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Issue 056

What is a “great” workplace? Many might believe that organizations offering the best benefits, such as healthcare and free meals, automatically create the best office environments, but that’s not necessarily true. Whereas things like complimentary food and comprehensive healthcare are important to overall workforce health and happiness, they alone do not determine whether a workplace is objectively “great.”

Smallpox killed countless millions – 300 million people in the 20th century alone – before it was finally declared eradicated on May 8 1980. It was a momentous day, marking what the current director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the greatest “public health triumph in world history”.

Workers who communicate with their colleagues mainly through videoconferencing are far less effective at building relationships than when the communication is done face to face, according to a study we recently completed and just submitted for peer review. We also found two important ways employees can overcome the downside of video meetings.

The pandemic continues to pose huge challenges to health services worldwide. Hospitals are in crisis as the pace of new COVID-19 cases outstrips their capacity. What makes things particularly difficult is that the coronavirus doesn’t affect everyone in the same way.

Richard Polak rpolak@me.com Over a 40-year span, Richard Polak has been recognized in more than 90 countries around the globe for creating and structuring world-class wellness and HR programs. His research, presentations, articles, subject expertise, and training program with IBIS Academy—the world’s longest-running international HR conference for education and networking, targeting executives in the global benefits space. In 2012, Polak merged his company, IBIS Advisors, and his conference, IBIS