Wellbeing Newsletter June 2021

Happy Summer!  Thank you for viewing our monthly Wellness newsletter.  We hope that these articles continue to help leaders across the country equip their employees with powerful, and holistic, wellbeing education. 

Career Wellbeing

• The 12 New Leadership Books to Read This Summer – Organizational psychologist, Adam Grant, shares some of his picks for the most exciting books to kick off the summer. 

Social & Family Wellbeing

• 5 Scripts to Help You Deflect Nosy Questions, Stop Advice-Givers, Fend Off Criticism, and More – Setting boundaries is not a one-time act; it’s a process. Here are some tools and scripts that will help you create a foundation to build on, from psychotherapist, Terri Cole.

Financial Wellbeing

• Why and How to Rollover Your 401 (k) – Some of us build up a collection of 401(k)s from past employers. We might even get emails about them, and they seem like they’re doing fine. We’ve heard diversifying is good, so maybe having multiple accounts is serving us well? But we also hear we should roll over our old 401(k)s? Here are some tips on how to figure out your next steps.

Physical Wellbeing

• Secret Hacks to Pick the Perfect Produce Every Time – Finding the best, ripest, and tastiest fruits and vegetables isn’t as intuitive as you might think. It’s a task that requires all five senses. This article provides you with three key rules to follow for all when produce shopping. 
• Five Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy as You Age – Forgetfulness is normal at all ages. What’s important is taking care of your brain in the best possible ways. In his latest book, Dr. Sanjay Gupta distills results from hundreds of research studies to help readers understand what’s known (and not known) about keeping your brain healthy. Along the way, he busts common myths and replaces them with science-based advice on how to live a longer, healthier life with a more functional brain.

Emotional Wellbeing

• Back to Work: Post-Covid Social Anxiety – As offices in the U.S. begin reopening after more than a year, many people – especially those of us with social anxiety – are feeling uneasy about the return to so-called “normal.” Morra Aarons-Mele, host of The Anxious Achiever podcast, speaks with Dr. Jenny Taitz, assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at UCLA, about how to reframe social anxiety and succeed at work amid the great reopening.
• 6 Mindfulness Books to Read This Summer – From unwinding anxiety thought loops to exploring mindfulness for adult ADHD, here’s what the editors at Mindful.org are reading this month. Plus, three mindful podcasts in their playlists.

Community Wellbeing

• At Last: Hugs – One of the hardest parts of the pandemic has been keeping distance, for more than a year, from close friends and family. As infection numbers drop in many areas, many families reunite. See this heartwarming photo gallery of families coming together.

Employer Focused Wellbeing

• What Psychological Safety Looks Like in a Hybrid Workplace – This is a fantastic article from Harvard Business Review. Figuring out hybrid work arrangements will require managers to rethink and expand one of the strongest proven predictors of team effectiveness: psychological safety. When it comes to psychological safety, managers have traditionally focused on enabling candor and dissent with respect to work content. As the boundary between work and life becomes increasingly blurry, managers must make decisions that take into account employees’ personal circumstances. Here are five steps to creating a culture of psychological safety that extends beyond the work content to include broader aspects of employees’ experiences.
• Combatting Burnout in an “Always On” Workforce – The World Health Organization defines burnout as an “occupational phenomenon”. Concerns of burnout are growing as more workers adopt an “always on” mentality.  As the boundary between work and life blurs, employees may be working more often, resulting in greater stress and exhaustion. Join Gretchen Day, VP of Health Innovation and Advanced Strategies at AIA, as she discusses the reality of burnout and shares strategies that can be adopted personally as well as within your own organizations to help minimize the “occupational phenomenon” of burnout. Join the event on June 9th at 9 AM ET.
• 4 Ways to Improve Team Morale When Your Staff is Burned Out – After the year we’ve been through, most people are experiencing some level of burnout. Here are a few ideas for how to support your team in starting to heal and get back to their best.