HERO’s Move Benefits Local Food Pantry
This year has taught us so much and challenged us to think differently about a number of areas, among them work and community. Pre-COVID, the HERO team — spread from East Coast to West Coast — was already working remotely most of the time, with a small headquarters office in Waconia used as much for storage and mail as it was for the occasional “office hours.” So in September, we made the decision to close the Waconia office, the last brick-and-mortar barrier to our 100% virtual workforce. With that decision, HERO was able to make several donations of office furniture and equipment. Also donated were swag bags from Forums past, originally provided by Kaiser Permanente. The Waconia United Food Shelf accepted this donation to be used to pass out the food items for a Thanksgiving dinner to those in the community who need assistance this holiday season. The Waconia United Food Shelf is a community organization providing food and supportive information to residents of Waconia, Victoria, New Germany, St. Bonifacius, and Cologne, Minnesota. They are committed to supplying their families healthy food in a pleasant, dignified environment. Thanks to Paul Terry for making these donations possible in the local HERO community. We challenge our HERO family to contribute to your local community this holiday season.
And if you’re wondering how to reach HERO now:
14460 Falls of Neuse Rd.
Suite 149-362
Raleigh, NC 27614
(952) 835-4257
Karen Moseley, HERO President
HEROForum20 Proceedings are published!
Download your copy for a recap of a month’s worth of learnings! Then, mark your calendars for next year; see below for our Forum21 Save the Date!
UPCOMING EVENTS
HERO Members Unmuted!
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 3:00 PM CT
Time and time again, HERO members cite networking as one of the top benefits of membership. We are listening and excited to provide a space for connecting and sharing among colleagues during our monthly Members Unmuted. We kicked off HERO Members Unmuted in October asking the question: What is your organization doing to support employee mental health? This month we will expand on this question by asking: How is your organization addressing mental health through diversity, equity, & inclusion efforts? We hope to see all of you there, bounce ideas off each other, and hear about the great work you are all doing! Don’t worry, if the group gets too big, we’ll divide into smaller breakouts to keep the conversations manageable and the connections strong.
Watch your inbox or contact info@hero-health.org for more information.
Health & Well-Being for Small & Midsize Businesses – a Networking Discussion
Thursday, December 10, 2020, 1:00 PM CT
During the recent HEROForum20, Jack Curtis hosted a networking discussion focused on small and midsize business (SMB) well-being. 99.92% of employees in the US are employed by employers with <1000 employees. Small and midsize businesses are critical to our nation’s ability to move the needle on health and well-being. Jack has been a strong advocate for SMB and the opportunity for HERO to support this “backbone of America.” We will convene the next discussion to discuss how to move forward on December 10th at 1:00 PM CST. If you’re interested in supporting this initiative, I hope you’ll join us.
Register here to join Jack Curtis and Karen Moseley for this important discussion!
Read the HERO blog for more information.
HERO Members Save the Date!
2021 Winter Think Tank
Allyship and the Employee Experience
February 22-23, 2021
A Virtual HERO Think Tank and Do Tank
Allyship relates to the opportunity for an ingroup to show preferential support for an outgroup. This Think Tank examines the employee experience through the lens of an outgroup, people of color, and asks what our professional community needs to do differently to achieve health equity and a robust employee experience for outgroups. Our think tank aim is to get us on the same page concerning the magnitude of systemic racism and what sustains discriminatory practices. Our do tank aim is to transcend policy discussions and develop an action agenda that enables HERO Think Tank members to “be the change.”
Save the Date!
HERO is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. Provider ID# 101039
HERO RESEARCH & SCORECARD
HERO Health & Well-Being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer©
Changing Health and Well-Being Practices among Large Employers
More than 1,300 organizations have completed Version 4 of the HERO Health and Well-Being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer© since it was launched in 2014. As we prepare to move on to Version 5 of the Scorecard early next year, we decided to delve into the robust data we have collected over the six years that Version 4 has been in the field to examine the prevalence of a number of key strategies and how their use has changed over time. Read commentary of six years of HERO Scorecard data on the HERO blog.
HERO RECOMMENDS
Resources and Readings
Financial Incentives and Employer-Sponsored Health Activities
New study by HERO members, Optum and Rally Health, explores how employer-sponsored incentives and participant-level characteristics drive health activity engagement. The study concludes that employers may wish to tailor incentive plans to the unique characteristics and needs of their populations to better drive participation in sponsored health activities. Read the article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Welcome to Fall WIN Week 2020!
It’s the virtual Fall WIN Week 2020 focused on Resilience, Renewal and Racial Justice! You’ll find their full meeting schedule here which includes the Zoom links needed to join along with the meeting agendas. Friday’s session, with the Surgeon General and WIN with Business discussing the role of business advancing a thriving and just nation, will be opened by HERO’s Karen Moseley
HERO WEBINARS
The Learning Series
New Insights on the Role of Incentives in Workplace Well-being
Wednesday, December 9th at 1:00 pm CT Registration
This webinar will provide a brief overview of a new HERO study assessing the impact of incentive design on both participation and workplace health outcomes at the organization-wide level. But the focus will be an interactive discussion among wellness industry experts Jessica Grossmeier (HERO), Seth Serxner (Optum) and David Anderson (VisioNEXT) about the implications of these findings. Save the date and join HERO’s moderator Mary Imboden in real time to contribute your thoughts and questions. Click here for more information.
MEMBER PROFILE
Ailene Bui, MPH
Senior Director of Health Strategy, GRAIL
Ailene Bui is the director of employer partnerships at GRAIL. She has a background in health technology, consulting and business development and has held leadership positions developing programs at Lark Health, Hinge Health and Fitbit Health Solutions. Ailene began her career working with clients at IBM where she became interested in public health, namely how the private sector can further the improvement in public health. She has her MPH in health policy and management from UCLA and BSB from the University of Minnesota.
What is a key focus for your health and well-being initiatives in the coming months?
Cancer screenings have dropped as much as 90% during the pandemic. This is scary because cancer hasn’t gone away. As we move forward in the COVID world, it’s important to refocus on screening, especially if we have the ability to detect screened and unscreened cancers before signs and symptoms occur.
What’s on your professional reading list that you’d recommend to fellow HERO members?
The most important book I’ve read this year is The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last by Azra Raza. Dr. Raza is a pioneering oncologist who provides a first-hand look of what it’s like to treat cancer, and be the wife of a late-stage cancer patient. This book is incredibly human and ultimately filled with hope.
