Total Well-Being

Course Overview

Today’s module focuses on the theme of Total Well Being. We will be hearing from our Featured Speaker Mr. Donovan Ingraham. Currently he serves as the Corporate Wellness Manager at CG Atlantic Medical & Life. In this role, he develops wellness strategies and has organized significant events, including a wellness showcase with Dr. Deepak Chopra with over 1500 participants and a major Fun Run/Walk.

We will be talking about total well-being in the work place and how it combines employees’ best health, happiness, financial stability, and purposeful career to create compelling employee experiences.

This involves fostering an environment that actively encourages contentment, which benefits both employees and the organization. Investing in employee well-being can enhance resilience, improve employee engagement, reduce sickness absence, and boost performance and productivity.

Course Learning Objectives

During this module, you will experience the following course objectives:
To discuss and explain the HR function of Personal Well-being
To discuss the strategic importance of the personal well-being of employees, to organizational success and long-term performance
To highlight and discuss the categories of well-being that should be considered, when designing a proactive wellness strategy
To “ring fence” some of the common pitfalls that organizations should avoid when developing a wellness strategy, and more specifically wellness programs for employees

Please click here to go to the Pre-Module Reading Assignment.

Post-Module Group AssignmentBusiness Problem

Your 40U40 group is a committee of Human Resource Leaders working for one organization. Your committee has been created to review the state of employee health and wellness for your organization. Your committee has a meeting confirmed with your Company’s President in the next three days, to discuss strategies to improve wellness in the company. However, your President e-mails you this online article entitled “Do office wellness programs work? A new study suggests they’re not helping staff”. URL: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/workplace-wellness-study-1.7094782

After reading the first two minutes of the article he stops at the sentence that reads “The results suggest that those who took part in well-being programs appear no better off than those who didn’t.” The President opens up his Microsoft Outlook and peppers out an e-mail to your HR Committee saying that during the upcoming committee meeting in three days, he wants to discuss cancelling the $450,000 budget allocated for corporate wellness programs. In his own words:

“HR Committee, I always felt like our wellness programs were not giving us return in our business, and after reading this article, I feel even more strongly. I’m planning to cancel the $450,000 budget that’s been assigned for this fiscal year. Let’s talk about this during the Thursday meeting, as I want to move quickly on saving this money. I will also be bringing our Chief Operating Officer along with me to the meeting, so we can complete this discussion.”

Your Group Activity

In your 40U40 group, we want to you defend your position to the Company’s President and Chief Operation Officer of not cancelling the $450,000 wellness budget this fiscal year. Consider the instructions below and we look forward to seeing your recommendations.

Pick one (1) real-life organization that someone in your 40U40 group works for.
Assume that this company is now the one that your HR Committee works within.
We want you to create a summary document to persuade your Company’s President and COO in the upcoming meeting to not cancel the wellness budget.
We want you to discuss real-life issues, concerns and/or complexities that are impacting your organization currently from a wellness perspective.
Please create a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the key points of your recommendations. The PowerPoint presentation should be succinct but impactful. The presentation should ONLY be two slides – the first slide should highlight the top five issues impacting wellness at your organization and the second slide should highlight your committee’s recommendations strategically to improve wellness.
Please consider the “Additional Resources” section below for more considerations to reflect on, as you work on this group activity.
You will only have 5 minutes during the debrief session on Wednesday, May 29^th to present to the Company President and Chief Operating Officer. The President is Mr. Wellington Hepburn and the Chief Operating Officer is Mrs. Torriana Sands.
Make sure that you select a new spokesperson for your group. The same spokesperson cannot be used from the last group activity.

If you have any questions about the assignment, please reach out to Mrs. Torriana Sands (Chief Operating Officer) or Mr. Wellington Hepburn (Company President) via our WhatsApp group.

We look forward to hearing your creative ideas on Wednesday. Have a great week!

Additional Considerations

Wellness Categories

Physical Well-Being: Consider initiatives like gym memberships, fitness challenges, health screenings, and ergonomic assessments.
Mental Well-Being: Consider counseling services, stress management workshops, mindfulness sessions, and mental health days.
Financial Well-Being: Consider financial planning workshops, retirement planning, debt management programs, and employee discount programs.
Social Well-Being: Consider team-building activities, social events, volunteer opportunities, and community involvement programs.
Career Well-Being: Consider professional development opportunities, career coaching, mentorship programs, and skill-building workshops.

Tips For Success

Literature Review: Investigate current trends and successful well-being programs in other companies.
Engage All Group Members: Ensure each member has a clear role and actively participates in idea generation for this activity
Use Diverse Sources: Gather information from academic journals, industry reports, and case studies to support your stance(s).
Practical Approach: Consider recommendations that are feasible and can realistically be implemented within the company’s constraints.