April 2026 Briefs
State of the Research
HERO’s middle name is research, and the HERO research agenda is as full as it has ever been.
Recently, HERO research committee volunteers convened for an update on the many HERO research initiatives. It was a rare and valuable opportunity for me to have 60 minutes of their dedicated time and brain power, and I thought that you, the members and broader community of HERO, might appreciate an update as well:
- HERO Worker Well-being Clearinghouse, Powered by the NIOSH WellBQ: With NIOSH back in the office, we’ve noticed an uptick in interest from employers to implement the NIOSH WellBQ with employees. We are open to research partnerships in two areas: developing a shorter version of the instrument; and integrating with the HERO Health and Well-being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer(c) (HERO Scorecard) to provide richer insights for organizations using both instruments.
- HERO Scorecard Validation & Stock Performance Study: The goal of this study is to update the 2016 HERO stock study with a new focus on the Brain Health Best Practice Score. The study is expected to be completed and submitted for publication this year.
- Lifestyle Medicine, with funding by Ardmore Institute of Health (AIH): HERO has received a third grant from AIH to support employer-focused lifestyle medicine. The new initiative seeks to refine the existing model and expand it to better serve low-wage workers, prioritizing the health system workforce. The HERO CMO Summit will focus on lifestyle medicine for better brain health, November 8th in Orlando, FL.
- The Dexter Shurney, MD Well-being Fellowship: This fellowship honors the legacy of Dr. Dexter Shurney, former HERO Board Chair, and seeks to elevate integrity, healthy lifestyle, and equity. The fund has met the initial goal of $100K, and the advisory group is renewing efforts toward a new goal of $500K. The first award will be presented at the HERO CMO Summit on November 8th. The application and guidelines will be published in May.
- Workforce Mental Health & Well-being Committee: This committee has implemented a short survey to identify “burning platforms” for organizations related to workforce mental health and continues to plan toward a 2026 Mental Health Summit based on the survey results.
- Research Study Subcommittee: Two workstreams have evolved from this committee: belonging, and value on investment (VOI). Both workstreams are developing articles for Knowing Well, Being Well in the American Journal of Health Promotion later this year. The Belonging issue will feature an operational definition, measures and case studies. The VOI issue will feature proceedings from the HERO Spring Think Tank, reframing the business imperative for well-being.
- Employer Vaccination Strategies Study: This study seeks to understand employer vaccination strategies and the link to business outcomes. We will survey previous completers of the HERO Scorecard, and we plan to present analysis of the study later this year.
If you’re interested in more information or participating in any of these initiatives, please reach out!
Together,
Karen
Join the Physical Activity Alliance 2026 “Move In May” Strava Challenge!
Kick off National Physical Fitness and Sports Month with the “Move In May” Strava Challenge. Complete 600 minutes of movement or more between May 1 and May 31 and earn the Move In May badge. That’s just 150 minutes of activity per week – the science backed amount shown to improve overall well-being and reduce health risks. The Strava challenge is open to anyone. Please join us and help spread the word among friends, family, colleagues, and constituents to maximize participation and get everyone moving this May.
Member Updates
HERO Events
Summer Think Tank
A virtual, HERO members-only convening
July 15, 2026 (tentative)
Think Tank Chair: Jessica Grossmeier, PhD, HERO Senior Fellow – Education
This 2nd Think Tank of 2026 will spotlight employee financial well-being, staying with the theme that we began this month on the business case for well-being. We welcome back to the chair seat, Dr. Jessica Grossmeier, who always delivers thought-provoking and engaging convenings.
We would value your feedback as we plan our next meeting. Please respond to this one-question survey here.
HERO University Summit
“Navigating Institutional Changes. Communicating the value of well-being to leaders.”
October 21, 2026 | A virtual convening
The University Summit 2026 brings together university well-being practitioners to focus on sustaining, advancing, and rearticulating the value of well-being during periods of change. As institutions welcome new presidents, provosts, chancellors, and senior leaders, well-being teams face both disruption and opportunity—needing to rebuild trust, reframe impact, and clearly communicate value in ways that resonate with new priorities and decision-makers.
This session will explore practical strategies for positioning well-being as a strategic institutional asset, not a discretionary program. Participants will examine how to use data and benchmarks, including the HERO Health and Well-Being Best Practices Scorecard in collaboration with Mercer©, to establish clear goals and demonstrate progress; how to integrate AI thoughtfully into well-being strategies, programming, and assessment; and how to engage leadership support through compelling narratives, outcomes, and alignment with institutional missions.
Through peer learning and applied examples, the summit will also address how to rebuild after change, move forward with clarity, and strengthen the case for well-being using storytelling, personas, and evidence-based messaging that connects human impact to organizational performance.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this virtual summit, participants will be able to implement strategies to successfully navigate institutional change by:
- Communicating the institutional value of well-being.
- Translating well-being into executive-level value by connecting it to institutional priorities such as retention, engagement, performance, risk mitigation, and culture—using data, benchmarks, and storytelling to demonstrate the human impact of well-being strategies that drive decision-making.
- Measuring, aligning, and demonstrating impact by applying the HERO Scorecard and other benchmarks to assess well-being maturity, set measurable goals, and align well-being metrics with broader university KPIs for evidence-based planning and leadership reporting.
- Designing forward-looking, sustainable well-being strategies that adapt to institutional and leadership transitions, explore applications of AI, and secure long-term leadership buy-in.
With support from
SAVE THE DATES
HERO Chief Medical Officer Summit
November 8, 2026
Orlando, FL
HERO Fall Think Tank
November 9, 2026
Winter Park, FL
HERO Chief Well-Being Officer Summit
December 3, 2026
Clemson, SC
Interested in sponsoring? Take a look at the 2026 Sponsor Prospectus.
Member Updates
Webinars
Future HERO webinars are in the works, so stay tuned. You can always find recordings of the most recent HERO webinars in the Archives!
HERO Members
With ‘financial well-being’ on the HERO learning agenda this year, we searched the HERO Hub for resources that have been presented in the past. The keyword search identified 9 resources from 2022-2025 and focused on subthemes of measurement, social determinants of health, comprehensive employee programs, options for small and midsize businesses, aging workforce, women’s health, and the pandemic.
Log in to the HERO Hub and check them out!
HERO Committees
Committee participation is a benefit of HERO membership. If you are interested in learning more or signing up for any of the 2026 committees, please contact Karen.Moseley@hero-health.org.
HERO RECOMMENDS
Resources and Readings
Recommended Resources
- What has Changed in Federal Health Policy and What Priorities Have Remained Intact? (March 30, 2026) HERO Senior Fellow Paul Terry examines the United States Federal Health Priorities and compares the focus areas of the “Make America Healthy Again” reports with the “Healthy People 2030 Report” from the prior administration. This editorial reflects on those health areas that have transcended ideological interests and that offer an opportunity for cross disciplinary prioritization.
- Workplace Wellbeing Initiative Trends for 2026. (April 7, 2026) HERO Senior Fellow Jessica Grossmeier led this initiative of the Global Wellness Institute. The “defining shift for 2026 is integration” — organizations are moving from standalone programs to enterprise-wide architecture, with well-being metrics embedded in governance, managerial capability, and risk systems.
- Gallup: State of the Global Workplace 2026. (April 16, 2026) Global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest point since 2020, costing an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. Employee thriving ticked up slightly to 34%, with the biggest gains in Latin America and Europe.
- Frontiers in Psychology: Sustaining employee wellbeing: a mediation analysis of resilience as a pathway from sustainable HRM to happiness in healthcare and wellness settings.(April 13, 2026) This peer-reviewed study on human resource management examines the mechanisms by which sustainable HR practices foster employee well-being, with a particular focus on resilience as a pathway, especially in healthcare and wellness settings.
- HBR: Employees Are Relying on AI for Personal Support. That’s Risky. (May-June 2026) Researchers Constance Noonan Hadley of the Institute for Life at Work and Sarah Wright of the University of Canterbury recommend ways to preserve collaboration, trust and social skills in the new era of AI.
- Spring Health: 2026 Workplace Mental Health Annual Report. (April 9, 2026) Based on surveys of HR/benefits leaders and full-time employees across the US, Canada, Mexico, India, and the UK, it finds that 95% of HR professionals say workplace mental health is somewhat or very important to business strategy, while 61% report mental health leaves have increased in the past year.
- Forbes: Hospital CEO, Chef: Serving Food To Nurture Patients, Business, Planet (April 13, 2026) UC Davis Health’s executive chef and its former CEO describe how food-as-medicine programs drive strategic value, support local farmers, and protect the environment.
- HBR: How to Build a Superteam That Keeps Getting Better. (May-June 2026) Ron Friedman has a new book out about Super Teams. He wrote this article for HBR highlighting research-backed practices leaders use, including making curiosity contagious and leading with meaning.
- Great Leaders Make People Feel Noticed. (July 3, 2025) Many leaders are so consumed by managing that they forget to actually lead. This article explores why your team members need to feel like they truly matter — and gives you concrete ways to make that happen.
- The Hidden Power of Mattering to Others—And to Yourself. (January 12, 2026) We all need to feel like we matter — but that sense is increasingly hard to come by. To fill the void, we’veturned to hollow substitutes: follower counts, likes, external metrics. This article offers a few practical methods anyone can use today to start rebuilding a more genuine sense of mattering.
