Register Now: 2025 Forum II

September 17, 2025 | 8:30 AM – 5:00

“From Incivility to Kindness: The Business Imperative”

International House at UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA

Forum Chair: MJ Shaar, MAPP, HERO Senior Education Fellow

This won’t be just another well-being conference. It will be a pivotal moment for organizational leaders who understand that workplace culture is our most powerful competitive advantage. We’re not gathering to simply discuss a problem—we’re going to design solutions that can transform entire organizational ecosystems.

If you believe that the future of work isn’t about extracting value from people but about inspiring them, that workplace culture is our most powerful competitive advantage, and that every interaction is an opportunity to design an environment that unleashes potential and talent, then you won’t want to miss it.

Register Now

2025 Fall Think Tank

September 16 | 1:00 – 5:00 PM

Listening as Intervention: The Practice and Power of Listening in the Workplace

International House at UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA

Forum Chair: Wendy Lynch, PhD, HERO Senior Education Fellow

Join us on September 16th for our Fall Think Tank—an informative and interactive session exploring how organizations put active listening into practice. Participants will hear real-world examples of how effective (and ineffective) listening affects employee and customer retention, employee health, and more. Practitioners will share insights on how to foster a culture of listening, and attendees will leave with practical strategies to embed listening into their own work environments.

HERO think tanks are a benefit of membership. HERO member organizations are allowed two representatives for this in-person think tank.

2025 Healthcare Summit

September 16 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Promoting Human Connection in Healthcare: Addressing safety, civility, caregiving, and mental fitness to foster a more humane work environment

International House at UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA

Civility and psychological safety are essential in a healthcare environment to foster a culture of respect and trust, which is vital for effective teamwork and patient care. When healthcare professionals feel safe and supported, they are more likely to communicate openly, collaborate efficiently, and provide high-quality care.

This Healthcare Summit will examine approaches to support mental fitness and emotional resilience; demonstrate methods to cultivate a workplace culture rooted in belonging, trust, and civility; and explore comprehensive strategies to enhance physical and psychological safety for the healthcare workforce.

2025 University Summit

October 21, 2025 | 12:00 – 4:00 PM | Virtual

Managing Change & Navigating Uncertainty in Higher Education: Organizational Strategies, Individual Support, and Collective Resilience

As higher education continues to navigate rapid and complex challenges—from funding constraints and shifting workforce expectations to growing mental health needs — institutions must find innovative ways to adapt while supporting the people at the heart of their missions.

This year’s virtual University Summit invites practitioners, leaders, and researchers from academic institutions to explore how we can respond to uncertainty with clarity, compassion, and creativity. Through research-informed insights, real-world case studies, and practical tools, we will examine how universities are fostering psychological safety, promoting well-being, building resilient systems, and strengthening a culture of trust and belonging.

HERO Committees

What’s new with HERO Committees?

Here’s the latest update on our current committee activities:

• RSS Committee – VOI Workstream: Prioritizing deliverables, both short- and long-term. Options include: storytelling; rebuttals to address misconceptions; elevator pitch tailored to leadership roles; pick-list of metrics by industry or goal; dashboard with interchangeable components (standardized v. customized, by industry, by C-suite role, with national benchmarks); white paper; peer-reviewed publication (e.g., JOEM, AJHP). Next meeting: June 30th at 1:00 PM EDT.
• Workforce Mental Health & Well-Being Study Committee: Seeking a co-chair to join Philip Swayze in leadership of this committee. Next meeting: July 15th at 2:00 PM EDT.

Unique Opportunity and Invitation

The HERO Workforce Mental Health and Well-Being Committee is seeking compelling stories that highlight real experiences — successes, challenges, or lessons learned — related to supporting/advancing mental health and well-being in the workplace. As part of our commitment to connecting human experience with organizational support systems, we are building a curated library of stories that demonstrate how mental health strategies can lead to positive outcomes for individuals and organizations alike.

We invite businesses, leaders, employees, and practitioners across all sectors to share experiences that reflect a range of approaches, from formal programs to grassroots efforts. Ideal stories will include assessment data that helped define the problem, and/or measurable outcomes from the intervention. We want to learn what tools, resources, data, or partnerships shaped the effort. Whether your story focuses on burnout prevention, building resilience, promoting belonging, or navigating mental health challenges in a changing world, some other organization or group of individuals is likely needing/wanting to address that as well, so we want to hear about it. Stories may come from any industry, but we are particularly interested in hearing from voices in agriculture, healthcare, education, construction, manufacturing, veterinary services, first response, public agencies, and union-represented sectors. We aim to capture a mix of organization sizes and perspectives, from large organizations with bigger budgets to small teams getting creative with limited resources.

Our goal is to create an accessible collection of stories that speaks to diverse workplaces and supports peer learning across industries. If you or your organization has a story to tell, please reach out to us. Together, we can raise awareness, reduce stigma, and highlight both the opportunities and obstacles in workforce mental health efforts.

As a HERO member, you can join a committee today! If you are interested in learning more or joining a committee, please contact Karen Moseley at Karen.Moseley@hero-health.org.

HERO Member

HERO Opens New Membership Category for Individuals

HERO recognizes the value that independent experts provide in advancing the health, well-being and performance of individuals through employer engagement. To offer these individuals an opportunity to engage in the groundbreaking work of HERO, a new Solo Expert Member Category for HERO membership will launch July 1!

Solo Expert Member Benefits Include:

• Free Attendance at all virtual HERO Think Tanks
• Discounted Forum registration
• No Cost CEUs for HERO webinars, and access to all recordings
• Exclusive access to an extensive compilation of resources through the HERO Hub
• Opportunity to engage in HERO research and author publications
• Networking with employers and others from the HERO community
• Exposure for your own work and expertise
• Influence the wellness industry through service and leadership on HERO committees

Cost: $500 investment per year

Webinars

Clinician Well-Being: Co-Creating a Framework for Thriving in Modern Medicine

July 22, at 12:00 PM CDT | Register

Host: Paul Terry, PhD, HERO Senior Fellow

Host: Paul Terry, PhD, HERO Senior Fellow

Speakers:

• Colin P West, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Employee Well-Being, Mayo Clinic

Workforce well-being has become one of the most pressing challenges within healthcare organizations, directly impacting healthcare professionals and the quality of care they provide. This webinar will briefly detail the critical drivers of burnout and well-being, focusing on the key factors that contribute to both distress and well-being within healthcare settings. This session will also describe the recent development and implementation of a comprehensive framework for employee well-being at Mayo Clinic, co-created to integrate and reflect the voice and needs of the employees themselves. Participants will gain valuable insights into strategies for identifying and addressing burnout, fostering a healthier work environment, and promoting learning and working environments within which healthcare teams can thrive. By exploring the framework for evidence-based approaches to reducing burnout and supporting healthcare professional well-being, this session will demonstrate how leadership to promote a more engaged and supported workforce can enhance overall patient care and improve organizational outcomes.

HERO Hub

A simple keyword search on “value” produced 55 results in the HERO Hub – a resource center of presentations, papers and recordings for HERO members. That’s a big number – too big to list them all in this Briefs – so here are a few examples along with encouragement to visit the resource center for your own search.

• Webinar: Recent C. Everett Koop National Health Award Winner Shares Challenges & Best Practices in Employee Health and Well-Being (DTE Energy on improving employee health and well-being while achieving positive business outcomes by documenting value on investment (VOI))
• Leading by Example: Creating a Corporate Health Strategy – The American Health Strategy Project Early Adopter Experience (Assisting employers to fully understand population health through actionable data to unlock the full value of health benefits)
• Cura Personalis: How Gonzaga University Cares for the Whole Person (A case study demonstrating what it means for an organization to live its values)

HERO Scorecard

HERO has received strong interest to launch a two-part study using the HERO Health and Well-being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer(c)(HERO Scorecard). This study is expected to contribute to the ‘value’ evidence base by analyzing the stock performance of companies with high Brain Health scores.

If your organization is interested in contributing as a HERO Research Partner, please contact Karen Moseley: 952-835-4257 or karen.moseley@hero-health.org

PHASE I: Factor Analysis of the HERO Scorecard Best Practice Scores

Objective: To conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to explore and validate the factor structure of the overall HERO Scorecard and each of the best practice scores. The analyses conducted will examine whether there were groups of items within the six domains of the HERO Scorecard that appear to measure a common theme.

PHASE II: Stock Performance of High-Scoring Companies for Brain Health

Objective: To test the hypothesis that publicly traded companies that were associated with a high score on the HERO Scorecard (including Brain Health) to promote and improve the health of their workforce and families can be associated with their company’s superior stock market performance.