Working your best in one area of life is critical to success in any area of life, be it behind the wheel of a McLaren Formula 1 car, in the office, or even at home. However, when the demands and pressures of daily living get in the way, it is often much easier said than done to make lifestyle choices that will enable us to perform at our best. Since 2015, McLaren has identified health and wellbeing as critical to performance. However, how can you offer a health and wellbeing program to a highly mobilized workforce (something that all companies have to deal with in the wake of Covid? -19)? In close cooperation with our strategic partner Salus Optima, we have developed a digital solution that was developed precisely for this.
Face the challenge
“Health and wellbeing are an integral part of our strategy for building a sustainable team,” said McLaren F1 Race Engineer and Head of Health, Performance and Sustainability, Tom Stallard. “In motorsport, employee loyalty is a distinguishing feature. The last thing you want is to lose talented people because the stress on their physical and mental wellbeing makes them unable to continue their work. “
“There is a direct correlation between a healthy, happy workforce and increased productivity and a reduction in absenteeism,” said Kris Shuttleworth, Salus Optima Health and Human Performance Director. “The effects of covid-19 on our working life only intensified this. As locations, hours and requirements have changed, many people have experienced new challenges in terms of balancing work and family as well as isolation and burnout. “McLaren is no exception.
“The challenges of covid-19 go well beyond working hours,” adds Kris. “It affects what we do in all areas of our day and this is reflected in the growing consumer demand for health and wellness products as people look for lifestyle choices that can improve their physical and mental health. This is where Salus Optima comes in, a technology company that works at the interface between health and wellbeing. “
A bespoke, data-driven approach suitable for any industry
Where many commercially available wearables and apps offer a one-size-fits-all solution, Salus Optima offers digital solutions that offer targeted support and advice based on the individual requirements of each partner and their customers – something that Tom best describes: “What Salus Optima for McLaren What stood out was its ability to deliver a product that was tailored to our needs and the challenges of our people. Together we have developed a digital solution that provides each member of the travel team with personalized health and wellness advice in real time that takes into account a whole range of factors, including schedule, requirements on the route, location and travel their own personal goals and challenges. We couldn’t find this ability anywhere else. “
“Our data-driven, software-driven approach enables us to quickly develop products that are tailored to the needs of our partners, their employees and customers,” adds Kris. In addition, the inherent flexibility of Salus Optima’s technology platform means that the bespoke digital health and wellness experiences are not only reserved for an elite sports team like McLaren, but can also be deployed in any other market or industry.
At the heart of the platform are five core elements – a recommendation engine, a methodology for human performance, behavior change, coaching, and the ability to put data into context – and thus the ability to act quickly in a given market and the design required conduct research to arrive at a bespoke product with minimal viability in the shortest possible time. “This is something we’ve been doing in women’s health, workplace wellbeing, insurance, nutrition and consumer health, and in delivering lifestyle interventions in the clinical setting,” said Kris.
Real time and always relevant
For McLaren, the digital solution – a mobile app – developed in collaboration with Salus Optima will improve the racing team’s performance by providing personalized, dynamic and actionable recommendations in the following key areas: fatigue, nutrition, and physical and mental training.
“The first phase of the project will go online in May 2021. We decided to focus on fatigue, including jet lag and quality of sleep, as this affects everyone on the team, ”says Tom. “IIt’s an area where we can make an immediate difference. “ Until now, support for team members in this area has consisted of virtual coaching sessions and webinars. However, this technology offers the opportunity to go much further by providing team members with an easily accessible way to get the information they need to help tackle the effects of fatigue.
“Passive and active data collection informs about the recommendations that team members receive,” adds Tom. “In the case of fatigue, the recommendations are based on the work of the leading expert on sleep and travel fatigue, Dr. Ian Dunican who previously worked with our driver Daniel Ricciardo. We’ve essentially digitized his advice so that it can be delivered in real time on the app.
“The nice thing about the technology, however, is that the recommendations are constantly adapting to the specific needs of each individual team member,” says Tom. “So if you were to fly to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, the app would advise you a few days in advance to go to bed earlier in the evening to set your body clock forward. However, if for some reason you were unable to adjust your sleep pattern until the day before leaving, the advice would change as at that point it would actually be better to set your body clock back by going to bed later. Even if you can’t follow the ideal approach, the technology is smart enough to offer you the “next best” approach based on your circumstances. “
What’s next?
The evolution of this digital solution bears many similarities to the R&D cycle of an F1 car, which is constantly evolving based on data and feedback to optimize its performance. And just like with a new F1 car, the technology won’t reach its limits immediately, reveals Tom: “The functionality of the app is there, but we’ve hidden a lot of it for now. By simplifying the introduction, we can verify the expected performance and ensure a positive user experience. This will likely improve engagement as we introduce the following phases, which focus on nutrition, as well as physical and mental training. “
Mike Collier, Director Human Performance at McLaren Racing, confirms this feeling: “One of the biggest challenges for any app is the incredibly high churn rate: within six weeks, for example, at least 75% of the downloaded apps are deleted. The step-by-step approach we take is critical to the long-term success of the product. Early feedback helps us understand and resolve any initial issues and ensure that the digital solution reliably delivers real-time, personalized recommendations that improve employee performance. “
“As we learn more about the racing team and each member, we can add a higher level of personalization so they can further customize their experience to create a product that is perfect for them,” adds Kris. “Sleep, exercise, diet, jet lag problems, acute injuries, and mental wellbeing are all things that affect the general population around the world. So there is an opportunity to translate what we learn from working with McLaren into other markets. We are excited to use and scale the tools we have developed to support employees and consumers of other companies with digital health and wellness solutions that are perfect for every area of life. “
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