Redesigning Wellness Podcast

Imagine fleeing your home (and everything and everyone you know) to escape violence, persecution or disease outbreak. You move into a temporary refugee camp with the desire to safely live and work in another country, only to get stuck in a refugee camp for multiple years with no ability to work.

This is what’s happened to 70.8 million people around the world who have been forced from their home. But only 1% of this population will be resettled in a developed country like the US.

Today’s guest, Chris Chancey, founder of Amplio Recruiting, found a way to match the dependable refugee workforce with some of the 7 million open positions in the US that will go unfilled this year. So far, they have placed over 5,000 refugees living in the US into full time employment over the past 4 years. Amplio Recruiting has far surpassed the retention rate of the staffing industry norms and are a certified B corp.

In this interview, Chris tells us how he got the idea for Amplio and how they’re different than the average staffing company. He educates us on the refugee workforce, their strengths that makes them valuable employees and some enlightening stories of refugees they have placed. Chris leaves us with what employers can do to help the refugee workforce be successful at their companies. 

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

If you’re on top of big news in the worksite wellness world, you may have heard about employees suing Yale University because they allege the wellness program is not voluntary. That’s why wellness legal expert, Barbara Zabawa, is the perfect person to walk us through this class action lawsuit. 

Barbara Zabawa owns the Center for Health and Wellness Law, LLC a law firm dedicated to improving legal access and compliance for the health and wellness industries. She serves health and wellness professionals and organizations across the country as an advocate, a transactional lawyer and a compliance resource.

In today’s interview, Barbara first catches us up on the status of the EEOC wellness regulations around incentives that were vacated in January of 2019. Then we spend time going through the Yale lawsuit and Barbara’s perspective. She tells us how she would defend Yale and offers what other employers can take away from this lawsuit. 

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

Biometrics screenings are pervasive throughout the wellness industry, often as a foundational part of an employer’s full wellness program. Recently, there have been some (including myself) advocating for less screening and more resources allocated to other areas of wellbeing. But are screenings getting a bad rap? Podcast guest, Ann Sabbag, thinks so.

Ann founded Health Designs in 1995. The Health Designs team partners with diverse employers nationwide to create wellness programs that enhance employee health, improve productivity and build a culture of well-being. In 2018, the company served more than 85,000 employees at 250 companies nationwide.

In this interview, Ann reflects on how the wellness industry has changed over her 24 years of being in business. We take a deep dive into one of their core services – biometric screenings. Ann explains how they approach screenings differently than other companies by incorporating intrinsic coaching, with the goal of making screenings more human.

We talk openly about the friction between those who advocate to get rid of screenings and her belief in them. Ann describes her efforts to build a company where people bring their best selves to work and she leaves us with a tangible tip.

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

No matter how successful, rich or high on the corporate ladder we are, Dr. Bowen White says we all have a secret we share. It’s not a secret we talk about but it’s one we bring with us to work, into relationships and imprint on our kids. This secret can get in the way of having the life that is only yours to live.

Dr. Bowen White built his career as a physician who breaks down barriers between him and his patients. He now works with organizations using a combination of the talents and expertise of a physician, speaker, consultant, and author. 

As an organizational physician Bowen is interested in the people piece of the workplace puzzle. He is a founding board member for the National Institute for Play and is the author “Why Normal Isn’t Healthy”.  

In this interview, Bowen tells us how he created his own path to practice holistic medicine, when and why he transitioned to working with organizations and lets us in on his definition of health. He then explains why normal isn’t healthy and describes this secret we all share. Bowen leaves us with the most beautiful (and tangible) tip I’ve heard so far. 

If you’re ready to hear from a physician who takes himself off the “doctor pedestal” and who exposes our deepest insecurity as human beings, this is the episode for you! 

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

The word “happy” can be such a loaded one. It conjures up an overly chipper person that no matter the circumstance, they see rainbows and unicorns. Luckily, podcast guest, Nataly Kogan, tells us that being happy doesn’t mean being positive all of the time.

Nataly Kogan is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author whose mission is ​to help millions of people optimize their emotional health. ​She reached the highest levels of corporate success at McKinsey and Microsoft, and at 26 became a managing director in venture capital. But she was burned out from juggling non-stop work and family responsibilities and felt unfulfilled.

Her journey to find meaningful, lasting happiness along with the discovery of scientific research on emotional well-being led her to found Happier. Nataly believes happiness is not this big prize on the horizon that we can work hard to achieve. Rather, happiness is a skill we can practice.

In today’s interview, Nataly tells her story of fleeing the former Soviet Union and coming to the U.S. as a refugee and her search for what she calls the “big happy”. She tells us how this search led her to create Happier and walks us through the 3 principles and 5 core skills of the Happier Method. Nataly explains how her life is different now than in her previous corporate life and she leaves us with a tangible tip (or two).

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

Most people know they should eat more vegetables, exercise and sleep at least 7 hours a night but unfortunately, knowledge doesn’t equate to behavior. Research suggests we tend to make daily health decisions based on emotions and in the moment instead of according to logic. We’ll make the choice based on how we feel.

Today’s guest is Dr. Michelle Segar, a motivational scientist who has been studying what motivates people to choose and maintain healthy behaviors, particularly around exercise. She believes that motivation isn’t the cause. It’s actually the result.

In this interview, we discuss what a motivational scientist actually does, how we can shrink the goals we’re asking people to achieve (at least at the beginning) and reframe exercise from a chore to a gift.

Michelle gives her thoughts on external motivators like gift cards and financial incentives. She leaves us with a tangible tip to assess the reasons we give employees to participate….are they based on logic?

Links mentioned:

Join me at the Wellness Council of Wisconsin in September! Click here for more info.

Brian Wansink study about exercise fun vs walk.

White paper health promoters stop promoting – can request via this webpage

Website: http://michellesegar.com/

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

There are times when it feels like the wellness industry is under attack. Most recently, it was the Song et al study published in JAMA and before that it was the University of Illinois study. Both garnered the headlines “wellness doesn’t work”.

These sensational headlines are easy to dismiss but I strongly encourage you not to. Both of these studies are good pieces of research we can learn from as wellness professionals. Examining these findings without bias or opinions can potentially lead us to new, more effective approaches.

That why our training, “Next Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice” was created. In this training, we teach the critical ways we need to shift the conversations within our organizations. This can lead us to not only evolve our industry but also have more impact and influence.  We gave the training this past Spring and will also be giving it at this year’s WELCOA Summit as an intensive before the full conference gets started.

For a sneak peek into our training, in this episode, Rebecca and I walk you through 6 of the Critical Keys to improving your impact and influence. If you want to keep up with these critical keys and get additional tips, you can access your free resource guide HERE. 

To join us at WELCOA on August 26th : Click HERE for more details.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

With the many strategic priorities within organizations, it’s easy for employers to forgo attention and resources for employee communications. Perhaps there’s a portal that most people don’t visit, uninspiring emails that go out and/or no clear employer brand. But with employers spending millions and millions of dollars on their benefit programs, doesn’t it make sense to put more effort into having employee capitalize on these benefits? Today’s guest, Jennifer Benz thinks so.

Jennifer Benz, leads Segal Benz, a consulting firm that helps organizations engage their people and drive business results through effective benefits communication. The firm’s work spans across all areas of benefits and HR and blends the best practices of consumer marketing, design, and behavioral science.

Jen is widely quoted in publications, including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Employee Benefit News, Human Resource Executive, HR Magazine, and Workforce.

According to Jen, not only do your benefits help reinforce why someone works for your company, they’re also part of the value proposition of taking a job with your organization. With employers still being a trusted source of information, strategically communicating your company’s benefits provides an opportunity to enhance employer brand, employee experience and increase utilization of the programs you’re already paying for.

In this interview, Jen explains how benefits and communications have changed in the last 5 years, three keys successful benefits communication, why behavioral science is important but first, you have to get the basics right. She tells us how health and wellbeing plays into the overall benefits strategy and leaves us with a tangible tip.

You’re invited: Join me for Next Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice at the WELCOA Summit Intensive on August 26th : Click HERE for more details.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

In today’s world, we can reach out to almost anybody through social media, an email or a website. Our co-workers are just an IM or text away. But despite this ability to digitally connect, we are lonelier than ever. In the past 50 years, rates of loneliness have doubled in the U.S. Former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy likens loneliness to a public health crisis, and the workplace as one of the primary places where it can get better — or worse. 

Today’s guest, Stuart Chittenden, believes conversation can help. Stuart has focused his time and efforts to Squishtalks, a conversation social practice he founded in 2010. Promoting the art of conversation in the belief that conversation helps us to live well and work better, Squishtalks has collaborated with numerous community groups and businesses.

According to Stuart, conversation is the bridge that connects our individual selves with those of people around us. Conversation enables us to recognize the humanity in others, and thereby in ourselves. In our most fundamental experience of being human, every one of us yearns for connection, which conversation helps to enable.

In this interview, we start out talking about a community project called “a couple of 830 mile long conversations,” which received Humanities Nebraska’s largest grant award in 2015. In an RV, Stuart adventured for four weeks along side roads and among small towns to talk with Nebraskans, discovering the lives, cultures and stories of people he met.

Stuart also explains the principles and practices of conversation that foster human connection, how these conversations are intrinsic to personal wellbeing but are missing from wellness programs and conversation considerations for extroverts and introverts.

Thank you to our sponsor, Workplace Money Coach. Workplace Money Coach’s 4-week, Living Paycheck to Purpose financial empowerment program, helps employees address the root causes of their financial challenges so they can better align their financial choices with their purpose and the life goals that matter most to them. You can find out more at http://www.workplacemoneycoach.com/. Shane’s email: [email protected]

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

We all know that wellbeing is more than physical health. Many of the daily choices we make about our physical health habits (exercise, eating, sleep) are dependent on how we feel, what we think and the so-called motivation factor. But what if we addressed emotional health first? Would other healthy behaviors fall in line? Today’s guest, Dr. Karen Lloyd, thinks so.

Dr. Karen Lloyd holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and has over twenty years of leadership experience with health plans. At HealthPartners, Dr. Lloyd develops and leads the behavioral health disease management, case management and utilization management programs for members with behavioral health conditions, along with the emotional resilience programs for HealthPartners employees, care delivery patients and health plan members. 

Karen has created not one but five programs to enhance the emotional health of employees and health plan members. What started as a one-hour class has blossomed into a scalable online solution that has helped over 10,000 people.

In this interview, we discuss how HealthPartners initially identified the need to address the emotional health of employees, how they started and the changes they made along the way. Karen also describes the four other programs they offer in addition to emotional resilience. We tackle what HealthPartners is doing to address organizational stressors and her answer is impressive. As always, we’re left with a tangible tip.

Thank you to our sponsor, Workplace Money Coach. Workplace Money Coach’s 4-week, Living Paycheck to Purpose financial empowerment program, helps employees address the root causes of their financial challenges so they can better align their financial choices with their purpose and the life goals that matter most to them. You can find out more at http://www.workplacemoneycoach.com/.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod