A healthy office is a happy office. That’s the motto of MeYou Health, a software company and division of Healthways (Nasdaq: HWAY). Over the past few years, the company has been scaling up—and quickly— which is precisely why MeYou Health picked up and moved into their current digs in Fort Point last August. Now, the Boston startup's team has grown to nearly 80 people—nearly twice the amount at their old office in the South End—and they have new jobs opening up every week.
All of the company's free health and fitness apps are open for anyone to use, but MeYou Health also packages them and sells the bundles to health plans, like Blue Cross Blue Shield, and corporate employers. While each of their apps differ in purpose, they all focus on small actions that drive overall wellness, and they are all based on real clinical trials and scientific research. For example, their flagship product, Daily Challenge—which boasts nearly 400,000 users—sends users an email, text or notification with one small physical, social, financial or community-related challenge to complete during the day. And there’s a social element, too: Users can share how they achieved their accomplishment with family, coworkers, friends or strangers with similar interests. (Fun fact: an Oregon resident met his girlfriend of nearly four years on the app, and recently proposed.) Walkadoo, meanwhile, gives users customized daily step goals, syncing up with major activity trackers like the FitBit and Jawbone, and the new healthy eating and weight management app Hello 200, lends realistic tips for forming healthy eating habits.
And at MeYou Health, the staff practices what they preach. Given that the company’s whole philosophy is to value your health, it makes sense that employees participate in a running club, a pick-up basketball league and a soccer league. Many of them bike or walk to work, and zip around the office on scooters. Some take yoga classes on Thursdays, and the kitchen is always stocked with organic fruit deliveries, in addition to other nutritious snacks. Oh, and those crazy hours startups are notorious for? Not an issue here. After all, how hypocritical would it be for a company producing wellness apps to compromise work-life balance?
OK, so health matters. But the whole company philosophy is that leading a healthy life doesn’t have to be about strict diets or insane exercise regimens. Sometimes, you just need a drink. Which is why MeYou Health holds "Beer:30" meetups on Thursday afternoons, complete with a ton of apps and games.
We took a tour of their office to get a closer look at the environment and the culture there. Oh, and by the way—they’re actively hiring.
The courtyard outside the office building features a giant chess board, plenty of cafe style seating for an al fresco lunch, and a ping pong table.
Engineers regularly brainstorm app updates over a brown bag lunch.
The kitchen is consistently stocked with healthy snacks and beverages, like fresh fruit, energy bars, baked pita chips and flavored seltzers.
A cozy gathering area where staff members tend to chill during Beer:30 on Thursdays.
Lining the walls is original artwork from the MeYou Health designers.
Also on the wall is a massive mounted TV screen that showcases app users' accomplishments in real-time.
Wall-length white boards are a staple at MeYou Health, where product ideas and other key data can be prominently seen.
Featured image of team playing basketball courtesy of MeYou Health. All other photos taken by Rebecca Strong.