Getting the workforce to focus on physical activity and healthy eating practices in an effort to positively impact obesity: Citi has a Live Well campaign that focuses on global fitness challenges, heart health awareness and resilience/balance.
The pandemic pause brought us to a moment of collective reckoning about what it means to live well and to work well. As a result, employees are sending employers an urgent signal that they are no longer willing to choose one — life or work — at the cost of the other. Working from home brought life literally into our work. And as the world now goes hybrid, employees are drawing firmer boundaries about how much of their work comes into their life. Where does this leave employers? And which perspectives and programs contribute most to progress? In our newest interview series, Working Well: How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness, we are talking to successful executives, entrepreneurs, managers, leaders, and thought leaders across all industries to share ideas about how to shift company cultures in light of this new expectation. We’re discovering strategies and steps employers and employees can take together to live well and to work well.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Robert Quigley, Senior Vice President and Global Medical Director of International SOS.
Robert L. Quigley, M.D., D.Phil., Professor of Surgery, Senior Vice President and Global Medical Director, Corporate Health Solutions, International SOS Assistance & MedAire, Americas Region, is responsible for leading the delivery of high-quality medical assistance, healthcare management and medical transportation services. He is the Executive Chairman of the International Corporate Health Leadership Council (501c 3) as well as the Chairman of the Council for US and Canadian Quality Healthcare Abroad. Prior to joining International SOS, Dr. Quigley was a Board re-certified cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon who directed two open heart programs within the Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia where he was a Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College.
Thank you for making time to visit with us about the topic of our time. Harvard Business Review predicts that wellness will become the newest metric employers will use to analyze and to assess their employees’ mental, physical and financial health. How does your organization define wellness, and how does your organization measure wellness?
The concept of employee wellness as a metric actually goes back many years, but the global pandemic has brought it back to the forefront. Long before the original publication of Fabius et al. in 2013 (JOEM), where the authors demonstrated a link between workforce health (inclusive of mental health) and the bottom line, International SOS, the world’s largest medical and security assistance organization, has embraced the concept of a culture of health.
As an organization, we have always combined well-being with our core expertise in health. Our products and services for our 10,000+ clients, in every sector, are medically led and evidenced based, however our success is really based on how we manage our own workforce. We believe that wellness is a state of good mental, physical, and emotional health and to achieve this holistic existence, we need to practice and promote a culture, from the c-suite down, that incorporates the needs of our employees by providing benefits that promote equity, inclusion, flexible hours (inclusive of remote work), and emotional/physical health. One way we measure wellness is via internal surveys. For example, our organization recently conducted a global health and wellbeing survey. Once we receive all results, we will put in place a plan of action that addresses the gaps employees feel they have experienced when it comes to measuring their wellness.
Based on your experience or research, how do you correlate and quantify the impact of a well workforce on your organization’s productivity and profitability?
Like in any other organization, our productivity is dependent on the (physical/emotional) health of our workforce. As we incorporated flexible hours, hybrid work models, an EAP, and educate our team leaders on emotional health/wellness, we noticed a significantly positive impact on absenteeism, presenteeism, and even “leaveism” (an increase in time off). These three behaviors typically represent the manifestations of an unhappy workforce and are directly correlated to productivity.
Even though most leaders have good intentions when it comes to employee wellness, programs that require funding are beholden to business cases like any other initiative. The World Health Organization estimates for every $1 invested into treatment for common mental health disorders, there is a return of $4 in improved health and productivity. That sounds like a great ROI. And, yet many employers struggle to fund wellness programs that seem to come “at the cost of the business.” What advice do you have to offer to other organizations and leaders who feel stuck between intention and impact?
This observation is not limited to the WHO. In fact, analysis by the NSC and the NORC at the University of Chicago in May 2021 reached the same conclusion. However, those “struggling” with this principle need only to look at Bell Canada, where an emotional health program was introduced in 2010. Since that time they have seen a decline in short term disability claims (STD) by 20% and 50% in mental health related relapse/recurrence.
If you’re questioning if your wellness program is important enough to maintain, evaluate the impact — has anyone used the resources you provided and was there a positive impact on employees/company? You’ll find more often than not, that there has been a positive impact for employees and in turn, the business as well.
Speaking of money matters, a recent Gallup study reveals employees of all generations rank wellbeing as one of their top three employer search criteria. How are you incorporating wellness programs into your talent recruitment and hiring processes?
In an effort to avoid attrition (McKinsey Quarterly 09/2021: “The Great Attrition”) and in turn attract high achieving candidates, we are sure to promote our wellness programs during job fairs, which includes ergonomic work spaces, flexible work hours inclusive of hybrid models, 24/7 EAP, and comprehensive healthcare benefits. We have found that word of mouth is particularly convincing to prospects.
We’ve all heard of the four-day work week, unlimited PTO, mental health days, and on demand mental health services. What innovative new programs and pilots are you launching to address employee wellness? And, what are you discovering? We would benefit from an example in each of these areas.
International SOS has numerous programs that employees can take advantage of including everything from mental health to financial stability. For example:
- We have an on-site mental health and first aid champion in our Trevose, PA. office, who is a registered nurse and is specially trained.
- For emotional wellness, there is an education of team leaders who are trained on the merits of “time-out” and “mate-helping-mate” — two best practices originating in the field and now most applicable to the office.
- To address social wellness, we have a 24/7 EAP for employees and families with immediate access to healthcare providers for physical as well as mental health maladies.
- For physical wellness, there is the provision of weekly free healthy lunches for the in-house assistance center staff.
- On financial wellness, there is the provision of financial counseling as part of the EAP and access to free webinars on retirement savings conducted by the administrator of our 401K.
In addition, we utilize technology for some of our health and wellness initiatives such as Headspace App and offering Teleconsultant for medical situations. We also leverage our in house medical expertise by offering Health & Wellbeing Webinars to our staff and have a weekly newsletter that offers tips. Recently, we provided health club reimbursement for Peloton memberships along with physical gym memberships.
Can you please tell us more about a couple of specific ways workplaces would benefit from investing in your ideas above to improve employee wellness?
As an international organization with more than 10,000 clients in every industry sector, we have observed the success (and failure) of many different mental health support practices in multiple jurisdictions over the 40 years that our organization has been in business. Many of our internal best practices in mental health support are consequently derived from these global observations. Implementing programs that ensure employee well being is a priority will help increase productivity and employee retention.
How are you reskilling leaders in your organization to support a “Work Well” culture?
The effort has to start at the corporate leadership level where our own co-founder and CEO has already publicly committed to “The Pledge”, which is a campaign started by global business leaders to positively address mental health for a better workplace. Team leaders/managers need to be educated and that training needs to be constantly maintained/updated through human resources. Only then will the organization have a sustainable culture of health (inclusive of mental health).
Ideas take time to implement. What is one small step every individual, team or organization can take to get started on these ideas — to get well?
Simple daily reminders on the company intranet of positive messaging, like welcoming new employees or asking your neighbor at the next desk about their day, can go a long way. Even positive message posters on display in communal areas, outlining why our company is a great place to work, can have a role in boosting morale in a workforce that is now fatigued and, in many cases, burned out. Each individual can be reminded everyday to just say something uplifting or encouraging to their desk partners.
What are your “Top 5 Trends To Track In the Future of Workplace Wellness?”
- De-stigmatize mental health in the community as a whole (the workplace will follow): Bell Canada: let’s talk campaign.
- Industry wide efforts to curtail the further development of non-communicable diseases (NCD’s), of which mental illness is included, using metrics like presenteeism, absenteeism, and short-term disability claims to quantify/qualify any success. For example, the World Bank through utilization of local health and safety champions capable of communicating with a diverse population frequently in an emerging marketplace.
- Getting the workforce to focus on physical activity and healthy eating practices in an effort to positively impact obesity: Citi has a Live Well campaign that focuses on global fitness challenges, heart health awareness and resilience/balance.
- Wellness, like any other concept, requires change which often can only be implemented with incentives. GRI reporting is now becoming a commonplace in organizations beyond energy mining and infrastructure. The GRI standards quantify how any organization is meeting any of their 17 sustainability development goals (SDG’s) as originally put forth by the UN/WHO. Those organizations with higher GRI scores are more likely to attract investors. Success towards SDG number 3: good health and well being can now be used as a metric for investors.
- COVID-19 has impacted the world forever. Those organizations that can preserve the health and safety of their workforce, through education will prevail. Benefits will need to be adjusted to accommodate elements such as hybrid work models, long-haul COVID-19, and comprehensive mental health benefits. Over and above a general workforce state of vulnerability where stress, anxiety, and depression seem to prevail is a recently published scientific association between a COVID-19 infection and the development of emotional illness at both 3 months (Taquet et al. Lancet Psychiatry 2021;8:130–140) and 12 months (Xie et al. British Medical Journal 2022;376:e068993). Organizations are therefore on notice as provision of such benefits will become part of their duty of care since COVID-19 infection consequences now represent “foreseeable risks”.
What is your greatest source of optimism about the future of workplace wellness?
I’m extremely optimistic about the future of wellness. If there’s one positive thing that has come out of the pandemic, it’s the realization by many organizations and their leaders that more needs to be done to make sure employees, along with their families, are healthy and happy. It’s all part of a renewed global awareness, which in turn leads to an open dialogue about non-communicable diseases inclusive of mental illness.
Our readers often like to continue the conversation with our featured interviewees. How can they best connect with you and stay current on what you’re discovering?
I’d encourage readers to check out the International SOS website as well as our social media feeds. They are constantly being updated with new materials, including news articles, videos and case studies.
Thank you for sharing your insights and predictions. We appreciate the gift of your time and wish you continued success and wellness.