Posts Tagged

Wellbeing

Staying in touch with loved ones without seeing them in person has become even more important during the pandemic. But for some people, making or receiving calls is a stressful experience. Phone anxiety – or telephobia – is the fear and avoidance of phone conversations and it’s common among those with social anxiety disorder.

International employee benefits network MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) in January 2021 announced it had selected ICAS World, a London, UK-based employee assistance programme (EAP) platform, as a global provider of counselling support and assistance. As part of the MAXIS Global Wellness solution, multinational clients will be able to choose to work with ICAS World, giving their employees access to counselling and work-life services including legal and financial

Andreana Drencheva, Kristin Hildenbrand and Mike Duffy Jr. Through choice or by necessity, some of us are becoming self-employed for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence from multiple countries suggests that self-employed workers are one of the groups hardest hit by the pandemic. Support offered by governments varies. Yet, for some, self-employment may represent the only way of earning a living and remaining active in the labour

As many as one in six adults experience mental health problems like depression or anxiety every week. And not only is mental ill-health one of the most common causes of disease worldwide – it’s also on the rise. Finding ways to improve mental health is therefore essential.

Even though mental illness affects one in five adults – and depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide – secrecy and stigma around the issue continue. The problem is especially acute in the workplace. While individuals with mental illness often wish to work and are able to, their unemployment rates remain three to four times those of individuals without mental illness.

It’s a new year and many people are in the mood for making a fresh start. And that often means giving something up (cigarettes, alcohol, junk food). Unfortunately, the odds of sticking with new year resolutions are not good. Come February, 80% of people will have given up giving up. So what can we learn from the 20% who make it?

MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) in November 2019 announced its selection of INTERVENT International as global provider of a suite of designated digital behavior change and population health management solutions. The partnership enhances Maxis GBN’s global solutions for the prevention and management of multiple chronic diseases, disability condition management, maternity care, and other drivers of health-related medical costs. As part of the collaboration, multinational employers working with MAXIS

It isn’t surprising that employers are looking for ways to improve the health and engagement of their employees when their challenges are so evident: Medical inflation rates continue to be high globally, with the 2019 global average being 7.8%, reported by Aon1. Indeed, in many countries, this is much higher, even exceeding the local inflation rate by double-digit percentage points.

Aon in August 2019 issued a white paper entitled Prevention is Better Than Cure, which addresses the growing awareness of employee wellbeing. The paper encourages employers to understand the business rationale behind employee wellbeing in order to help gain best outcomes. The Aon white paper shows that 95% of employers see a correlation between employee health and performance, and believe they have a role in trying to educate and

Sleep tech company Shleep in August 2019 raised €1.4M to further develop its digital B2B sleep coaching platform. The VCs include Global Founders Capital, and Health Innovations. Shleep’s clients include The Huffington Post, Deloitte and Spotify. Shleep is the first science-based sleep coaching platform for companies, created by Dr. Els van der Helm and Jöran Albers, and their team of sleep PhDs, health experts and software engineers. According to

Aetna in May 2019 announced the launch of DNA testing as an optional part of its wellness plans for its European members. The DNA test examines aspects of health and lifestyle, in particular nutrigenomics (the relationship between genes, nutrition and health), fitness, sleep and stress. The goal of the DNA testing is to help members take control of their health and support them to make positive lifestyle changes. Employers

Suicide rates in the United States have increased by 25-30 percent since 1999. This is particularly true for youth ages 12-24, with increases of approximately 30 percent over the same period. In Alachua County, Florida, where I teach and practice at the University of Florida, the base rate for suicides among youth ages 12-17 had been about five per 100,000 for many years, below the base national rate of 13 per 100,000. However, in the year 2017 that rate of completed suicides increased to 27 per 100,000, and for 2018 we are at a pace that will likely equal 2017.

Why talk about productivity? We have a clear business challenge in the UK. Productivity is a major issue for Government and Philip Hammond devoted his first Budget speech as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) in 2017 to addressing it.1

Fitbit in February 2019 launched a new fitness tracker, the Inspire, which is available through health and wellness providers only. From a consumer perspective, the Inspire is a fully subsidized (i.e. free) product intended to be distributed in mass quantities and is promoted “as a way to encourage the well-being of health care recipients”. The tracker monitor activity and sleep, calories burned, and prompts wearers with reminders to get

Aon in December 2018 released a paper, The Contemporary Drivers of Mental Health, detailing factors driving poor employee mental health in the UK. Debt, separation and bullying are the personal issues of most concern to employers when it comes to employee mental health, according to a poll of employers. Of the 92 employers surveyed, 39 stated that money and debt were their biggest concerns for employee mental health, 27

Young people in Britain face mounting debts and unaffordable living expenses according to new research from Neyber, but employers believe employees are borrowing less this year. The September 2018 study, carried out among 10,000 UK employees, found that 70% of people under the age of 34 need to borrow regularly either to pay their monthly bills or deal with day-to-day living expenses. However, only 77% of employers, down from

Gallagher has released its 2018 Human Capital Insights Report, Identify the Trends, a 40-page document that looks at the changing landscape of human capital Framework for the Future initiative, which addresses the challenges to employers in a rapidly-changing workplace. The report identifies four areas impacting the change in workplace environments: The transformation of the global business marketplace may mean a more affordable cost structure for talent management The shifting

In the 1950s, scholars worried that, thanks to technological innovations, Americans wouldn’t know what to do with all of their leisure time. Yet today, as sociologist Juliet Schor notes, Americans are overworked, putting in more hours than at any time since the Depression and more than in any other in Western society.

The Transamerica Center for Health Studies (TCHS), together with the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces (ICHW) at UC Berkeley, in February 2018 released their guide, Finding Fit: Implementing Workplace Wellness Programs Successfully, which is a helpful resource for organizations offering wellness programs for their employees. The employer guide features an emphasis on small and medium organizations and focuses on the types of wellness programs that have been shown to

Happiness is the subject of countless quotations, slogans, self-help books and personal choices. It is also being taken seriously by national governments and organisations like the United Nations, as something societies should aim for.

There is plenty of evidence that being physically active can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, but when do the benefits of exercise start to pay off?

Going to the doctor usually involves exposing the body with all its faults and flaws. In a culture that increasingly values self control and bodily perfection, being sick or even merely old can lead to feelings of shame and inadequacy.

” Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity. So started William Banting‘s “Letter on Corpulence,” likely the first diet book ever published.

Sleep expert Dr. Els van der Helm in October 2017 launched her new website, shleepbetter: www.shleepbetter.com Shleep serves global clients (both businesses and leaders) and helps them improve their performance through better sleep management. Shleep’s mission is to help organizations and people sleep better. To reach this goal, they offer workshops, assessments, coaching, and a unique and scalable sleep coaching app to help you, your workforce and/or coworkers sleep better –

The 2017 Cigna 360o Well-being Survey of Globally Mobile Individuals, released in July 2017, shows that Britons’ sense of personal well-being has seen a sharp decline over the past three years, as financial pressures mount and put strains on family health. The U.K. has fallen from third to eighth place of the 13 countries in the study, and now lags behind India and China. Researchers looked at five main

Workers are getting better at balancing work and home life, according to a Robert Half Management Resources survey published in June 2017 that revealed that the majority of professionals (52 percent) believe their work-life balance has improved from three years ago. Employers and employees alike are emphasizing work-life balance, and managers contribute by giving their teams more freedom over where and when they work, if possible, and providing greater

Aon Employee Benefits, the U.K. health and benefits business of Aon plc, in April 2017 published a new report that highlights four ways U.K. employers can support their employees’ well-being in a shifting economic climate: Understand the connections between employee health, wealth and behavior in the specific working population. Secure sufficient budget for employee well-being. The Aon 2016 EMEA health report research showed that well-being budget restrictions are a