CHALLENGE: BREAK DOWN BARRIERS TO MOLD A HEALTHY CULTURE, ENGAGE DISPERSED EMPLOYEESNorfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary is the fourth largest railway in the U.S, operating approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia. With a large, geographically dispersed workforce, Norfolk Southern was struggling to engage its 30,000 employees and build a strong culture of health and well-being within the organization. Approximately 25,000 of its employees are directly involved with railroad operations and are moving targets, spending most of their time traveling with no home office to report to and no easy access to computers and email.

Mary Pitman, Manager of Health Promotion at Norfolk Southern, was tasked with taking the company’s 100-year-old corporate culture and breaking down the barriers to making healthier choices while fostering engagement. But creating a healthy culture can be difficult even when employees are in the same location. As Norfolk Southern found, it’s especially challenging across thousands of miles of train tracks when most employees are in a different, non-centralized location every day.

CASE STUDY Norfolk Southern

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30K25K

81%71%

2

10,600

total employees

field employees

participating employees getting the recommended

amount of vigorous aerobic activity

participating employees meeting or exceeding

recommended levels of physical activity

average number of fewer sick days

participating employees take

annually

employees’ average daily steps

Norfolk Southern at a Glance

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CASE STUDY / Norfolk Southern

“At the railroad, safety is No. 1. Healthier employees are safer

employees. If you’re healthy and fit, you’ll be less likely to injure

yourself in a slip, trip or fall. And if this does happen, the healthy employees recover much easier

from such incidents.”

– Mary Pitman Manager of Health Promotion

Norfolk Southern

Beyond culture, Norfolk Southern also wanted to improve the health

and well-being of its employees. It frequently held weight loss contests

for employees with varied degrees of success, finding that that the same

people would be finalists each time, and that the majority of employees didn’t

benefit from simple weight loss contests. In a company where less than 5 percent

of employees accounted for 56 percent of healthcare costs, these types of contests

simply weren’t having the desired impact.

Pitman decided it was time for a shift, and sought to mold a culture where employees encouraged

each other in making healthier lifestyle choices. Rather than creating a single event that could be

gamed – like intentionally gaining weight before the first weigh-in of a weight loss challenge – the company

wanted to encourage employees in taking simple, steps toward healthy lifestyles.

“At the railroad, safety is No. 1,” said Pitman. “Healthier employees are safer employees. If you’re healthy and fit, you’ll

be less likely to injure yourself in a slip, trip or fall. And if this does happen, the healthy employees recover much easier from such

incidents,” she added.

Based on the idea that weight loss doesn’t guarantee health – and that it’s not the only measurement of well-being – Pitman wanted to

replace the local annual “Biggest Loser” contests with a more holistic program across the company that would help more employees take

action toward better health across all areas, including physical, mental and social well-being. Pitman wanted employees to approach well-being

as a journey to “gain” good health, rather than a quest to “lose” weight.

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CASE STUDY / Norfolk Southern

SOLUTION: SUPPORT HEALTH AND CULTURE WITH FUN, COLLABORATIVE TOOLS

“Virgin Pulse delivers robust reporting, and it’s so easy to

administer. Virgin Pulse administers employees’ rewards, and I feel

confident that they’re well-earned rewards. It’s really the best in terms

of bang for the buck.”

- Mary Pitman Manager of Health Promotion

Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern launched its WellNS Program in 2008, aiming to help employees improve their health by supporting them in knowing their biometrics, eating healthier, getting active, and quitting tobacco.

While WellNS was successful, Pitman wanted to further these efforts and began looking to implement a program that would help create a culture of health that empowered and united employees and their spouses to be healthy by removing the barriers to entry. She also wanted to connect her dispersed employee population with a tool that didn’t require regular access to a personal computer, and was simple enough to engage those with limited technical know-how.

It was key to Norfolk Southern’s employee well-being strategy that the program become part of employees’ daily routine, offering them simple, actionable steps toward better health. At the same time, the company wanted a fun program that kept employees engaged on a daily basis, driving long-term, sustainable behavior change and well-being across the company.

In 2011, Norfolk Southern added Virgin Pulse to its employee well-being and engagement strategy. Employees could easily access their personalized portal from their work or personal computer where they could learn steps to take to improve their well-being, monitor their progress, engage in company-wide challenges, connect with colleagues, and earn rewards for participation. Wireless, on-site “HealthZone” computers were set up across their system, allowing employees to upload validated biometric and activity data.

“Virgin Pulse engages people in a positive way. It’s more collaborative than competitive,” said Pitman,

who today uses Virgin Pulse to hold corporate step challenges that segment employees by their average

activity levels. The challenges support employees by encouraging them to be a little more active, helping

them set realistic, achievable milestones, combatting the former weight-loss challenges that alienated most

employees.

“Other programs go to great extremes where there’s just one winner, and it’s isolating to other employees – that’s extremely

demotivating. Virgin Pulse sets daily activity thresholds that the majority of people can reach,” Pitman said.

Pitman has also been impressed by Virgin Pulse’s administrative component.

“Virgin Pulse delivers robust reporting, and it’s so easy to administer,” said Pitman. “Virgin Pulse administers employees’ rewards, and I feel confident

that they’re well-earned rewards. It’s really the best in terms of bang for the buck,” she added.

© Virgin Pulse 2014. All rights reserved.4

CASE STUDY / Norfolk Southern

RESULTS: HEALTHY, ENGAGED AND UNITED EMPLOYEES

“We were surprised to see just how effective the program was at creating a culture of well-being. Virgin Pulse has given us a really positive way for our employees to interact and it’s truly gone viral.”

– Mary Pitman

Manager of Health Promotion Norfolk Southern

Today, the Norfolk Southern employee population is healthier, and more engaged and united than ever before.

Employees participating in the Virgin Pulse program are averaging more than 10,600 daily steps. Eighty-one percent of participating employees are getting the recommended amount of vigorous aerobic activity and 71 percent are meeting or exceeding recommended levels of physical activity. Sixty-three percent of participating employees have maintained their blood pressure measurements, and an impressive 60 percent have improved it. Seventy-seven percent of participating employees have maintained their body mass index (BMI), while 18 percent have improved it.

As a result, participating employees are missing less work, averaging more than two fewer sick

days per year than non-participating employees. Healthcare costs for non-union employees (union

employees are covered through the union) are down from $247.64 per member per month in

2010, to $240.08 per member per month in 2012, despite steadily increasing national prices.

Norfolk Southern has also yielded some unexpected benefits from its more active employees.

“Now, employees will walk to locations to get in their steps instead of drive,” Pitman said. “The side benefit of this is that

we’re also saving on gas and maintenance costs on company vehicles.”

In addition to Virgin Pulse, Norfolk Southern’s WellNS program has several other elements supporting all aspects of employees’

well-being. The company has a robust partnership with Weight Watchers, which it cross-promotes with Virgin Pulse. To help drive

engagement in both programs, employees who attend an on-site Weight Watchers meeting are offered a free activity tracking device.

If they’re not already Virgin Pulse members, they’re also prompted to enroll in the program at the on-site meeting.

Norfolk Southern also has its own “Power Train” program, which encourages employees to participate in fitness-related charitable events

in return for a $1,000 charitable donation and additional points within the Virgin Pulse program. It’s also offering on-site fitness classes, and locally-

grown organic produce to help make the healthy choice easy for employees at work.

“We were surprised to see just how effective the program was at creating a culture of well-being,” said Pitman. “Virgin Pulse has given us a really positive way for our

employees to interact and it’s truly gone viral.”

www.virginpulse.com

Average sick hours per employees in 2013

Non-Participants

Virgin Pulse Participants

96.66

85.14