November 20, 2024
Arthur Lane
Head of Marketing | Grokker
Today, I’m speaking with Arthur Lane from Grokker, a company known for its innovative approach to employee wellness and engagement. Arthur brings valuable experience in both corporate wellness and marketing, with insights that reflect a real commitment to helping companies prioritize health.
In this conversation, Arthur shares how Grokker makes a difference in the wellness space, his approach to building teams, and his perspective on the evolving landscape of employee benefits.
Can you share how Grokker helps companies improve employee engagement and wellbeing, and what makes your approach unique in the corporate wellness space?
Grokker is fundamentally a health and wellbeing company, started around 12 years ago by our founder, Lorna Borenstein. Lorna had stepped away from her work at large tech companies like eBay and Yahoo to spend time with her family. While traveling, she found it hard to access the high-quality fitness, yoga, and mindfulness content she would normally get at home. Mobile was just beginning to pick up globally then, and she realized there was a real need for wellness content that people could access anytime, anywhere. Grokker was built on that premise, with the content made highly engaging and even patented in terms of how it’s presented.
During the pandemic, the company grew because people wanted remote access to this high quality wellness content. We gained large, well-known customers because we had a compelling product at a time of great need. Another big piece of what sets us apart is the experts we bring in—they’re people who really know what they’re talking about, not just celebrities. Grokker is designed to be community-based, too, so if, for instance, you want to lose five pounds, everyone in your community supports each other so they can achieve the goal. It’s easier to do it together. That community, the unique content approach, and expert-led engagement are the things that really set Grokker apart today.
How has your marketing experience shaped the way you build and scale teams at Grokker?
I’m a career marketer with a background in marketing and advertising, and I’ve been doing this a long time. Over the years, the most influential thing for me has been working with a very diverse group of people and having mentors who showed me the ropes. To be a successful marketer, I think you have to be naturally curious, wanting to understand how things work and how outcomes are generated. That helps with knowing your value proposition, positioning, and who your target audience is. As a marketer, you need to stay curious—curiosity makes you ask questions, which helps you and your team learn.
One of my biggest lessons has been to encourage team members to ask questions—there’s no such thing as a stupid question. When people are comfortable asking questions, that’s when they share new perspectives and good ideas. Building teams at Grokker means fostering that kind of openness. I’ve also built a Rolodex of diverse, talented people I’ve worked with over the years, and I bring in those varied perspectives to help us better position our solutions. A big part of building and scaling the team is being friendly and not burning bridges because these connections are invaluable when scaling quickly.
When scaling a team, how do you ensure they align with the company’s workplace culture?
That’s a great question. In the interview process, you have to ask the right questions to see if someone will fit the team culture. If I already know the person from past work, I might already know if they’ll thrive in Grokker’s environment. Not all workplaces are alike, and people don’t react the same way in different environments. For example, someone who does well in a large corporate setting may struggle in a startup, where you need to be a bit more thick-skinned and adaptable.
Building a team with a diverse culture also means hiring people who bring different viewpoints. It’s not about taking a gamble but about making an educated choice to bring someone in whose perspective will propel the change needed in the organization. Diversity is about experience, skill sets, and even life backgrounds. For instance, if it’s messaging, I look for copywriters with very diverse backgrounds because those perspectives help us reach a broader audience. At the end of the day, those different perspectives are what drive the company’s improvement.
What are some of the most exciting trends you’re seeing in employee benefits today?
The amount of choice people have in benefits today is mind-boggling. There are now programs for almost anyone who wants to engage in healthcare. You can be proactive with wellness solutions or reactive, getting help right when you need it. One big innovation has been virtual healthcare—something we couldn’t have imagined two decades ago. Now, we can offer support from mental health to physical health, right on your phone. Back then, a mental health break was simply taking deep breaths for five minutes. Now we have apps for that.
Another game-changer is AI—it’s like the invention of the internet for healthcare benefits. In healthcare, AI will be tremendous because it can give answers on the spot, something crucial since most healthcare decisions are made in the moment. Imagine having immediate, accurate insights available right when you need them. It’s revolutionary for people’s ability to manage their health.
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in adapting to changes in the HR and wellness landscape, and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges is around expectations for ROI in healthcare solutions. In healthcare, it’s hard to show a hard-dollar return on preventative programs. We created the Grokker Innovation Lab to provide concrete use cases and data to demonstrate the value of our solutions. That data needs to be credible and grounded in real numbers.
Another challenge is the overwhelming number of solutions available today. HR and benefits managers are often time-starved, so it’s hard to capture their attention and communicate what makes our solution unique. Despite the tools we have now, it’s harder than it was a few years ago to stand out and get people’s attention.
How do you prioritize employee wellbeing while balancing business objectives in a fast-paced work environment?
You have to accept that the nature of work has fundamentally changed. When I started in marketing, the pace was slower—creating a TV commercial took weeks, sometimes months. Today, with the help of AI, I can have content created in five minutes and online just as quickly. You’re expected to produce a lot more now, so you have to embrace the tools and learn to make them work within your workflow.
One big part of balancing business objectives and wellbeing is taking mental health breaks. You shouldn’t be in back-to-back meetings all day; it’s important to block time for work that requires focus. It’s about creating a disciplined structure that includes forced breaks, taking PTO, and setting boundaries. Leaders have to set this example, too. If people see their leaders working nonstop, that stress can become contagious throughout the team. It’s important for everyone to know they have permission to take care of their health.
Reflecting on your journey, what accomplishment in the healthcare or benefits space are you most proud of?
There are a few, but one that stands out is my work in developing disease management programs early on. At Healthways in the early 2000s, we shifted from siloed programs, like a diabetes-specific program, to a whole-person approach. We pioneered this shift by integrating solutions to address broader health needs, which was a big change for the time.
Another accomplishment I’m particularly proud of was developing mobile health solutions at Verizon Wireless. We were some of the first to create systems where people could interact with healthcare providers on mobile devices. We built everything from appointment systems to payment verification, making it secure and accessible for people with chronic conditions to monitor their health remotely. We got an FDA Class II certification, one of the first for remote health management, covering things like weight, blood pressure, and more. This early work laid the foundation for many of the mobile health technologies people use today.
Arthur Lane’s insights paint an insightful picture of Grokker’s unique role in the wellness space. His approach to building teams, focusing on diverse perspectives and employee wellbeing, exemplifies a balance of innovation and human-centered leadership. Through his work, Arthur is not only advancing wellness for employees but also contributing to a broader shift toward accessible and community-driven health solutions in today’s workforce.
If you’re interested in sharing your story and becoming part of our HR Connect series, please reach out to us at info@focusimagepro.com.
Dilara Cossette
Founder
Dilara Cossette is the founder of Focus Image Pro, a boutique demand generation agency specializing in helping HR tech companies accelerate growth. With extensive experience in the industry, she partners with marketing leaders to craft strategies that drive demand, boost pipeline, and elevate brand presence. Dilara is passionate about fostering meaningful connections and sharing insights from HR tech innovators through the HR Connect interview series.
