During the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent a lot of time isolated and indoors, which helped foster an environment where some people now feel lonelier than ever. The result is a loss of social connectedness—the degree to which people feel the social connections and relationships in their lives to satisfy their wants and needs. When social…
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Changing the Game: Four Professionals Who Gave Wellness a Glow Up
BY: WELCOA
Most wellness professionals are in a role where well-being has been done in various iterations for some time now. We’ve been around for the evolution of the industry, we were leveraged during a pandemic, and we’re here now calling for the elevation of well-being as a business priority. We’re the ones that gave corporate wellness its “glow up.”
We now have an opportunity to have conversations at higher levels of leadership to keep reinforcing our positioning and capability to take corporate wellness and turn it into an ecosystem for human thriving in the workplace. How will we show up and answer the call?
Four professionals, across very different industries have stepped up, answered the call, and are leaders in the glow up that our industry is experiencing and they shared their stories at the WELCOA virtual event, Wellness Gets a Glow Up.
Prioritizing Wellness Leadership
Megan Milar is CEO of The Garage Group, a boutique consultancy that delivers Lean Innovation and Growth Strategy for big companies to keep their brand portfolios relevant and growing in the face of uncertainty. When her company underwent a sort of “re-founding”, she and her team decided to take that opportunity to give wellness a glow up by building from the ground up and hiring a Head of People and Culture to lead that work. It was important to her and her team that they didn’t “scale a mess” and bring someone in to fix something that wasn’t working but rather really took the time to ensure that investing in a single role dedicated to this work would be the best approach.Prioritizing Inspirational Storytelling
Brian Quinn is the Global Wellness Specialist at CooperVision, a medical device manufacturing company that employs about 14,000 employees globally with 6,000 employees in the U.S. Just before the pandemic, he gave wellness a glow up by pivoting from information-sharing to inspirational storytelling. After gaining inspiration from hearing Mettie Spiess’ storytelling at WELCOA Summit, he decided to start by sharing his own story about mental health. When he was met with a tidal wave of “me too” responses, he pivoted away from sharing wellness tips to sharing stories of wellness success written by CooperVision employees themselves. He found that when the employees saw their peers, people that they work shoulder to shoulder with, having success in their wellness efforts, the inspiration was far more motivating than the tips and facts on how to be well.Prioritizing the Whole-Person
Nicole Martel is the VP of Benefits, Well-Being & Associate Health for Bon Secours Mercy Health, the fifth largest Catholic health system in the United States, with a presence in Ireland. In her role, Nicole is responsible for the strategic design and operational delivery of all health and welfare, absence, retirement, and work life benefits, as well as well-being, recognition and safety /workforce health programs. The pandemic hit their employees hard and she quickly gave wellness a glow up by shifting away from focusing on traditional wellness promotion to focusing on a more whole-person approach of employee recognition, mental health, and resilience. They expanded their network of mental health providers, encouraged more paid time off, and increased training and resources for leaders and have seen it improve not only employee well-being but patient experience as well.Prioritizing Measuring What Matters
Dr. Russell Robinson is the founder of Amplified Research and Consulting, LLC, which provides research, analysis and consulting solutions regarding employee engagement, voice and silence, and talent management. Russell’s focus is helping leaders create a culture of learning and listening. His research and work positioned him to put together a toolkit of resources that helps wellness professionals prioritize better data collection. This toolkit provides wellness professionals with strategies for determining the type of data to collect to understand what your employee population needs in support of living their best lives and to create the work culture you want. This toolkit takes into consideration the massive shift that the industry has experienced while also preparing organizations for what’s to come.
Wellness Gets a Glow Up
Want to hear the full story of how these professionals are changing the game, how to leverage your influence, confront conflict, and amplify your leadership?
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