HERO June Briefs

UPCOMING EVENTS

Join us via webinar at the HERO Summer Think Tank

Developing Dashboards to Engage Leaders at All Levels (a free MEMBERS ONLY event)
June 19, 2018 | Edina, MN

Registration is still open for the HERO Summer Think Tank meeting. If you cannot attend in person, we are providing opportunities to join us via webinar for the presentation portions of the agenda.

Please use the links below to register for the portions of the meeting that you would like to attend.

Developing and Designing an Effective Dashboard Approach

Registration includes the presentation portions of the agenda from 8:30 am to 10:15 am CDT. Guest speakers include:

• Wendy Lynch, PhD, founder, Lynch Consulting Ltd
• Bridget Neurer, senior vice president, Aon
• Brad Smith, PhD, vice president, reporting and analytics, meQuilibrium
• Shelly Wolff, MBA, health & workforce effectiveness leader, Willis Towers Watson

Employer Case Studies: Getting to What Matters with Meaningful Use of Data

Registration includes the presentation portions of the agenda from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT. Guest speakers include:

• Waleed Bahouth, JD, director of associate well-being, Humana
• Robert Carr, MD, MPH, president, American College of Preventive Medicine
• Laura Ellison, MBA, senior manager of benefits, ADT
• Keith Winick, MA, director of health and wellness & analytics, Prudential Financial

HERO Research Updates

Registration includes the presentation portions of the agenda from 2:45 pm to 3:30 pm CDT. Speakers include:

• Jessica Grossmeier, PhD, MPH, HERO vice president, research
• Sara Johnson, PhD, CEO, Pro-Change
• Steven Noeldner, PhD, HERO Research Committee chair
• Seth Serxner, PhD, HERO Board chair
• Paul Terry, PhD, HERO president and CEO

HEROForum18

From the C-Suite to the Shop Floor: Well-being for All
October 2-4, 2018 | Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

The agenda is shaping up nicely for HEROForum18, and you won’t want to miss the activity Oct. 2-4 at Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort and Spa in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. Our Oct. 2 opening panel featuring Elena Valentine, CEO and co-founder of Skill Scout, and Diana Han, MD, global medical director of GE Appliances, will get to the heart of this year’s theme: From the C-Suite to the Shop Floor: Well-being for All. Later that day, Jack Groppel of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute and Jennifer Bruno from Johnson & Johnson will share Lessons from Kilimanjaro.

HEROForum18 tracks will cover the latest thinking and research on topics including:

• Skills, motivation, and autonomy: Exemplary employer population health improvement cases, successful health promotion interventions, and behavioral economics principles in action.
• Parity in health promotion: How to better meet the needs of women, minorities, and low-wage workers.
• Engaging leaders and champions: Enlisting, training, and supporting wellness champions, middle managers, informal grassroots leaders, and executive-level leaders in building a culture of health.
• Measures for the C-suite and the shop floor: New ideas, instruments, and dashboards with clearly defined constructs that can show baseline or over-time changes in well-being and/or culture, particularly for hard-to-reach populations.
• New ideas and new uses for old ideas: Paradigm shapers and shifters, and new uses for old ideas. Be prepared to discuss whether our profession is best served by an evolution or a revolution with regard to current best practices and your ideas about next practices.
• Happiness and well-being: How to measure and apply concepts of gratitude, happiness, resiliency, and other holistic ways to advance well-being in our day-to-day health and well-being initiatives.

In addition, we’ll have fun and games at the HERO Playground, fitness with morning workout sessions, and the presentation of the annual HERO Health and Well-Being Awards.

Register now and reserve a room. Need a group rate? Call Karen Moseley at (717) 868-7150. Ready to sponsor? Call Pat Rohner at (919) 948-6160

HERO RESEARCH

Systematic literature review published on elements of a healthy culture

Led by HERO member Jennifer Flynn, HERO Culture of Health Study Committee members have spent countless hours systematically combing through hundreds of published research studies to identify and evaluate the evidence base related to the 24 elements identified by the committee as key to a healthy culture. The newly published study summarizes the committee’s findings that most of the published literature represents quantitative, cross-sectional studies and focuses on three elements: built environment, policies and procedures, and communications. The authors conclude more research is needed to qualitatively understand the nature of the relationship between culture of health elements and health and safety outcomes. Moreover, time over time studies are needed to examine causal relationships.

Scorecard commentary reviews leadership actions and health cost impacts

HERO continues to explore the importance of leadership for promoting employee health and well-being. A recent analysis of the benchmark database from the HERO Health and Well-being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer© examines the relationship between leadership actions and health and medical cost impacts. Check out the HERO Blog for the latest analysis on “Leadership Support and the Effectiveness of Wellness Initiatives,” authored by Octavia Zahrt, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

CDC culture of health case study is now available online

Want to know what steps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) takes to help its own employees stay healthy? According to the HERO Culture of Health Study Committee’s recently published case study, the CDC has built a culture that features active executive leadership, a supportive built environment, excellent peer support, and traditions that support healthy behavior, among other key elements.

There are more elements at work at the CDC. You can learn more by reading the full case study.

HERO MEMBER RECEIVES RECOGNITION

Pro-Change Behavior System CEO earns Woman to Watch honor

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Johnson, co-president and CEO of new HERO member Pro-Change Behavior Systems for her recent recognition as one of Providence Business News’ 2018 Health Care Services Women to Watch.

The Women to Watch awards recognize women for their business accomplishments and for their work mentoring and providing business opportunities to other women. Johnson was chosen for her implementation of innovative research and development opportunities, as well as creating and expanding strategic business alliances.

Pro-Change uses evidence-based behavior-change solutions to improve health and well-being. Johnson is also the co-editor of The Art of Health Promotion. Her work has helped elevate prevention and health promotion among the health care services businesses are focusing on.

We are proud of Johnson’s accomplishment and pleased that HERO is one of the strategic alliances she has fostered.

HERO WEBINARS

Is there a place for you on one of HERO’s study committees?

Are you curious about the opportunities that exist with HERO’s study committees? Now’s your chance to find out. Starting July 9, committee project manager Emily Wolfe will hold a bi-monthly committee interest call to discuss opportunities with HERO’s study committees and answer general questions about serving on a committee. If you’ve ever thought about serving on a HERO study committee, this is your chance to learn more. Email Emily with questions, or plan attend the first session at 12 noon CDT July 9.

Revisit HERO’s opioid conversation with Sam Quinones

If you missed our May 23 Book Club webinar with Sam Quinones, you missed a fascinating discussion about the challenges of addressing opioids in America.

Quinones is the award-winning author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opioid Epidemic,” and his discussion touched on a number of important topics, including how employers can play a larger role in preventing and managing what many consider one of the most serious epidemics of modern times.

The webinar is worth a listen. You can find it archived here.

HERO RECOMMENDS

Resources and Readings

New study demonstrates sustained improvements in well-being

Researchers from HERO member Johnson & Johnson collaborated with nutrition scientists at Tufts University to publish a new study in the American Journal of Health Promotion demonstrating the impact of a 2.5-day, intensive intervention on sustained improvements of employee energy levels and purpose in life. This is the first study known to demonstrate quality of life metrics with a 2.5-day immersive worksite-based intervention with employees from 12 diverse worksites. It also leverages a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design at the worksite level, which is not common in the workplace health promotion field. For a summary of findings and a discussion of study implications, visit this link.

Participate now in Employee Assistance Society well-being survey

The field of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) has evolved over the past three decades in North America, and certain themes emerged in the comments from attendees at last month’s Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) Institute about what has changed in EAP.

EASNA is conducting a survey to understand how the EAP industry has evolved and what themes would be most valued in EASNA’s Purchaser’s Guide for EAP services. Their survey will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Please take this survey if you:

• Work for an EAP program or external vendor (in a business or clinical role)
• Work for a company that supports or partners with EAP providers
• Advise or consult with employer organizations about employee benefits – including EAPs
• Work in human resources or leadership role for an organization with an EAP

In addition to helping EASNA, you could win a $100 prize to be randomly awarded to one person who completes the survey. All responses will be kept confidential. The original Purchaser’s Guide to EAPs is available free at the EAP Digital Archive.

How does social connectivity affect employee health and productivity?

Positive psychology principles, including the role of companionate love and social support, are trending strong in the worksite health promotion field. Dr. Sara Johnson, HERO member and co-editor of the Art of Health Promotion, has edited a fascinating series of articles showing how social connection can have a major impact on well-being.

This section of the American Journal of Health Promotion is open access and available to all. Dr. Johnson offers a stellar review of related literature, and among the articles featured is one from HEROForum17 keynote speaker Olivia (Mandy) O’Neill that asks the question “what’s love got to do with it?”

What can tobacco research teach us about the opioid epidemic?

If tobacco and opioids were on a spectrum relative to the relief they provide from social, emotional, financial, and other sources of pain in the lives of the disenfranchised, could it be that they are indeed two sides of the same coin? Every year, almost as many people die from incidentally being near smokers as die from accidentally overdosing. Our opioid epidemic has been declared a national public health emergency, though the annual death toll from tobacco is 10 times greater. How should we reconcile this? Paul Terry explores this in his editorial “For whom the Bell Tolls.” This is open access and available to all in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

MEMBER PROFILE

Dr. Heidi Greenberger

Throughout 2018, each edition of HERO Briefs will include a member profile with answers to three questions we believe will interest HERO members.

Our June member profile features Dr. Heidi Greenberger, senior director of clinical research, AbleTo Inc.

Q: What’s a new professional resource (i.e. websites, measures, tools, books) you’ve found useful for improving your efforts?

A: As research director for AbleTo, a national remote behavioral health care provider, I rely on government websites for the most current statistics (e.g. www.nimh.nih.gov, www.samhsa.gov) and behavioral health care organization websites for policy and advocacy updates (e.g. www.ABHW.org). Contemporary data from these reliable resources drive our program development and evaluation efforts to best serve the unmet behavioral health care needs of U.S. workers and their families.

Q: Can you share a story about an executive leader who is helping you advance well-being in your organization?

A: Employee well-being is prioritized at AbleTo. Our executive leadership consistently promotes a positive, trust-based work culture through monthly, company-wide town hall meetings where transparency, communication, and employee feedback are core components. We also have an active wellness committee that disseminates programming related to total health and wellness that is accessible by on-site and remote employees.

Q: What’s on your professional reading list that you’d recommend to fellow HERO members?

A: For the leader within all of us, “Leading on Purpose” by Thomas and Tilden is a very approachable text that guides leaders at all levels of an organization to lead more effectively. For the clinical researchers among us, I just re-ordered Browner’s “Publishing and Presenting Clinical Research” for my summer interns and was reminded what a useful, classic resource it is.