By, Kerry Lister, M.L.I.S.

In this blog, we will explore the benefits associated with an organization having an Employee Resource Group (ERG) devoted to health and wellbeing. As companies recognize that engaged employees are more productive and resilient, many are turning to health and wellbeing committees as a strategic initiative to cultivate positive workplace cultures. ERGs can be powerful drivers of talent recruitment, retention, and engagement.

Mental Health at the 2024 Summer Olympics

While the focus of the Olympic Games is the physical fitness and skills of athletes, recent Olympic competitions have also put a spotlight on mental health. In the case of gold medal gymnast Simone Biles, she prioritizes both mental and physical health. For the past few years, she has been a champion for mental health and has been open about her struggles. “I think it’s okay to not be okay,” Biles said. “And I think I showed a very vulnerable side that most people don’t see, because most of the time, whenever I’m out there, they’re seeing me win gold medals and all this stuff that’s not relatable. So, whenever I really break it down and I am very authentic to them, then they can feel like they can relate, and it’s on a personal level, and then they believe that they can get the help that they deserve.”

During the Summer Olympics in Paris, Biles spoke openly in interviews about how instrumental her therapist was in giving her the confidence to compete. They would practice visualizations and make sure that she was mentally well.  Other Olympic athletes were just as open about prioritizing their mental health and wellness. Take Stephen ‘Pommel Horse Guy’ Nedoroscik, who was seen on the sidelines before competitions meditating by doing a Rubik’s cube, visualizations, or other breathing exercises. The International Olympic Committee even has a MentallyFit page of resources for athletes, including a Mental Health in Elite Athletes Toolkit.            

Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace

Although the pressure and stress experienced by Olympic athletes is unique, many employees in the workplace face their own daily challenges with demands, deadlines, and expectations. Companies can focus on prioritizing the health and wellness of employees by creating an Employee Resource Group.  Here at Keystone Partners, we established a Health & Wellbeing Committee, which is devoted to helping employees and their families create a happy and healthy lifestyle. We care about the health and wellbeing of each of our employees and recognize that this encompasses a complex combination of factors that includes a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and social health. Our committee is comprised of five members from different teams and meets once a month.

So far, we have had two employee wellness challenges in which winners received an Amazon gift card, a Get Hydrated challenge which focused on increasing your water intake, and a #Dowhatyoulove challenge, which focused on getting out there and encouraging our employees to take time to do the things they love and to share pictures of their adventures.  We’ve also devoted months to self-care tips, mental health awareness (May), tips on staying active with our favorite apps, trackers, YouTube/Tik Tok channels, etc. Additionally, we’ve held sessions for our employees on topics such as: Mindfulness Meditation, Resiliency and Wellbeing in Challenging Times, Dealing with Uncertainty: How to Adapt in a Never-Ending Pandemic, Zoom Fatigue: Why It Exhausts Our Brain and What We Can Do About It, a Neurodiversity Lunch-and-Learn session, etc. An upcoming session we are excited about is called The Art of Zen, focusing on stress management and work-life balance. Participation in any of our Health and Wellbeing Committee challenges or sessions is voluntary.

A February 2023 post in her Boston Globe Ask the Job Doc column featured advice from Keystone Partners’ Elaine Varelas on introducing health and wellness initiatives to the workplace. She provided low-cost ideas on things you can do such as starting a walking or stair-climbing club that meets once a week, having a lunch-time virtual cooking class, participating in a fitness challenge (with gift cards for top performers), having an early evening yoga class in the office (conference rooms work best for this), having a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel focused on sharing articles and videos related to wellness and fitness, having a webinar hosted by a nutritionist, hosting virtual meditation sessions, or distributing small plants to everyone’s desk or home office.

To assess the effectiveness of our Health and Wellbeing Committee and overall employee engagement, we track attendance rates of our programs and competitions. In addition, we utilize surveys which provide valuable insights that help us generate ideas for future initiatives for this and other ERGs. For example, 69% of our employee population took part in our #DoWhatYouLove challenge and we had 654 reactions shared throughout the month of August on our ERG Teams channel.

Companies that prioritize employee health and wellness will experience many benefits, such as enhanced employee engagement and satisfaction, along with improved talent attraction and retention. Wellness initiatives can contribute to a more positive company culture and can help foster a sense of community among employees.

This is part one of a series on the value of Employee Resource Groups/committees.