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Over 33 minutes on At Work, Under Pressure, Clark Lagemann and host Jessi Beyer dig into why programs that look good on paper so rarely move the needle, and what behavior change actually requires.
The 80% Problem.
Here's the math most programs ignore. At any given time, only about 20% of a population is in the Action stage of change. The other 80% sit across four earlier stages, from "I don't have a problem" to "I'm getting ready."
So a program built on step challenges and meal logging is designed for one employee in five. The other four aren't resistant. They're somewhere else in the process, and they're often the same people driving your highest healthcare costs.
Clark's point on the show is that small wins aren't a consolation prize. They're how the brain rewires. Each completed action delivers a reward, the reward reinforces the loop, and repetition moves the behavior from deliberate to automatic. Ask someone to overhaul their life on day one and you've built a program that manufactures failure by day four.
What Clark and Jessi Covered.
- Why there's no silver bullet for workplace wellness, and why pizza parties aren't a strategy
- How Avidon grew out of a physician practice focused on behavior change beyond medication
- Why "non-compliance" is the wrong way to frame the problem
- How motivational interviewing connects change to what actually matters to someone
- Why readiness for change drives engagement more than program design does
- What workplace wellness has to do with recruitment, retention, and profitability
- Why AI is a useful thought partner but no substitute for human accountability
- Why mental health stays harder to see, discuss, and support than physical health
🎧 Listen to the full episode of At Work, Under Pressure with Clark Lagemann.
Related: why habits don't stick at work · Avidon for employers
