Water cooler talk turns to health

What: Limeade, based in Bellevue

Who: Henry Albrecht, 39, CEO

Mission: Help companies enhance employee health care, creating a healthier, happier work force.

Perked up: Each employee fills out a questionnaire that examines weight, stress and sleep issues, then Limeade develops a specific program to deal with each one. Albrecht said the service should be viewed as a company benefit. By giving employees access to this benefit, the company will see a collective improvement in both health and attitude, he said.

Pounds of cure: The focus is on prevention, where every dollar invested by a company eliminates the need to spend many times more on treatment. Said Albrecht: "We help to change people's behavior. Many diseases, including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, have strong behavioral connections."

Employees: Nine, including health and productivity experts, with expectations to double in the next year.

Financials: The privately held company hopes to become profitable in the next year. It prices its services at the equivalent of $2 per employee per month.

My healthy space: Limeade provides a different taste of the "social network" designation, but instead of making "friends" and passing around pictures it focuses on health and well-being. "There are all kinds of challenges that are part of the experience," Albrecht said. "This becomes part of the next day's water-cooler talk, as you discuss how you are going to meet your health goal."

Name that juice: "Limeade" offers no clue to the company's purpose. But Albrecht said it deliberately sought to differentiate itself from its competitors, which all have some variation of "health" in their moniker. He calls the name "refreshing and different, and something that people remember."

Switch: "When looking at health care, many employers treat their employees as if they were a set of risks," Albrecht said. "Connecting them with the resources that can help them change is a new idea."

— Charles Bermant