The Future of Work: Practitioners Discuss Environmental Practices that Bolster Performance
This webinar features an employer panel chaired by David Schweppe from Kaiser Permanente is available for HERO members only in our Resource Center. Also on this recording is a recap about the Think Tank Proceedings from HERO President Paul Terry, a presentation by Jeremy Doyle on “people analytics.”
The webinar recording is lengthy but you can navigate to different sections as follows:
- Think Tank Recap: The recording begins with a recap of learnings from the first day of the Think Tank by HERO CEO Paul Terry.
- HERO Vice President of Research, Jessica Grossmeier, introduces Jeremy Doyle of Humanyze (18:30)
- Think Tank Roundtable and Practitioner Panel, facilitated by David Schweppe (48:15)
- HERO Committee Reports and Opportunities (1:59:10)
Starting at 48:15 of HERO’s Think Tank webinar recording (hyperlink/I haven’t been able to open what you sent earlier yet) is our Employer Practitioner Panel session moderated by David Schweppe of Kaiser Permanente. The panelists include Anthony Anderson of Bath Iron Works, Kirk Larson of TURCK, Inc., and Jeff Rosenblum of Franklin Square. The panel discussed how they developed and implemented health policy and culture changes in their organizations with a special shared emphasis on the essential element trust.
At Bath Iron Works, they now employ nine health coaches and have expanded biometric testing. The coaching focuses on individual behavior and taking small steps towards change. However, Anthony has also focused on the environment- specifically, food. For too long, leadership provided rewards in the form of donuts and the restaurants in the shipyard were mainly unhealthy food trucks. Anderson said he came to the realization that “if you put a changed person back in the same environment, they’re going to regress eventually,” so, in spite of a commonly held perception that the culture wasn’t ready for significant food policy change, he nevertheless worked with leadership to change the food options available. Anthony is leading an effort to change the company policy in 2016 such that food purchased with company money should be healthy food, a change that will greatly test the trust levels in the organization.
Think Tank Panelists (in order from the left): David Schweppe, Kaiser Permanente; Jeff Rosenblum, Franklin Square, Kirk Larson of TURCK, Inc., and Anthony Anderson of Bath Iron Works.
At TURCK, Inc., Larson pointed to the onsite clinic that came online at the same time as a new CEO back in 2007. This allowed the organization to start working to change the culture and they have added something new each year since. A main focus for them is work-life balance. As Larson said, “Work is a part of life…there should be a balance there.” They also have a strong focus on engaging spouses through Lunch and Learns and incentivizing participation in wellness challenges, biometric screening and online assessments.
Relating the keen interest in maximizing human performance at Franklin Square, Rosenbloom described concerns that their hard driving financial services employees were on pace for major burnout. The average work week was 70 hours and leadership set out to create what they refer to as “sustainable high performance.” To achieve this, the company hired health coaches and a nutritionist to help individuals with exercise and nutrition plans. Coaches assist with strategies for other healthy behaviors such as quitting tobacco and taking relaxation breaks. Franklin Square also invested in exercise equipment as well as free fitness classes and, as Rosenbloom notes, “our goal is to have employees return home with as much energy for their families at eight in the evening as they brought to work at eight in the morning.” To this end, employees are encouraged to recover throughout the day with sleep pods, and, healthy food available during the workday that is paid for by the company. The result has been increased retention and soaring recruiting numbers.
If you’re interested in hearing more from the panel, you can view that section of the recording here from 48:15-1:41:00. After that, there is a 15 minute break followed by HERO Committee Reports and Opportunities from 1:59:10 to the end of the recording.
Thank you to all who spoke at and attended the 2016 HERO Winter Think Tank!