Dr. Jared White of White Dental, a leading dental practice in Tremonton, Utah, saw an opportunity to transform team culture by providing a health & wellness support system for every employee in the practice. The office culture was already one focused on holistic wellness, given the support provided to every patient, caring for them holistically above and beyond simply their dental care.
Thus, the opportunity to support all employees with a wearable-enabled corporate wellness initiative was a natural extension of Dr. White’s approach to patient care. To address fatigue in a high-stress medical office, to guide employees towards healthier sleep, more efficient recoveries, and increased resilience, White Dental provided the OWN IT Coaching System, powered by wearable technology from WHOOP to optimize employee holistic health and wellness.
Results: Employees at White Dental experienced a 20.7% increase in Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in just 8 weeks
An indication of the effectiveness of OWN IT to improve employee capacity
Across the entire employee group, staff members at White Dental experienced a 20.7% increase in heart rate variability (HRV) during the first 8 weeks of utilizing the OWN IT Coaching System. If you’re not familiar with HRV, it’s the body’s language which communicates how ready one’s body and nervous system is to take on stress & strain. A higher HRV signals higher capacity and readiness, while a lower HRV signals sub-optimal capacity. The OWN IT Coaching System, powered by best-in-class wearables, guides users to the habits and lifestyle adjustments that result in improved sleep quality, more effective recoveries, and positive HRV adaptation. The results achieved at White Dental validated these claims. By utilizing OWN IT, the entire staff at White Dental was guided to achieve holistic health & wellness improvements in a relatively short period of time. Dr. White shared in a recent interview, “it’s really quite astounding, the results to date have been amazing.”
20.7% Aggregate HRV Increase During the First 8-weeks
Additionally, by leveraging the habit suggestions presented in the OWN IT System, the White Dental team experienced a 15% increase in sleep quantity, increasing the average amount of restorative sleep per night from 32% to 47.6%. Why this matters – studies show that time spent in quality restorative sleep states like REM & Slow-wave sleep can balance metabolism, strengthen the immune system & help neutralize the negative effects of stress.
Why Did Dr. White Chose OWN IT:
A Wearable Alone Does Not Activate Sustainable Behavior Change And Optimal Health & Wellness Improvements.
“Our staff is always trying to get better and they want to improve but sometimes they’re just guessing on what they should be doing. My fear in providing each employee with just the wearable was that I didn’t think that data alone would be actionable enough and drive behavior change,” suggested Dr. White. An insightful opinion. What the doctor is referring to is validated in 3rd party studies…that having a wearable plus education, insights, and coaching support motivates and ensures behavior change more effectively than just having a wearable-ONLY. He continued, “with the OWN IT Coaching System every staff member is being guided to not only understand their physiology and wellness data but to know what action steps to take that lead them to sustainable behavior change and health & wellness improvements. “One amazing aspect of OWN IT is that the team is guided towards actions that improve their sleep quality and health, and the team can see the correlation between the action they take and the results in their health data collected by the wearable device.”
“There were a lot of ‘aha moments’ from our staff around the real life habits and decisions they’re making and then getting the data and coaching on how they could course correct to optimize their results. The insights, recommendations, and support from OWN IT’s certified coaching team was a game changer.”
Getting Started with OWN IT
As a healthcare professional, Dr. White was already investing in different types of self-training, including customized workout regimens and it was through that experience that he learned more about the importance of lifestyle choices and their impacts on sleep health and most importantly how one can manage daily actions and habits to achieve health & wellness outcomes such as HRV adaptation, more efficient recoveries, and improved readiness, all measured via a best-in-class wearable such as WHOOP.
“I just wanted to bring a lot of what I was learning to the people I really am close with,” said Dr. White. “We held a 3-day work retreat and I provided everyone in the office access to the OWN IT System, powered by WHOOP. As part of getting White Dental started OWN IT founder and Chief Performance Officer, Justin Roethlingshoefer graciously provided an initial training to show the team how to get started effectively, how to begin a journey of sustainable change, and how to maximize the use of the OWN IT System.”
Justin Roethlingshoefer has 15+ years in the Sports Performance, Sport Science, Health, Nutrition, and Fitness field. He has worked as a performance coach in the NCAA, AHL, NHL, and Olympic National Teams. Through his education, research, and practical experience Justin is the pioneer of ‘The 8 Controllables’ that guide elite athletes and corporate teams to realize how to live and operate at peak performance.
“The whole team was excited about the corporate wellness benefit being provided and it was amazing to see every employee embrace the OWN IT offering. It was also clear they had never had any employer invest in their holistic health & wellness, to provide tools not only to help them perform at higher levels with less stress and fatigue at work but to have increased capacity to take on stress & strain in all aspects of their lives. The culture transformation that I had hoped for was clearly taking hold,” said Dr. White.
Pairing Education, Coaching, and Best-in-Class Wearable Technology to Achieve Optimal Results
Powered by biometrics collected from a WHOOP strap, the OWN IT Coaching System and mobile app provides on-demand habit recommendations from eight areas of programming called ‘The 8 Controllables.’ During the initial phase of the engagement White Dental employees took part in the OWN IT System, including…staff education sessions, access to the habit recommendations within the OWN IT app and 1-on-1 coaching from expert coaches who provided data interpretation, actionable insights, and habit recommendations.
Over the course of the first 8 weeks, Dr. White described that “the team seems to have more energy, they are handling stressful office interactions more readily and the overall team culture has improved.” This outcome was as expected, but it is also reinforced in the data. Heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of one’s capacity to handle stress & strain in one’s life, had increased by over 20% in just the first 8 weeks of utilizing OWN IT. “The more intangible benefits like seeing energy, attitude, and unity increase is worth it on its own, but what’s been so reinforcing is to see the actual result of implementing the coaching and seeing it in the data. I’m so proud of my team that they were able to do that”.
OWN IT’s certified science-trained coaches were responsible for interpreting data and recommending behavior changes that increased resilience and readiness. To do this, White Dental’s team consented to share their biometric data on sleep, strain, and recovery with their OWN IT habit coaches. This allowed coaches to provide each staff member with personalized health insights and habit & behavior recommendations to increase their overall well-being.
Improving Employee Wellness with Technology
Like so many industries, there are different ways to practice Dentistry. To provide the best post-patient experience, White Dental focuses on “same-day dentistry” using tools like the E4D Dentist system and other leading and advanced technologies.
“There are so many benefits of leveraging technology and innovation in our practice, rather than just doing it how it’s always been done,” says Dr. White. “There are hundreds of great dental professionals and a clear movement by these professionals to invest in the most advanced and innovative technologies, the best materials, and processes used to improve the holistic patient experience. We’re differentiating our practice by not only investing in the best dental equipment, technology, and procedures but also in technology and systems that support each one of our employees with support systems that improve their overall health.”
Impact on Employees
“I had a few employees who have been with me for a long time and you can tell some days that they come in with a different energy than other days,” said Dr. White.
“OWN IT gives us a tremendous framework for support and wellness guidance; it was new stuff for most of the team. In particular, most of the team didn’t know what was affecting their energy, their body and nervous system’s ability to handle stress, quality of their sleep or recovery. It’s not just fluff, it was solid rubber meets the road things such as what habits to try and then they’d see the impact on their sleep health and readiness.”
Through the OWN IT app, employees have access to an OWN IT Certified coach on-demand to answer questions, assist with data interpretation and provide actionable insights so that every employee can be empowered to take on their personalized health and wellness journey.
“Because everyone’s different, with everyone being affected by lifestyle variables differently, it was so cool to hear the habits that everyone was working on to achieve their own personalized journey,” emphasized Dr. White.
Impact at White Dental
Ultimately, Dr. Jared White had this to say about the experience using the OWN IT System. “It’s been great that the impacts have been qualitative and quantifiable as well. For the intangibles, the team’s energy and how the office interactions are flowing seems more fluid, with less of an air of stress. With everyone sleeping better and having more capacity to take on stress I suppose this makes sense. The numbers certainly reinforce that. On average higher HRV as a team by > than 20%, more quality sleep, and improved recoveries, all indicators of a generally healthier employee group. I hope they keep it up, I know I will.”
“I believe that by providing my team with an outlet to address stress and fatigue and to have the staff realize the investment being made in their health & wellness that I’ll not only be able to more effectively attract new employees, but also retain the great employees we already have.”
