Mental Well-Being During a Quarantine
Maintaining Mental Well-Being During a Quarantine
In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have recommended that individuals who may have been exposed to the disease self-quarantine at home for 14 days. In addition, public health officials are recommending that healthy individuals practice social distancing, staying at home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Following the advice of public health officials can help stop the spread of COVID-19, but if you don’t take proper precautions, your mental well-being could suffer while you’re quarantining.
If you’re self-quarantining or practicing social distancing, keep the following tips in mind to maintain your mental well-being.
Maintain a Routine
One of the best things that you can do to preserve your mental well-being is to stick to a routine. For example, if you’re used to going to the gym before work, try to wake up early and get an at-home workout in before you go to work or start your workday from home. Maintaining as much normalcy as possible with your daily routine can help keep your mood as lifted as possible, and prevent boredom and distress from taking over.
If you have children that will be at home now, it’s also important to create a routine for them. Whether they are practicing virtual learning with their schools or if they will just be home, you should implement a structured schedule for them so they know what your expectations are. Try to limit as much screen time as possible and incorporate learning activities throughout the day.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
This suggestion goes hand-in-hand with sticking to a routine. While you’re at home, it can be easy to go to bed or sleep in later than you typically would. Breaking your normal sleep routine can have negative effects on your overall mental well-being, so you should try to stick to your typical schedule as much as possible.
Spend Time Outside
Unless health officials give you explicit instructions to stay in your home no matter what, try to get outside periodically throughout the day. This could involve going out in your backyard or taking a walk around the block, but shouldn’t include going to a park or other areas where large groups of people may be.
Being outside also helps to promote higher vitamin D levels, a vitamin the body makes when skin is directly exposed to the sun. Many people are deficient in vitamin D, so exercising outside can be a great way to correct that.
Leverage the Power of Technology
When in quarantine or self-isolation, it can be easy to feel lonely. Fortunately, advancements in technology have made it easy to connect with others without having to physically be in contact with them. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recommends reaching out to loved ones with technology to reduce feelings of loneliness and anxiety, and to supplement your social life while you’re quarantining or social distancing. If you’re feeling down, use video calling technology or social media to get in touch with friends and family.
Don’t Obsess Over the News
It can be easy to become overwhelmed by watching the news and reviewing the updates of the COVID-19 situation. While it’s important to be informed of the situation, you should not obsess over the news. For example, instead of monitoring the news all day from home, consider checking for updates once in the morning and once at night.
Practice Positivity and Gratitude
Taking five minutes a day to write down the things that you are grateful for has been proven to lower stress levels and can help you change your mindset from negative to positive. While you’re quarantining or social distancing, it’s important to build time into your routine to practice positivity or express gratitude to change your mindset on your situation and boost your mood.
Summary
Your mental well-being plays a huge role in your overall health and well-being, and it should be prioritized. These six suggestions may help you maintain your mental well-being during a quarantine, but shouldn’t be considered as medical advice.
If you have concerns about your mental well-being while you’re in quarantine, please contact your mental health professional or use SAMHSA’s National Helpline by calling 800-662-HELP (4357).
Vaping in the workplace is a bigger problem than most employers think
Smoking policies have been set in many workplaces, but policies regarding vaping are not typically addressed. Although vaping has become a trending topic, it may not be as heavily discussed as it should be. Read this blog post to learn more about vaping in the workplace.
According to the recently released Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking Cessation, just 3.2%of U.S. adults vaped in 2018. That’s a pretty low number, and it’s been stable for about the past 5 years. But new research shows that vaping in the workplace is a much bigger concern than many employers recognize, and it actually has as much to do with those who do not vape as it does with those who do.
The Innovations Center within Truth Initiative recently surveyed 1,620 U.S. employed adults from a range of industries and companies to ask about their experience with vaping in the workplace. What we found was surprising:
- 63% of respondents said vaping in the workplace bothered them. Non-vapers are more bothered than vapers, with 69% of non-vapers saying vaping in the workplace bothered them versus 40% of vapers.
- 72% of respondents said they “sometimes” or “often” see vapor clouds from vapes or e-cigarettes at work.
- 41% of respondents said they “sometimes” or “often” notice coworkers vaping near their workspace.
Vaping isn’t harmless, either for e-cigarette users themselves or for those exposed to secondhand aerosol. First and foremost, the long-term effects of e-cigarette use are not yet known. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. In addition, the aerosol from e-cigarettes can contain cancer-causing chemicals.
There are risks for non-vapers too, from secondhand exposure to e-cigarette aerosol. A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report examined more than 800 peer-reviewed studies and found conclusive evidence that secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes poses risks. These health risks are particularly high for vulnerable populations like pregnant women and people with respiratory disorders like asthma.
In addition to health concerns, decreased productivity related to vaping is also important to have on your radar. In our survey, 55% of non-vapers agreed that vaping in the workplace decreases productivity for those who do not vape; further 70% of non-vapers agreed that vaping in the workplace decreases productivity for those who do vape. What this means is that even if you have a small number of people vaping at work, those handful of people who are vaping may be affecting a much larger segment of your workforce.
Vaping may also be distressing your employees in other ways. For example, two-thirds of parents of teens and young adults were very/extremely concerned that their children were vaping. Our survey found that this concern translates into being less productive at work for 18% of parents of children who vape. With more than five million young people vaping today, it’s likely that a significant number of parents in your workforce are struggling with this issue.
These parents’ concerns are valid. Twenty eight percent of high school students are current e-cigarette users, up from 20.8% in 2018. And, to make matters worse, most parents are flying blind. According to Truth Initiative research, almost 75% of parents indicated they received no communication from their child’s school regarding e-cigarettes.
So, what should companies do about vaping in the workplace? The first step: add vaping to your workplace no smoking policy. Numerous progressive companies are already doing this, but our research found that about half of respondents said their company did NOT have a formal, written policy that addresses vaping in the workplace. In short, there’s ample opportunity.
There are a few reasons why adding vaping to your no-smoking workplace policies makes sense. First, you need to protect all employees from exposure to potentially harmful particulate emissions. Second, there are risks that e-cigarette devices can explode at work, causing burns and projectile injuries to employees. From 2015 to 2017, there were an estimated 2,035 e-cigarette explosions and burn injuries reported in U.S. hospital emergency departments. Banning e-cigarette devices eliminates the risk posed by malfunctions in the workplace.
Finally, including e-cigarettes in your no smoking policy creates a supportive environment for quitting. Few vapers use e-cigarettes exclusively; nearly 60% of adult e-cigarettes users were also smokers according to a 2015 CDC survey. Being able to use e-cigarettes at work may prolong or intensify their addiction and make it more difficult to quit smoking. By eliminating the possibility of continuing to use e-cigarettes at work, you may increase the likelihood that smokers can quit, and stay quit. That’s good for smokers, and good for your business.
What else can employers do? In our research, 68% of respondents said their company either did not encourage e-cigarette users to quit or didn’t know if such a program existed. Yet, 61% of respondents said providing support to e-cigarette users who want to quit was very/extremely important. Adding a tobacco cessation program to your list of benefit offerings simply makes good sense.
Bottom line: vaping in the workplace is important to address, largely because vaping can impact everyone in your workforce. It’s time to add vaping language to your workplace tobacco policies—and evaluate options to add a smoking cessation program that provides tailored support to e-cigarette users and even parents of kids who vape. Your employees will thank you for it.
SOURCE: Graham, A. (20 February 2020) "Vaping in the workplace is a bigger problem than most employers think" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/vaping-in-the-workplace-is-a-bigger-problem-than-most-employers-think
Reducing the stigma of mental illness with digital treatment options
With mental health becoming a subject that is more relevant in workplace cultures, employers are realizing that providing resources regarding mental health could benefit employees' health and productivity. One in four people are affected by a mental health disorder during their life, and it's important for employers to provide as many resources for their employees. Read this blog post to learn how providing resources for employees could help long-term.
Mental health has become a global epidemic, and employers are quickly becoming aware of how important it is to provide resources for workers who may be struggling.
“We’ve gone through an evolution from where mental health wasn’t being addressed at all within the workplace to a point today where there is a far higher level of awareness,” says Ken Cahill, CEO of SilverCloud Health, a digital mental health company. “But we have to move from that to providing an actionable plan and a solution within the workplace.”
One in four people will be affected by a mental health disorder during their life, and 450 million people have mental health issues, according to the World Health Organization. The financial drain on the workplace is staggering: mental illness accounts for $194 billion in lost revenue per year due to increased healthcare costs, lost productivity and absenteeism, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“People aren't being given the toolkits to help them handle the key challenges that are there in life,” Cahill says. “Those [challenges] will leak into the everyday work environment.”
Despite the growing number of people living with mental health disorders, finding accessible and affordable treatment is often a barrier to getting help. Two-thirds of people with mental disorders never seek treatment from health professionals, according to WHO.
“The level of acceptance around mental health is improving, but the system is getting worse — our access to mental health professionals, psychiatrists and others is getting worse,” says Michael Thompson, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.
SilverCloud hopes to ease the burden through their benefits platform, treating mental health needs through online modules, journaling and coaching.
“It’s very much about the full spectrum of care — challenges around work-life balance, resilience, sleep, financial debt, anxiety and depression,” Cahill says. “What we're delivering to the organization is a full end-to-end solution, and everyone can access it.”
SilverCloud uses techniques backed by cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the most common forms of treatment. Users start by taking a short quiz, which identifies a variety of risk factors associated with their mental health and assigns them various program modules 30 to 40 minutes in length. Users also have access to in-person coaches who can personalize and suggest other modules and features, depending on their needs.
Cahill says SilverCloud can be used in conjunction with in-person therapy and other mental health treatments, but 65% of users report a clinically significant improvement in the reduction or severity of their symptoms, in line with person-to-person therapy outcomes. Currently, over 200 healthcare, payor and employee benefits organizations are working with SilverCloud. Express Scripts and Mercer Canada will soon be able to get access to the company’s digital mental health platform as well.
SilverCloud is part of a growing group of digital mental health providers hoping to meet the demands of employees placing a high priority on accessible, tech-based mental health benefits. Benefitfocus includes access to Happify through their BenefitsPlace platform. The mental health app uses gamification to teach mood training. Additionally, Cisco recently partnered with Vida, a chronic care app, to offer teletherapy through its digital coaching platform.
Cahill says the focus on the importance of good mental health will push employers to keep fighting for these critical resources.
“The reason we all hold down a job, work as functioning members of society, hold on to relationships and those kinds of things are the result of good mental health,” he says. “There’s still work to be done, but the strides that have been made are a real sea change from where we were two or three years ago.”
SOURCE: Place, A. (31 January 2020) "Reducing the stigma of mental illness with digital treatment options" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/reducing-the-the-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-digital-treatment-options
Getting employees up to speed with health literacy
Do your employees know how much sugar is in a granola bar or how much radiation is in a CT scan? If not, it's most likely because no one is teaching them. Continue reading to learn more on getting your employees up to speed with health literacy.
Your employees probably don’t know how much sugar is in a granola bar or how much radiation is in a CT scan. They may not even know how to reach your employee assistance program.
That’s because no one is teaching them. Which is what happens when wellness program education ends at eat more fruits and vegetables and avoid added sugar.
Sometimes the advice is even wrong. For example, below is a clipping from a popular health risk assessment. Focus on the lower right quadrant.
It isn’t entirely true that low-fat and nonfat dairy is healthier. In fact, full fat dairy does have health benefits, for example some studies suggest it could help protect against diabetes. By comparison, low-fat or nonfat yogurt could be a significant source of sugar.
This is why employee health literacy is so important. With easy access to mis-information, employees need to learn to sift through the noise to determine what is actually good for them.
Plus, there is plenty to learn. Spanning from everyday health, employee medical education and health benefits literacy. I’ve outlined just a few of the ways to employers can better educate their population.
Everyday health education
Sugar is one place where health education could be more impactful — but it should go beyond just telling workers to avoid added sugars. Education starts at work. Chances are your break room is stocked with granola bars, maybe Clif Bars. The first ingredient in a Clif Bar is organic brown rice syrup. That may sound healthy, but it’s really just sugar. In fact, there are almost 60 different sugars disguised with fancy names like turbinado or malted barley extract.
Another example is sleep. We all want employees to get enough of it, but do they know how? They may not know little bits of information that could help them get more shuteye, like there is a night shift setting on their iPhone or that energy-efficient light bulbs contribute to insomnia.
But teaching everyday health is just the beginning of health literacy. The real impact comes with employee medical education.
Employee medical education
U.S. consumers are voracious purchasers of healthcare services and yet our outcomes remain poor. Americans have about 240 CT scans per 1,000 people. To put that in perspective, only about 1 in 1,000 covered people in your employee population was hospitalized for diabetes last year. So 240 times more employees are getting scans than uncontrolled diabetes.
CT scans have risks. They have about 500 times the radiation of an x-ray and are especially concerning for children because their cells are dividing more rapidly than adults and are more sensitive to radiation exposure. The dye used intravenously also carries a risk.
But many employees don’t know about these risks. So it may be important to educate your workforce about these common medical procedures and how to decide whether or not it is right for them.
Health benefit education
Here’s a wild guess: your employees don’t appreciate the health benefits you provide for them. If so, you’ve got company. Most large organizations face the same issue.
Consider the employee assistance program. Do workers know you offer one? Do they know it’s confidential? They know their emails aren’t confidential, so don’t assume they know this. Do they know the URL, username and password? How many free sessions do they get?
Repeat a similar set of questions for all your benefits. You can’t expect that some memos and a website will implant your benefits firmly in their mind.
SOURCE: Lewis, A. (25 April 2019) "Getting employees up to speed with health literacy" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/educating-employees-through-health-literacy
Americans Don't Do Much to Avoid Hearing Loss
Original post benefitspro.com
Have you ever even heard of healthy hearing habits?
If not, you’re probably not alone. Relatively few Americans appear to pay much attention to their ears, according to a recent survey conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of EPIC Hearing Healthcare.
The survey found that only a quarter of U.S. adults have had their hearing checked in the past two years.
In contrast, nearly two-thirds of Americans make a trip to the dentist at least annually. Three-quarters wear some type of corrective lens — either glasses or contact lenses — to address poor eyesight.
The survey also revealed that very few understand the risks to hearing presented by a number of different conditions and behaviors, including diabetes (22 percent) and smoking (14 percent).
Granted, it’s hard to believe that evidence showing how smoking harms hearing would be the game-changer that gets people to quit their habit, considering that people are more than aware of the other substantial health risks linked to tobacco use.
But overall hearing health would likely improve if the topic was more often emphasized by physicians and other health experts. According to EPIC, only 8 percent of employer-based wellness programs include hearing health.
But according to EPIC, only one in five people who would benefit from hearing aids actually have them. Even worse, people who don’t discuss hearing issues with their doctors often do not adopt habits to prevent hearing loss.
Hearing loss is often a problem that snowballs, explains EPIC. Dr. William Luxford, medical director of House Clinic. He says that people who begin to lose their hearing engage in behavior that exacerbates the problem, such as turning up the volume on their TV.
“A lot of people aren’t aware how important preventive care is for their hearing health,” he says. “Regular, comprehensive hearing exams by an audiologist are the best way to establish a baseline for your hearing and ensure any hearing loss is caught early so further damage can be prevented or minimized and hearing can be improved as quickly as possible.”
6 Tips for Moving Wellness Beyond Biometrics
Original post benefitsnews.com
Employers are increasingly moving from traditional wellness programs to a more comprehensive, total well-being approach.
While this might seem to be unique, it is part of a greater trend — a growing list of employers are moving beyond the standard “one-size-fits all” approach to wellness and toward a more holistic view of total well-being.
In this post-ACA era, employers are facing the reality of ever-increasing medical costs and the need to engage their employees in their personal healthcare decisions. To achieve these goals, more and more are turning to wellness strategies, with over two-thirds of U.S. employers now offering some type of wellness program.
In the past, many implemented turnkey programs that focused purely on physical health. Who among us hasn’t heard about a company that did a 10,000 steps challenge or “Biggest Loser” competition?
Although these programs were a strong first step in the right direction — accepting the critical role that employers can play in improving the health of their employees — the current understanding is that physical health is only one small component of total well-being.
In our drive to promote employee engagement, we are likely missing the mark if we don’t realize that many employees have more urgent needs that divert their attention from focusing on physical health. An employee may have the desire and intent to attend the onsite biometric screening, but it ends up taking a backseat to more urgent needs — financial stress, an aging parent who needs to be cared for, or exhaustion from late nights caring for a sick child.
If our goal is to really move the needle — to increase productivity, enhance engagement, reduce healthcare costs, and position ourselves as employers-of-choice — we must take a more holistic approach to well-being. It is time to move beyond the singular focus on physical health, and begin to address the financial, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of total well-being.
Luckily, with recent advancements in technology tools, and our greater understanding of employees’ needs, today more than ever employers have the ability to do just that.
Sleep, or lack thereof, has been identified as a major issue for its employees, and organizations are starting to offer sleep programs as an investment in its people. It is believed that this will lead to more productive and mindful employees, and eventually, a better bottom line for the company.
Similarly, companies across the country are implementing other all-encompassing “well-being” programs — such as financial education, yoga and meditation classes, volunteer opportunities, and flex-time — all of which are aimed at helping their employees be more engaged and productive.
Whether your company is already well on your way to developing a comprehensive well-being program or just beginning the journey, many best practices apply to both:
1. Assess your population and offer programs that fit your employees’ unique needs and interests. Just because Google offers a certain program doesn’t mean that it would work well for your company. If you have an older population, a financial education program about saving for retirement will have higher engagement than a program for college loan forgiveness.
2. Ask your employees about the causes of stress that impact them and their families.You can get firsthand feedback about the types of issues that are most relevant in their lives, and then tailor your program to target these high impact areas.
3. Take a multi-year strategic approach. At the outset, determine your desired end-result. Then set goals and implement programs along the way that ensure consistent progress and engagement toward those ends.
4. Use technology to interact with the employees in their preferred social medium. Whether it is a smart phone mobile app, their Fitbit or Apple watch, a Facebook page, or face-to-face contact, employees are more likely to engage if you connect with them through their social channel of choice.
5. Move away from a check-the-box approach in favor of more robust program.Programs with the highest levels of engagement tend to be those that allow employees to personalize their experience and choose from a variety of options and activities.
6. Provide consistent and frequent messaging. Your communication should continue throughout the year and align with your company’s culture and brand.
We’re moving “beyond biometrics” to a more holistic view. Is your company ready to embrace the change?
Why Employers Should Consider Mindfulness Training as an Employee Benefit
Original post benefitsnews.com
Some previous blogs have noted the research supporting the benefits of mindfulness for both individual performance and workplace relationships. Research also finds that mindfulness improves employee well-being and resilience.
Resilience gained attention in the 1970s as psychologists and trauma researchers began to articulate the amazing ability of many people to bounce back following a devastating event, crisis or injury. Over time, researchers have identified the characteristics of resilient people, and have identified how to train people to develop skills to increase their resilience. Hence, resilience has evolved to reflect a coping style that allows someone to endure during difficult times and emerge more competent and skillful in dealing with challenges.
A growing body of evidence suggests that mindfulness is particularly important for developing resilience at work, through its effects on employee physical and psychological health, absenteeism, turnover, and in-role performance. Here are some of the findings:
- In workplace samples, mindfulness has been linked to reduced levels of reported burnout, perceived stress, work-family conflict, and negative moods, along with better sleep quality.
- In studies where employees were randomly assigned to a self-directed mindfulness intervention or a control group, those in the mindfulness intervention reported greater job satisfaction and less emotional exhaustion. Similar effects have been found in a range of occupations, including doctors, soldiers and teachers.
- Mindfulness has been linked to increased psychological capital and resilience in managers and entrepreneurs.
- Mindfulness training predicted employee engagement among employees at the Mayo Clinic. Additional studies have further shown that such engagement may be mediated by greater authenticity, positive emotions, hope and optimism.
Developing a formal mindfulness practice is thought to increase resilience in three ways:
1. Flexible cognition. Practicing mindfulness may actually rewire our brain circuitry, improving our ability to think flexibly, more easily perceiving different perspectives and generating novel solutions to problems. This same skill may allow one to observe potentially toxic workplace events while adopting a “decentered perspective,” making perceived stressors appear less threatening.
Imagine an employee witnesses verbal aggression directed at a fellow co-worker, which causes the employee to feel physiological reactivity and psychological stress. Experiencing the event with mindful attention could decouple this automatic link between the toxic experience and emotional reactivity, leaving them feeling less depleted. This reinterpretation of events actually starts to form new habits of thinking, which may involve perception of stressors as challenges that elicit growth, rather than as hindrances. In addition, application of mindfulness skills may elicit compassion for the fellow co-worker.
2. Growth in the face of adversity. Research shows that exposure to a threat without being overcome by that threat can result in higher levels of well-being than not experiencing the threat at all. In other words, experiencing but quickly recovering from workplace stress may indeed make an employee stronger.
So where does mindfulness fit in? Mindful individuals show an ability to perceive stressful and adverse situations from different angles, and demonstrate a willingness to behave more flexibly in response to them. As workers successfully experiment with new coping behaviors, they experience increased confidence and stronger self-efficacy, improving their ability to deal with many types of challenging situations and developing greater resilience.
3. Positive thinking. Positive emotions play a crucial role in one’s ability to recover physically from adverse events, as well to facilitate better emotion and behavior self-regulation. Mindfulness not only enhances regulation of negative emotions, but also cultivates positive emotions. It’s not that resilient people don’t experience negative emotions like anyone else; they do. Resilient people, however, do not dwell on them. Rather, they have learned how to use their attention and other internal resources to notice and amplify pleasant experiences and meaningful events as well.
To summarize, mindfulness may improve employee resilience by training the mind to reinterpret stressors as less personally threatening, empowering workers to take new perspectives and try new behaviors, which may actually result in growth in the face of challenges, and cultivating positive thinking, which is especially important during hardships. A new wave of resilience research is supporting the idea that mindfulness practice may lead to improved workplace outcomes like job satisfaction, retention, and employee health.
Workplace Mindfulness Training Benefits Extend Beyond Individuals
Original post benefitsnews.com
Much of the research demonstrating benefits of mindfulness practice – stable attention, reduced stress, emotional resilience, and improved performance at work – focus on the benefits for the individual practicing mindfulness. But the workplace benefits extend far beyond that: Mindfulness has a huge impact on relationships. We’ve seen this in our work at eMindful, and it’s supported by considerable scientific research.
Humans are relational by nature, and the quality of our relationships deeply influences our health and well-being. The importance of relationships in the work environment is no exception. Satisfaction and performance at work are strongly linked to one’s ability to work well in teams, develop leadership skills, communicate effectively and resolve conflict.
Teamwork
Team performance obviously relies on relationship skills, and mindfulness training that improves these skills affects both the experience and productivity of teams. One study of health care workers found that a mindfulness-based mentoring intervention resulted in better active listening, more patient-focused discussion and collaboration, as well as greater respect among team members. Moreover, the newly learned mindful communication habits seemed to stick; one year later the team members still demonstrated the same skills.
Leadership
Mindfulness has become particularly popular in the business world as a component of leadership training. CEOs and senior executives have revealed that practicing mindfulness helps build leadership skills, connect to employees and achieve business goals.
One study showed that leaders’ mindfulness was associated with employees’ work-life balance, job satisfaction, and job performance. In that same study, employees of mindful leaders also experienced less exhaustion and burnout. The researchers attributed these findings to leaders being more attentive to and aware of employees’ needs, while self-regulating their own impulses and personal agendas.
Studies confirm the idea that mindful leaders are more attuned to their employees’ nonverbal communication, body language and emotions. In one study, more mindful individuals were better able to recognize the emotions displayed on others’ faces. In fact, it is not uncommon for leaders who complete mindfulness training to say communication feels somehow different, like they are truly listening to their employees for the first time.
Communication, conflict management
Much of the improvement in teamwork likely stems from improvement in communication skills and conflict management. Research suggests mindfulness is associated with better conflict management, with less aggressive communication, and better perspective-taking. During conflicts, people who rate higher in mindfulness have been shown to exhibit more positivity in interpersonal interactions, fewer inappropriate reactions, and less hostility. Mindfulness leads people to process events and feedback in a less self-referential or personal way, which fosters greater attention to group outcomes over self-concerns.
In a study of groups without leaders, teams that were randomized to a short mindfulness exercise had better scores on measurements of team bonding, and they performed better as well. These mindfulness-enhanced skills are helpful not only in better teamwork, but also in enhancing negotiation. One study showed that negotiators randomized to a short mindfulness intervention were more successful in distributive bargaining.
Mindfulness may improve negotiations and team functioning by affecting the emotional tone (positivity vs. negativity) of the team. Since mindful individuals tend to be less reactive to negative events, and recover from negative emotions more quickly, they can influence the collective mood and reduce emotional contagion – the tendency for “negative people” to “bring down” the mood of the group. By practicing focused, kind attention and skillful self-management, mindful people tend to influence through example, engaging and inspiring others.
In summary, practicing mindfulness yields personal benefits, and it can benefit everyone around you. Leaders who practice mindfulness listen differently and communicate more carefully. One result is that they have employees who are more productive and report better job satisfaction. Since mindfulness leads to less reactivity, greater focus on others’ needs, and overall positivity, practicing mindfulness also enhances teamwork through better perspective-taking and more skillful self-management. In my personal experience as a coach, clinician and academic researcher, mindfulness makes working relationships more enjoyable and productive. I’m delighted that research is beginning to confirm how the impact of mindfulness on relationships contributes to better business outcomes.
How to Navigate a Consolidating Wellness Market
Original post benefitnews.com
The corporate wellness industry is growing up. And with maturity comes mergers, acquisitions and a flurry of opportunities that can lead to advances in technology and innovation.
Eventually.
Today, the landscape is confusing. Especially for HR and benefits buyers charged with navigating it. Here’s why:
● Large wellness providers are merging with each other to get bigger.
● Aggressive funding rounds are pressuring companies to innovate and grow quickly to meet investor expectations.
● Large wellness providers are acquiring niche solutions to market.
● Providers are building functionalities that go beyond traditional wellness program capabilities.
Corporate wellness certainly isn’t the first HR category to see wild fluctuation periods. All technology markets move through cyclical waves of change, which follow a surprisingly consistent cadence:
● A period of initial growth. Companies launch to compete with one another with similar solution sets, vying for popularity and mind- and market-share.
● A period of growth stymies. Growth hits a standstill due to economic conditions or market saturation.
● A period of consolidation. Larger players acquire market-share and technology enhancements through partnerships and mergers.
The HR world saw this cycle play out with integrated talent management systems in the early 2000s.
Back then, many different providers sold recruiting, performance management and learning technologies. Hundreds in each category competed with one another, and dozens attracted significant funding to try to dominate the market.
In 2007, the talent management market hit its peak. Companies consolidated, some went out of business, and eventually, we were left with a few dominant providers — SAP, Oracle and IBM.
What did these leaders do right during the industry’s tremendous growth cycle? They mastered their core platform capability before moving on to the next stage of an integrated platform.
So SuccessFactors, now a part of SAP, hitched its wagon to performance management and built a complete vision before expanding its talent management offering. Taleo (now with Oracle) and Kenexa (now with IBM) did the same with recruiting and learning, respectively.
Other talent management providers jumped on the integration bandwagon too early. They tried to cover everything ─ but weren’t good at anything. They couldn’t differentiate themselves in a crowded, shrinking market. Most were shut down or acquired.
I don’t know if corporate wellness will follow this exact path. But the history of enterprise technology indicates an inevitable tipping point. Here are my predictions for what’s to come:
1. Consolidation isn’t going away. It’s clear we’re in a phase of consolidation. Larger companies and private equity buyout firms are acquiring smaller companies, and we expect even more mergers and acquisitions to close the capabilities gap across wellness solutions.
2. The pressure’s on for heavily venture-capital-backed firms. Investors see a ticking clock in front of them. Many want their payoff, and they want it fast. The period of market consolidation doesn’t last forever — and the opportunity to quickly expand to get bought is often made at the expense of product stability, support and internal innovation. Exit pressure increases later in the life of a venture fund as well (for all but the most long-term investors).
3. Providers will jump into unfamiliar waters. Companies with niche offerings will try new things. Recognition providers might add well-being and learning services, and performance companies might try to add analytics tools. But merging different companies, cultures, customer-facing teams and approaches can be difficult and time-consuming, and potentially confusing for employees. Even when providers acquire companies that already specialize in purely complementary capabilities, the devil is in the details. Every acquisition takes time to integrate, and every new feature set takes time to develop.
4. Buyers will be frustrated with all of it. If you’re looking for stability and measured outcomes, then the wrong provider can be a nightmare of new account representatives, technology change and product difficulties. Corporate wellness as a category has room to grow into solutions that embrace the whole employee. Choose wisely.
Three things to focus on
It’s not an easy time to choose a long-term wellness partner. But buyers can take precautions to avoid getting swept into the carnage of acquisitions and consolidations. Here are some best practices to follow when you’re purchasing technology in an unsteady environment:
1. Prioritize your needs as an organization. What major issue is your organization trying to solve? In a crowded market, many challenges and solutions exist ─ but you need to prioritize what’s critical to your success. What is your company trying to achieve in the market? What key capabilities do you need to meet your overarching business goals? What features aren’t as important?
2. Address those needs. This seems obvious, but broader platforms often lure buyers into making decisions that compromise on critical areas. The solution you choose should have excellent bench strength in your highest priority area. For instance, if your main goal is improving employee well-being (and related outcomes), look for a partner that specializes in it ─ not a benefits provider with one small well-being feature.
3. Consider integration capabilities instead of a one-size-fits-all. One positive development of the consolidation phase? Companies want to make it easy for you to connect with different services. This means you don’t need a provider that does everything. Choose the (integration-ready) one you love ─ and tailor it to meet your own unique needs.
Choose technologies that meet your core needs rather than finding a provider that claims to do it all. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Focus on what’s important to your organization:
● What’s going to improve your employee experience the most?
● Who has the capabilities and people to guide you to your desired outcomes?
● What do you need right now, and what can you wait a few years for?
You are the only one who can answer these questions for your organization. When you do, you’ll find the corporate wellness provider that aligns best with your business strategy – and your employees’ needs.
Top healthcare benefit trends to watch
Original post benefitsnews.com
The number of employers offering a healthy living/incentive program grew in 2015, and is one of several trends to watch as the year 2016 unfolds, analysts say.
Plan design changes and programs such as incentive and wellness were of increasing interest to employers last year and most “continue to turn to their brokers and consultants to learn more about new health plan benefit designs and distribution models,” says Tiffany Wirth, executive director of the Healthcare Trends Institute.
“Helping employees better understand the value of provided benefits and making cost-conscious benefit decisions continues to remain important to employers,” she says.
The number of employers offering a healthy living/incentive program grew from 29.8% in 2014 to 34.6% in 2015, according to the HTI’s 2015 Healthcare Benefit Trends Benchmark Study.
During a webinar unveiling the results, Wirth said 21.8% of employers are considering such a program and 16.7% are still learning about them. About 1 in 4 employers (24.7%) indicated they weren’t interested in offering such a program.
“We’re starting to see these types of programs take hold as [healthcare] reform is being adopted and companies are pushing employees to understand their decisions, their purchases, and all of the different things that go along with healthcare benefits,” she says.
As part of incentive program tracking, HTI has also been examining what sort of wellness programs companies are implementing, Wirth says.
Almost half (44.6%) offer at least one type of wellness program, the survey found. Thirty-one percent offer biometric screenings and about 30% offer an opportunity for health risk management.
Key differences from the 2014 benchmark study, Wirth says, included the ranking of top benefits offered by employers. The three highest company-offered employee benefits in 2014 (PPO, family plan and prescription drug) continued to rank high in 2015, but dental came in at No. 1 this year, with about 74% of employers offering it.
More than half (52.1%) of respondents said they had some familiarity with defined contribution plans and private exchanges, with the majority of those who indicated they were interested in offering a DCP identifying 2017 as the year they would likely do so.
Wirth says continued interest is growing among employers to learn and understand more about DCPS.