A New Year for Thinking Differently

We can strengthen our team and improve health and wellness outcomes by meeting employees where they are in life.

If you have never seen or experienced opportunity, how would you know there’s a greater road to travel? If you have never accessed a resource that changed the trajectory for your health and wellbeing, why would you believe such support exists?

Writer Stephanie Land knew what financial independence could be achieved because as a solo mom, she supported her daughter as a hotel maid and house cleaner, living one small paycheck away from destitution. But Land never looked for handouts. Hers was no free ride. She had experienced what opportunity could look like and had her eyes on living the American Dream, going to college and creating a better life for her daughter.

Land is like all of us in many ways. She wanted to succeed, felt at times like breaking the cycle would be nearly impossible, but she never stopped trying — and that’s what makes her different. She followed a challenging trial-and-error path of self-improvement.

I recently read her memoir, “Maid,” and through her words and storytelling, I followed the journey she led for years. I kept returning to our work at Health Action Council. We have been on a deep-dive mission to uncover how social determinants of health (SDoH) factors create gaps in care and a complex landscape of risks that impact wellness at home, in the community, and the workplace.

How are we showing our employees opportunities to attain better whole health and success?

Land was resourceful and thought differently about how to advance herself out of the grind. Rather than feeling grim, she was creative. She shares how she finally earned her way to a studio apartment in someone’s house. It was teeming with black mold and her daughter battled asthma, sinus issues, and ongoing ear infections that eventually resulted in tubes.

She had to do better. “Where? How?” Land asked the doctor.

She scoured advertisements and responded to a listing for a one-room apartment over a garage, but it was more than she could afford. Rather than giving up, conceding to failure, she offered to do all of their yardwork and housecleaning along with paying what she could in rent.

How can we think differently? What do we know about the journey our employees are walking so we can go beyond benefits and ensure they have access to information they can understand, services that address challenges they might be facing, and support to achieve better outcomes?

Our whitepaper, “Community insights: Key factors that influence employee health,” presents data that proves a striking connection between where employees live, regional impacts on life expectancy, and costs for employers and their employees. The inequities we recorded make this point clear: non-medical factors including where you were born, work, live, worship, and age shape health outcomes, for better or worse.

Did you know over 50% of an employers’ team members are facing an SDoH risk factor? This is significant. The data affirms that some employees in most every workplace across all industries are impacted by challenges that directly impact their health but are not “healthcare.”

It’s not about offering more benefits, necessarily. It’s about creating opportunity that employees can access. And as we begin a new year, making a difference can be simple and life-changing. It’s the little-big things that empower people to chase positive change.

Let’s walk in our employee’s shoes. What do your employees’ lives look like before and after they leave the workplace? What challenges do they face that could negatively affect their health and wellbeing? What roadblocks are they stumbling upon that distract them from contributing in the workplace and beyond?

This new year, let’s also express gratitude for the great and small things, and an appreciation that everyone shows up with different life experiences, perspectives, and priorities. Let’s lean in and listen. Ask questions. Hold focus groups and find out what concerns are keeping your employees up at night. Organize employee resource groups so peers can support each other in a come-as-you-are environment where they can open up, ask for help, and share ideas. After all, word-of-mouth is often the best form of advertising for services. What one employee found out about a way to reduce grocery bills or access a social service can help another.

Consider including an SDoH survey at the point of hire and check in with annual surveys. Life changes. Needs change, and so do opportunities. Tell us how you’re showing support and opportunity so we can share your ideas with members. Happy New Year, and we look forward to seeing you at our In-Value-Able Conference, Jan. 29 to 30, at the Huntington Cleveland Convention Center.

About Health Action Council 
Health Action Council is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization representing mid-and large-size employers that enhance human and economic health through thought leadership, innovative services, and collaboration. It provides value to its members by facilitating projects that improve the quality and moderate the cost of healthcare purchased by its members for their employees, dependents, and retirees. Health Action Council also collaborates with key stakeholders – health plans, physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry – to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the community.