4 Best Practices from the Wellbeing Track at HR Virtual Summit

During the Wellbeing track at our eighth annual HR Virtual Summit, experts shared how to implement changes into your company’s routine and strategies to help your employees feel better at work and in their lives.

Here are top insights from some of our Wellbeing sessions at HR Virtual Summit:

1. Keep an Open Dialogue with the People You Serve

In Julie Turney’s session, titled “3 Ways to Reinvent Wellbeing That Even HR Will Want to Participate In,” she discusses the importance of keeping an open dialogue with the people HR serves. Julie prompts HR pros to “find out what is and what is not working when it comes to your wellbeing strategies in your organization.”

By having these discussions, she says, you can see what’s missing and how to build a wellbeing program that really matters for people.

Julie’s tip: Consider adding focus groups to your strategy instead of relying solely on one-on-one conversations with employees.

Consider adding focus groups to your strategy instead of relying solely on one-on-one conversations with employees.

Recruit Help to Design Wellbeing Programs That Will Resonate with Your Employees

“Many organizations can’t hire a Chief of Wellbeing. But that’s not the point,” says Julie. “You have something at your fingertips that you can easily tap into—the people at your organization!”

Julie’s Tip: Ask employees if they’re willing to contribute in the following way:

Be wellbeing ambassadors
Spearhead a group
Join a committee tasked with updating your wellbeing programs

3. Design Programs That Evolve with the Needs of Your Employees

It’s critical that your wellbeing programs are interesting and engaging. To achieve this, Julie suggests taking an agile approach to wellbeing at your organization. This means finding out what you can start doing, stop doing, and continue doing.

Julie’s tip: Get clear on what needs in your organization are changing and then ask yourself, “How can we change with those changing needs?”

4. Harness the Power of Play to Combat Burnout

In Gary Ware’s session, titled “Reducing Burnout and Increasing Productivity Through Purposeful Play,” he highlights a startling finding: 97 percent of employees say that employers should be trying to improve employee mental health. One way to do that, Gary argues, is to combat burnout with the power of play.

Common signs of burnout include:

Exhaustion
Lack of motivation
Frustration
Slipping job performance
Generally decreased satisfaction
Health problems

The benefits of play directly solve so many of these problems. Some benefits include:

Reduced stress
Improved attention
Improved creativity
And so much more

After a long meeting, make a plan to walk around the block for 10 minutes, so you can clear your head, get fresh air, and tap into those purposeful play benefits.

Gary’s tip: To apply these principles, make a plan. For example, after a long meeting, make a plan to walk around the block for 10 minutes, so you can clear your head, get fresh air, and tap into those purposeful play benefits.

To hear more from Julie and Gary (and all of the great speakers in the Wellbeing track), watch for updates about HR Virtual Summit 2022! Sessions will be available to watch soon.