RETURNS ON WELLBEING INSTITUTE PODCAST: Recent Episodes
Jim Purcell and Steven Van Yoder
Returns On Wellbeing Institute Podcast helps HR professionals, C Suites and Boards of Directors embrace employee wellbeing as a bottom-line business strategy. We provide in-depth expert interviews, real-world case studies and original research to help companies implement evidence-based, socially responsible wellbeing initiatives that deliver real returns.
Workplace wellness can boost employee wellbeing and deliver meaningful business returns. But this can only happen when programs follow evidence-based best practices, which include individualized approaches to wellness that cater to employees’ unique needs and preferences. Unfortunately, most wellness programs do not take this approach and impose generic, one-size-fits-all models onto entire workforces that often leads to low participation, lackluster health outcomes, and negative ROI for employers by not targeting individual employees’ needs, preferences and risk factors.In contrast, programs that allow employees to address their own wellness goals and challenges can foster better employee engagement and health outcomes, reduce absenteeism, and lower employer healthcare costs. In this episode, we interview Neepa Patel, CEO of WellRight, a corporate wellness company that delivers customizable wellness programs. We discuss why personalized wellness helps workers achieve better health outcomes, and helps employers achieve strategic objectives that matter to C Suites.In this episode, you will hear: The difference between one-size-fits-all and personalized wellnessThe benefits to employees of taking a more personalized approach How personalized wellness can deliver better ROIHow to redesign wellness programs around a personalized approachCompanies who generate better returns from personalized wellnessBy adopting these strategies, employers can empower employees to take ownership of their health and wellbeing, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for both individuals and the company as a whole. WellRight delivers corporate wellness programs that help people find the motivation and develop the habits they need to effect meaningful, lasting change. When people know their company cares, they’re happier, healthier, and more engaged—making for a more productive workplace with lower healthcare costs and better retention. Learn more at www.wellright.com
Mental health has become a priority in the workplace. According to a RAND Corporation study, spending on mental health rose by 53 percent from March 2020 to August 2022, and research by Returns On Wellbeing Institute found that leading wellness programs now prioritize mental health in the workplace.Yet, the top source of stress for American adults is still the workplace. Research shows that stress-related diseases are rising and imposing tremendous costs on employee wellbeing and employer’s bottom lines.According to Dr. Steven Stein PH.D, a clinical psychologist and expert on psychological assessments and emotional intelligence. He asserts that stress is a natural part of the human experience, and employers should help employees learn to better cope with stress, and even thrive while under stress.Dr. Stein is the author of Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals and Emotional Intelligence for Dummies, 2nd edition.In the podcast, we discuss how wellness programs can combine “hardiness” and “emotional intelligence” to reduce the harmful effects of workplace stress and help employees learn to effectively process stress in ways that support employee health and improve workplace performance, including:The necessary role of stress in the human experienceWhy workplace stress is a top cause of mental health conditionsHow better processing stress helps employees thrive under pressureHow stress management helps make work environments more adaptiveWhy fostering emotional intelligence boosts productivity and teamwork How “hardiness” helps employees better manage stressful situationsHow wellness programs can help managers reduce workplace stress Employers who’ve cultivated emotional intelligence and hardiness to enhance work performance within their teams
Many wellbeing initiatives do not achieve their potential because employees do not understand or engage with their employer’s wellness offerings. Why does this happen? Because many wellness programs do not customize their offerings to meet the needs of individual workers. On this podcast, we speak with Jenni Beekman, Health Promotion Manager at Dean Health Plan, a health insurance company based in Madison, Wisconsin. We’ll discuss how Dean Health Plan’s whole person approach to wellbeing includes individual support that helps employees engage with the company’s wellness offerings and take ownership of their own wellbeing journey. This podcast explores how combining whole-person wellbeing with individual guidance and support helps employees take ownership of their own wellbeing journeys while boosting buy-in for company wellbeing initiatives, including:
Dean Health’s approach to whole person health How employees achieve their own health goals The role of Health Transformation Coaches How Personal Wellness Plans advance whole person health How this approach delivers better health outcomes
Click here to learn more about The Dean Health Plan Wellness Program
US schools are struggling to keep staff who are experiencing high levels of burnout, financial stress, and low morale. Moreover, as health insurance costs skyrocket, many schools are cutting student programs and staff salaries, which adds to their staffing challenges. This poses a serious threat to schools, children, and communities. And with 55 percent of US educators saying they may leave the profession, schools must quickly address this epidemic of low wellbeing in their workplaces. Investing in whole-person wellbeing can effectively address these challenges. On this podcast, Karyn Richmond, Wellness Coordinator of Sun Prairie Area School District, and Collisa Mahin, Wellness Coordinator of Duval County Public Schools, discuss how their schools foster a thriving workforce with evidence-based workplace wellbeing initiatives. This podcast explores why investing in whole-person wellbeing is essential for fostering school staff wellbeing via a caring culture that cascades into the classroom and can meet school district human capital challenges, including:
The top challenges facing US schools today How these challenges hinder schools’ ability to deliver curricula How schools can leverage wellbeing to meet workplace challenges Best practices from Returns On Wellbeing Institute research Tactical steps for designing returns-oriented programs
Throughout the presentation, the speakers discuss how their wellness programs have created cultures of care that have reduced barriers to healthcare, addressed mental health issues, delivered measurable financial returns, and mitigated health insurance costs.
Less than 5% of Americans are sufficiently active, eat a healthy diet, or maintain a healthy weight. And many suffer from chronic health conditions and workplace stress that cost employers billions yearly in lost productivity and higher healthcare costs.But while employee health is increasingly a priority for US employers, many workplace wellbeing programs are only partially successful because they expect individuals to be responsible for changing their behaviors.In this podcast, Dr. Richard Safeer, the Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-Being at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who also leads the Healthy at Hopkins employee health and well-being strategy, provides an evidence-based roadmap for creating and shaping a culture of health. In this podcast, which draws from Dr. Safeer’s new book, A Cure for the Common Company: A Well-Being Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Organization, you’ll learn:How “cultures of health” can maximize well-being outcomesA step-by-step roadmap to creating a culture of healthThe roles of shared values, social climates, and peer support The business benefits of creating successful well-being culturesLessons from Johns Hopkins’ wellness initiativeLearn more about Dr. Safeer’s book, A Cure for the Common Company: A Well-Being Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Workforce, a point-by-point blueprint to creating a robust culture of health at your company with practical strategies you can apply immediately.Learn more about Dr. Richard Safeer and his new learning program, Creating a Well-Being CultureWatch: 10 Minute Well-being Tips for Managers | How to Bring Well-Being to your Team (John Hopkins Medicine)
Managers play a central role in successful workplace wellness initiatives. Unfortunately, employers struggle getting managers to embrace their role in fostering the wellbeing of direct reports, which significantly diminishes workplace wellness programs' ability to achieve their full potential. In this podcast, Scott Behson, a professor of management at Fairleigh Dickinson University, discusses the role of managers in shaping workplace wellness initiatives and provides strategies for engaging, training and holding managers accountable to support wellbeing initiatives, including:The central role of managers in workplace wellness How manager disengagement hinders wellness initiativesHow CEOs can ensure managers support employee wellnessHow employee feedback improves wellness initiativesExamples of companies who’ve achieved manager buy-in Scott is a speaker, consultant and the author of The Whole-Person Workplace: Building Better Workplaces Through Work-Life, Wellness and Employee Support. He’s been featured at the UN’s International Day of the Family and the White House’s Summit for Working Families and appeared in Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, NBC, CBS, NPR, and Bloomberg Radio.
Aduro's CEO, Dr. Darren White discusses how employers can effectively address the diabetes crisis and boost employee health outcomes.
Aduro's CEO, Dr. Darren White discusses how employers can effectively address the diabetes crisis and boost employee health outcomes.
Workspace design is central to employee health by creating workspaces that support wellbeing and optimize job performance. This requires a people-first approach to ensure a comprehensive design strategy, even before addressing tangible aspects like architecture and furniture. Doug Shapiro is VP of research and insights at OFS, a socially responsible furniture and logistics solutions, and hosts Imagine a Place podcast that explores how design impacts everyday living. In this podcast, Doug discusses the role of people-first design and how it can improve employee wellbeing.
Karl Simons, former Chief Health, Safety & Wellbeing Officer at Thames Water Company, discusses how the company’s mental health program lowered operating costs and boosted employee wellbeing.
Mike Thompson is the CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, formerly, the National Business Coalition on Health. The National Alliance is an association of over 50 regional coalitions whose members provide healthcare coverage to over 45 Million Americans.
Prior to the National Alliance, Mike was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and has played a leadership role in the destigmatization of mental and behavioral health. One of Mike's signature initiatives at the National Alliance is the Wellbeing Initiative which recognizes that if organizations are going to substantially improve their employees' health and engagement, the focus must move beyond "wellness" to "wellbeing."
Under his direction, the National Alliance has gathered a team of nationally-recognized experts to produce educational wellbeing workshops for its constituent coalitions and their members. Mike discusses this initiative in the broader context of the value of employee wellbeing. By way of example, he discusses why a "whole person" approach beyond just physical health to focus on, say, stress actually may reap greater and quicker returns both in terms of engagement and reducing coverage costs than focusing on obesity."
Dr. Rajiv Kumar is the President and Chief Medical Officer of Virgin Pulse Institute, the research arm of Virgin Pulse, one of Sir Richard Branson's ventures. Its purpose is to identify scalable, data-driven, consumer-centric solutions to the top workplace issues facing companies today. Dr. Kumar and Virgin Pulse Institute are enthusiastic supporters of employee wellbeing, engagement, and sustainable lifestyle change.
Dr. Kumar jumped into this arena while he was still attending Brown University Medical School when he founded ShapeUp RI in 2006. Over the ensuing decade, he built that start-up from a dorm room idea to ShapeUp, a global company of over 100 employees, 800 organizational customers, and 2 million participants worldwide. In 2016, Dr. Kumar joined Virgin Pulse Institute after its acquisition of ShapeUp.
Click here to read the edited transcript of the podast inteview with Dr. Rajiv Kumar.
Saul Kaplan is the Founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory located in downtown Providence, RI. Saul started BIF in 2005 with a mission to enable collaborative organizational innovation.
BIF is a nonprofit which creates a real world laboratory for innovators to explore. It tests new business models and system level solutions in areas of high social importance, including healthcare. Healthcare is one of BIF’s areas of expertise, and Saul discusses innovative strategies in healthcare delivery and in workplace wellbeing.
Dr. Ron Goetzel is the VP of consulting and applied research for IBM Watson Health. He holds a second position as Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Goetzel leads research projects for employers and other healthcare purchasers interested in the relationship between health and wellbeing, medical costs, and work-related productivity.
Dr. Goetzel is an internationally recognized and widely published expert in, among other things, evaluations of health promotion programs and return on investment (ROI) from such programs. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and frequently presents at intern’l business and scientific forums. We discuss his work, and his findings on why wellness has largely failed in the workplace, and what is needed. He emphasizes the importance of a culture of wellbeing as the basis for focused programs.
Paul Clark is a founder of Clark & Lavey, a full-service employer benefits solutions brokerage company. Paul’s particular area of expertise is employer healthcare insurance and self insurance. Paul discusses issues with traditional health insurance and the benefits of self insurance. He also explains how to mitigate risk through stop loss, reinsurance, and captive pools. Paul also discusses what to look for in broker-partners.
Michael Samuelson has spent almost four decades in the wellness/wellbeing arena in various roles, including entrepreneur, university professor, community organizer, and US health policy advisor. Michael also was a colleague of mine as the CEO of RI Blue Cross’ subsidiary, the Health & Wellness Institute. Michael’s writings have been read by millions throughout the world, and endorsed by medical organizations, leaders, and media personalities, including George HW Bush, Betty Ford, C Everett Koop, and Larry King.
Michael discusses why workplace wellness has failed and why a comprehensive workplace wellbeing approach is what is needed. He also discusses the importance of a whole person approach that takes into account the mental/emotional components of wellbeing.