporate wellness. Employers like Target, Barclays, and Aon offered Fitbits to their employees in the hopes of incentivizing good behavior and, ultimately, better health.

Today, Fitbit is owned by Google. While employers are still incorporating wearable technology like Fitbits into their wellness programs, it’s hard to ignore how the emergence of GLP-1s for weight loss is affecting those offerings.

Like Fitbit, Weight Watchers is also retooling its programs for the GLP-1 era. It’s only fitting, then, that the two are now partnering together.

WW members will gain access to Fitbit. Weight Watchers recently announced that eligible members of its employer-sponsored program can receive a Fitbit Air if they hit certain milestones, such as tracking food on a weekly basis and increasing their step count.

The hope is that adding Fitbit to the mix will help employers boost engagement and participation among their employee population, the company said.

Weight Watchers has been offering prescriptions to GLP-1 medications for weight loss since 2023. While not all program participants are on a GLP-1, the drugs are “definitely top of mind in a lot of ways,” Scott Honken, chief commercial officer for Weight Watchers, told HR Brew.

Tracking nutrition, movement, and sleep may help members see “sustained outcomes” on the medications, he suggested.

While Weight Watchers members already have the option to connect their personal devices to the program, this is the first time in recent years that the company’s enterprise arm has partnered directly with a wearable manufacturer, Honken said.

The price point of Fitbit was a big draw, he added. A price of about $100 “becomes easier to fit in when you’re looking at…our subscription models are somewhere between $20 and $75, typically a month.”

Wearable tech manufacturers with a higher price point than Fitbit are marketing their products to HR teams, as well. Oura, which makes a ring that retails starting at $399, is now available as an employer-sponsored product through Workday Wellness.

“Oura can complement care employees may already receive, including GLP-1 medications,” Dor Kilroy, Oura’s chief commercial officer, said via email. She noted that the company launched a separate program focused on insights relevant to GLP-1 patients this summer.

Employers are increasingly incorporating GLP-1 coverage into their benefits strategy, recognizing that it’s a much sought-after medication among the workforce. Walmart recently said it would cover GLP-1s for diabetes patients at no cost, though it’s not covering them for weight loss. Other employers have pulled back on GLP-1 coverage in recent months, citing cost concerns.

Honken predicted medical costs will be one way employers measure the ROI of offering Fitbit alongside Weight Watchers.