From Wellness Perks To A Four-Day Workweek: How Our Internal Initiative Created A Positive Ripple Effect at Rolla

At Rolla, we’re not just developing a health and fitness app—we’re on a mission to fuse wellness and innovation into everything we do. From the very beginning, we’ve tried out different perks and gamified features—from extra vacation days for non-smokers, “trading” workouts for work hours, up to special Health Score thresholds that unlock a shorter workweek. What began as a simple way to get everyone moving has developed into something that boosts team spirit, sparks productivity, and has reshaped our core business model. If you want to know how we did it, keep on reading.

Going Beyond the Expected

From day one, on top of offering standard benefits and perks, like any modern company, we wanted to go one step further, which is why some of our incentives were:

• Extra Vacation Days for Non-Smokers
  Encouraging healthier choices while giving a little extra time off.
• Free Psychological Counseling
  Because mental and emotional well-being is just as important as physical health.

Our goal was to align our internal culture with our mission: help people live healthier lives, starting with our own team.

Taking It a Step Further: Exercising for Time Off

At the end of 2023, we challenged ourselves to make sure everyone here at Rolla truly lives the product—especially because we wanted to test our virtual cycling and running platform, Rolla World. The answer? Let employees “trade” their workouts for work hours:

• One Hour of Exercise = One Hour Off
  Whether it’s running or cycling, every hour you spend being active becomes an hour you can spend doing whatever else you love.

After a while, we set up a simple leaderboard, so everyone could see how they stacked up.

• Active Points for Friendly Competition
  
  • 1 km of cycling = 1 point
  • 1 km of running = 3 points

In no time, even folks who never considered themselves runners were racking up the distance—all thanks to a dash of friendly rivalry.

Why We Created the “Challenges” Module in Rolla One

As these mini-competitions took off, we noticed how energized people became whenever they compared progress and pushed each other to do better. This lightbulb moment led us to build a brand-new “Challenges” module in Rolla One, designed to keep that spark of motivation going strong.

Watching this play out internally, and then testing it with a couple of other companies, confirmed our belief: this approach to wellness can be a real game-changer in the workplace. Encouraged by those results, we pivoted our entire business model to focus on offering Rolla exclusively to companies who want to invest in the health and motivation of their teams.

Introducing “Health Score Fridays”

Looking ahead to 2025, we’ve raised the bar on wellness by linking Health Score milestones to shorter workweeks. We call these “Health Score Fridays”:

• Health Score of 85+: 1 Friday off per month
• Health Score of 90+: 2 Fridays off per month
• Health Score of 95+: All Fridays off for that month

Yes, you read that right—look after your well-being, and we’ll give you extra time to rest, recharge, or simply enjoy life. Stay committed to health, and you’ll gain additional Fridays to celebrate your hard work.

The Key Ingredients for Success

1. Healthier Team, Stronger Performance
   When people feel good, they show up with more energy, focus, and creativity.
2. Friendly Competition & Shared Wins
   Leaderboards give everyone a reason to celebrate each other’s progress and keep reaching for that next milestone.
3. Proven Product for Businesses
   Fine-tuning our approach in-house helped us create a powerful, ready-to-use wellness solution that’s now available to organizations everywhere.

The Upward Spiral: Mission and Benefits in Harmony

Reflecting on the journey, it’s clear that our commitment to wellness and innovation has grown into something far bigger than a list of perks. By aligning our mission—helping people live healthier lives—with the actual benefits we offer our team, we’ve created a powerful synergy: everyone’s personal progress supports Rolla’s overarching purpose, and vice versa.

The Health Score sits at the heart of it all. It’s not just another number; it’s a daily reminder that taking care of ourselves fuels our collective strength. As people improve their Health Score by staying active and mindful of their daily habits, we see a direct lift in engagement, productivity and creativity. It’s this blend of personal health, shared goals, and genuine support that keeps our culture thriving—and that’s exactly what we now deliver to other companies looking for a holistic, people-first approach.

Ultimately, we believe that prioritizing well-being isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the bedrock of lasting growth, innovation, and success. By bringing mission and benefits into perfect alignment, we’ve created a ripple effect that benefits our team, our clients, and everyone who uses Rolla.

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Rolla’s Health Score is a comprehensive measure of your daily habits and overall wellness, based on five key metrics:

1. Morning Metrics (Passive):
   
   • Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
   • Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
   • Sleep
2. Daily Metrics (Active):
   
   • Steps
   • Active Calories

We start by collecting your data over 7 to 30 days to establish a personalized baseline. Scoring 80 means you’re performing at that baseline, while exceeding it by 10% elevates you to a perfect score of 100. Each metric has its own “cap” to keep the system fair and reachable (for example, 10,000 steps per day). The idea is to celebrate steady progress and encourage achievable goals rather than unattainable perfection.

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Want to Learn More?

Curious about how Rolla’s Health Score, Active Points, Diet, and Challenges can help your team thrive?
Drop us a line at marketing@rolla.app.

Thanks for reading.

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