Employee Wellness Program Social Support: Back to the Basics

The data demonstrating health and wellness benefits of social support is overwhelming. And although worksite health promoters have known social, emotional, and spiritual health is as important to well-being as physical health, few employee wellness programs give it the same priority as fitness, nutrition, weight loss, or smoking cessation. Part of the reason is the culture in most organizations doesn't lend itself to social health. The classic The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, et al, says it best:

Employee Wellness Program Social Support: Back to the Basics

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

Tube. Duration : 88.98 Mins.

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

Shadow of a Doubt: Deanna Durbin, Joseph Cotten Rebecca: Joan Fontaine, Brian Aherne, Agnes Moorehead The Devil and Miss Jones: Laraine Day, George Murphy, Charles Coburn Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (born 22 October 1917), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s. Fontaine is the only actress to have won an Academy Award for a performance in a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Suspicion. Fontaine made her stage debut in the West Coast production of Call It a Day in 1935 and was soon signed to an RKO contract. Her film debut was a small role in No More Ladies (1935) (in which she was billed as Joan Burfield).[4] Although Fontaine, on contract with RKO, had already made her screen appearance in No More Ladies, a series of other minor roles followed, in A Million to One (1937) and Quality Street (1937), opposite Katherine Hepburn. The studio considered her a rising star, and touted The Man Who Found Himself as her first starring role, placing a special screen introduction, billed as the "new RKO screen personality" after the end credit.[5]She next appeared in a major role alongside Fred Astaire in his first RKO film without Ginger Rogers: A Damsel in Distress (1937) but audiences were disappointed and the film flopped. She continued appearing in small parts in about a dozen films, including The Women (1939) but failed to make a ...

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones

No URL Screen Guild Theater: Shadow of a Doubt / Rebecca / The Devil and Miss Jones




Shadow of a Doubt: Deanna Durbin, Joseph Cotten Rebecca: Joan Fontaine, Brian Aherne, Agnes Moorehead The Devil and Miss Jones: Laraine Day, George Murphy, Charles Coburn Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (born 22 October 1917), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s. Fontaine is the only actress to have won an Academy Award for a performance in a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Suspicion. Fontaine made her stage debut in the West Coast production of Call It a Day in 1935 and was soon signed to an RKO contract. Her film debut was a small role in No More Ladies (1935) (in which she was billed as Joan Burfield).[4] Although Fontaine, on contract with RKO, had already made her screen appearance in No More Ladies, a series of other minor roles followed, in A Million to One (1937) and Quality Street (1937), opposite Katherine Hepburn. The studio considered her a rising star, and touted The Man Who Found Himself as her first starring role, placing a special screen introduction, billed as the "new RKO screen personality" after the end credit.[5]She next appeared in a major role alongside Fred Astaire in his first RKO film without Ginger Rogers: A Damsel in Distress (1937) but audiences were disappointed and the film flopped. She continued appearing in small parts in about a dozen films, including The Women (1939) but failed to make a ...

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By fulfilling their economic mission, industrial enterprises improved living standards for many millions of people. But they also separated us from our traditional ties to the land, to our families, and to communities of place -- without filling the vacuum left by diminished sense of common purpose and social values. We see the results in the workplace in drug abuse, personal stress, family crises, and health problems -- all of which cause as many problems for the organization as they do for society and for the affected individuals.

Discipline Field Book

Employee Wellness Program Social Support: Back to the Basics

Changing the workplace culture to one with shared responsibility and a sense of community isn't a short-term proposition. Many organizations are trying -- through team building, shared decision-making initiatives, and most recently with attempts at online social networking tools geared toward health behaviors. Success has been scattered at best. And the damage to morale caused by staffing cuts the last few years has eroded whatever gains may have been made to this point.

Employee Wellness Program Social Support: Back to the Basics

Where the Employee Wellness Practitioner Fits

Worksite wellness promoters can influence culture and a sense of community in these ways:

• Written communication. In many organizations the most widely read publications are online wellness newsletters, blogs, and program announcements. Shifting focus to a balance of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health in these materials sets the stage for additional efforts.

• Presentations. Regardless of the topic, it's easy to build in a social health message -- discussions on others attempting the behavior change, examples of how community or group support has helped them achieve success, or reference to additional resources (support groups, literature, online services) to assist with the change.

• One-on-one attention. Many participants may benefit more from counseling and support that concentrate on life balance, social involvement, and community participation rather than on grams of fat or exercise minutes.

• Management education. Monthly or quarterly reports that highlight community involvement, group activities, and team success will begin to influence management thinking and create opportunities for more investment and participation in social health activities.

• Support groups and mentors. Maintaining a database of employee background and health interests offers a chance to connect individuals and groups with similar needs. Changing strategy from provider to facilitator may be of more value to the entire population.

• Leadership. Become an expert in social health and community processes, then advocate them -- not only through immediate employee wellness programs and services, but in the larger sphere of influence -- through management champions, involvement in human resource committees, and sharing views in training programs and employee feedback sessions.

One of the best examples of a complete culture of social support can be seen in the highly successful online retailer Zappos, as described by founder and former CEO Tony Hsieh in his new book, Delivering Happiness. Employee wellness takes on an entirely new meaning when it's the CEO who is not just implementing a happiness culture, but also living it. Hsieh didn't just add an employee wellness program to an existing company culture -- he created the company culture out of social support wellness initiatives designed to make people happy. The results were staggering, and the company value increased by a billion dollars in just over 10 years.

Employee Wellness Program Social Support: Back to the Basics