Stop Stressing Me Out

It's the penultimate episode of this season on workplace wellbeing, so we wanted to talk about what's going on in real-time. Companies are cutting their DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) budgets left, right and center. We'll talk a little bit about why that's happening, but also why it's the biggest mistake an organization can make. DEI and your wellbeing in the workplace are intricately connected, which is why I wanted to have this conversation today with Sr DEI Consultant, Janelle St Omer. 

In this episode we talk about:

• the many ways DEI shows up at work that you may not even realize

Connect with Janelle on LinkedIn

Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn

If you enjoy this episode, please share it on LinkedIn or with someone who will find value in the content.

Engagement surveys. Love them or hate them, they're an incredibly useful tool to understand where an organization is at, and where their people feel they need to go. They're also a useful tool to understand workplace wellbeing. But how do we use them to their maximum effect so they don't become something that organizations dread? 

We dive into this and more with Denise Lloyd, the Founder and CEO of Engaged, an award-winning, Victoria based human resource consulting firm that provides leading-edge HR services to organizations across Canada. Denise is a leader that brings new ideas and innovation to the way HR contributes to an organization and is known for transforming workplaces. Denise has over 25 years of HR leadership experience, has a Master of Arts in Leadership, and holds the prestigious designation of Fellow Chartered Human Resources Professional (FCPHR).

In this episode we talk about:

• the core differences between engagement, pulse and engagement surveys, when to do them and why

Connect with Denise on LinkedIn

Find out more about Engaged and their course offerings

Job hunting consistently ranks as one of the most stressful experiences. It triggers feelings around self-esteem, financial security, worth and purpose, all massively important areas of our lives. That's why this week I wanted to bring Career Coach and Financial Recruiter Darci Smith to the microphone. 

In this episode we talk about:

• current state of the job market

Follow Darci on Instagram

Connect with Darci on LinkedIn

Darci's Recruitment Firm - Roklyn

We've talked a couple of times now about the connection between purpose, volunteerism and wellbeing... but where is the evidence? I'm all for evidence-based decision-making, so today on the podcast we're joined by Ryan Adams, the head of Strategic Partnerships at Benevity.

Benevity is a corporate purpose software that provides charitable donation-management, volunteer-management and grant-management solutions for corporations. It also happens to be my former workplace, and one of my favourite parts of the job was the data that was produced from the 1000+ clients and millions of participants. In March 2024, Benevity produced its most recent State of Corporate Volunteering Report and the data is fascinating, and for me, I couldn't help but see the connections between corporate purpose programs and an employee's wellbeing.

Ryan has a deep background in all things social impact, which we discuss in the podcast, and we also talk about:

• turning implicit understandings about volunteerism into explicit findings

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn

Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn

The Book: Stress Less in 90 Days: Your Guide to Beat Burnout, Build Resilience and Actually Enjoy Your Daily Life

Multiple studies have shown that most workplace wellness features don't actually make a difference to employee wellbeing. But there is one that has been proven to work at retaining people, giving them a sense of purpose and improving their wellbeing - employee volunteerism.

Check out our Less Stressed Leaders Training 

Follow Jerome on LinkedIn 

This week on the podcast I'm very excited to bring Michelle Berg to the mic. Michelle is the Chief Visionary Officer of Elevated HR, a fractional HR services firm that believe fiercely that work shouldn't suck. 

To continue our conversation on workplace wellbeing and organizational stress, I wanted to have a frank conversation about what is the role HR can and/or should play in supporting organizations to reduce stress and burnout. In this conversation we talk about:

• How the motto work shouldn't suck is their north star and what organizations should aim for

And much more! 

To check out the Less Stressed Leaders training go to impactfulengagement.com/training

If you work for a corporation, your company website likely has some values listed on it. We believe in x, y and z. You might even have your performance assessed against it. And corporate values can't be bad, right? 

In this short episode I dive into where corporate values can go wrong, and what you as a leader need to do to make sure your team are on the same page.

Less Stressed Teams training launches April 17th https://www.impactfulengagement.com/training 

Hub Spot Culture Code https://www.hubspot.com/culture-code/the-hubspot-culture-code 

We're back for Part 2 with Jen Singhal. Last week we dove into what it takes to move a team from low engagement to a highly engaged and high performing team. We talked tangible practices to build team morale and in this episode we dive even deeper into the practices to develop psychologically safe teams. It's far more than a buzzword, and we can talk psychological safety in theory for ages, but Jen breaks down tangible tools to put it into action. 

Check out Less Stressed Leaders training at impactfulengagement.com/training 

Follow Jen on LinkedIn

There's a common misconception that certain industries or roles are simply high-stress and that's "the way it is and the way it's always been." I don't buy it.

Today we're joined by Jen Singhal, a leader who knows what it means to build a team's performance while sustaining (in fact measurably improving!) their wellbeing. She's proven both are possible, and in this episode she graciously breaks down what it took, the tools and practices, that got her team there. Her coaching leadership style is fascinating and you'll have so many takeaways that you can implement immediately. 

In part one of this episode we talk about:

• What Jen’s leadership career trajectory has looked like (10:15)

If you’d like to connect with Jen to learn more, find her on LinkedIn

Don’t miss our Less Stressed Leaders program on our spring training calendar at impactfulengagement.com/training

An intentional employee resource group (ERG) has the ability to not only build awareness, but to create systemic change in organizations, build allyship, improve belonging, engagement and psychological safety. And all of those things... decrease workplace stress!

This week on the podcast we're joined by Johann Shudlick from Golden, a volunteer software that helps organizations (and ERGs!) to grow their programs efficiently and effectively, to save costs so they can focus on the impactful work they are doing and to make compliance easy. 

In his time at Goldman Sachs, Johann took on a leadership role in the LGBTQ+ network and it was life-changing. In this episode he shares the one big thing that was a critical focus for their ERG. We also talk about:

• The career path that led him to employee resource groups (07:05)

To check out Impactful Engagement's spring training go to impactfulengagement.com/training 

Resources

Golden https://www.goldenvolunteer.com/ 

Download the Golden App on Apple or Android

The Principles https://www.principles.com/