As behavior analysts and business professionals, training can be a large part of a day. While necessary for skill acquisition and competent performance, often attending a traditional training involves engaging in several harmful behaviors. Attendees are often sitting for long periods of time, eating snack foods and sugar-filled drinks while listening, and slouching in their uncomfortable, ergonomically-unfriendly chairs. These behaviors can have harmful effects on the health and wellness of the very employees that the training is intended to benefit. Fortunately, behavioral economics may have some suggestions for how to help attendees engage in healthier behaviors. According to Reed, Niileksela, & Kaplan (2013), behavioral economics is where economic principles and behavior change science come together to produce practical strategies. In behavioral economics, a "nudge" is a way to influence behavior without providing additional punitive consequences (Arno & Thomas, 2016). Nudges have been used as low-cost, broad-impact strategy for helping large groups of people make healthier choices without adding restrictions. This is especially applicable to training settings in which trainers do not have control over restricting or punishing unhealthy behaviors but still wish to make a positive change in the choices their attendees make during the training period. For those interested in additional information about nudges, types of nudges, and how to apply nudges to other settings, see the reference and resource list at the bottom of this blog. In the following lines, several nudges are presented that could help trainers create healthy training environments to encourage healthy behaviors such as sitting up straight, eating and drinking lower sugar items, and standing up frequently.
Providing prompts to stand up or to sit up straight during trainings. PostureMinder or SlideCarnival are tools that can help you integrate these prompts into slide training PPT decks. Audio cues could also be set on smartphones to prompt standing/sitting up behaviors intermittetly throughout the training. Post a picture or visual aide next to the projector screen or lecturn that shows proper ergonomic posture in the chairs/desks provided. Upon arrival, have a welcome slide that includes a link to The Standing Initiative. https://behaviorfit.com/standinginitiative/Make this even more effective by also using PollEverywhere to have a livestream social comparison of the attendees actively signing up. If doing multiple trainings for connected groups (i.e. different departments or teams), add a visual representation of how the number of signups in one group compares to other groups. Provide "default choices" that are healthier than traditional high-sugar snacks and drinks. For instance, set water bottles and fruit at attendees' seats. If you don't want to provide sodas, don't! If you must, then consider putting the sodas or sugary coffees out of sight so that attendees need to request them. Use labels to show nutritional content of each available choice. Final thoughts:If you are reading this and wondering why to care, think about the fact that healthy employees are more likely to show up to work, produce high quality performance, perform work tasks under pressure, and stay with the company over time! Investing in employees is worth the extra resources; nudges provide ways to invest in lots of employees with very little cost. Resources and References:Arno, A., & Thomas, S. (2016). The efficacy of nudge theory strategies in influencing adult dietary behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 16(1), 676. Reed, D. D., Niileksela, C. R., & Kaplan, B. A. (2013). Behavioral Economics. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 6(1), 34-54. Simon, C., & Tagliabue, M. (2018). Feeding the behavioral revolution: Contributions of behavior analysis to nudging and vice versa. Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, 2(1), 91-97. Thaler, Richard H., and Cass R. Sunstein. Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT Yales University Press, 1999.
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