Latest / Business Roundtable / Wellness Without the Woo: Amy Stout on Science-Backed Healing

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Wellness Without the Woo: Amy Stout on Science-Backed Healing · Business Roundtable

• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Business Roundtable podcast. I am your host,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: David Carr of Stuards or Business bringing teams together to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: accomplish great things. So grateful to have another brand new
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: guest on the podcast, Amy Stout. We're going to get
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: into a really important topic and it has actually come
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: up in different ways throughout the Business round Table podcasts
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. But we're talking about
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: wellness earnout, how do we take care of our teams,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: our people, and Amy's going to give us a a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: great perspective. I'm super excited to have her here on
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: because I just love having different viewpoints and ways to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: share with our audience. Amy, ways to learn and experience
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and so welcome to the podcast. We're so glad to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: have you here.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and I appreciate you having me here.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Absolutely Amy So Amy, you and I met and a
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: number of folks we've had on the podcast recently through
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Success Champions and that we were one of our networking groups.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: And as I got to talk with Amy was I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: was instantly drawn in by the fact that we both
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  Speaker 1: have a passion for culture and people's well being. Her
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  Speaker 1: and the wellness based me and in teams and and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: kind of the organization, and so I thought it would
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: be a great way to have you on here to
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  Speaker 1: talk about kind of the intersection of wellness and the
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  Speaker 1: leadership side I speak with, particularly in these maybe smaller
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to mid sized companies that don't maybe have maybe a
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  Speaker 1: world best program or support. And so I love amy
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  Speaker 1: for you to share a little bit about your background,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: what you got you into this space, and why are
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you so passionate about employee well being?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Okay, that's a great question. So I have been
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  Speaker 2: in the corporate world for I was in the corporate
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  Speaker 2: world for over twenty five years with consumer products. Then
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  Speaker 2: as things happened pivot, my job was eliminated and I
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: was starting a life coaching business that didn't take off
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  Speaker 2: as I had wanted, which was good obviously, and I
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  Speaker 2: found an opportunity that landed in my lap as a
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  Speaker 2: well being consultant for an insurance broker. So what that
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  Speaker 2: meant was for this insurance broker, anybody that was getting
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  Speaker 2: their employee benefits through them, I was their wellness consultant,
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  Speaker 2: And so that meant that whatever they wanted wellness wise,
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  Speaker 2: whether it was setting up a lunch and learn, setting
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  Speaker 2: up on site biometric screenings. I worked with a client
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  Speaker 2: of ours who was the healthiest employer of Illinois for
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  Speaker 2: three years. So it was just you know, meeting people
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  Speaker 2: where they are on their wellness journey, and it was
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  Speaker 2: so fulfilling to see people want to grow and develop
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  Speaker 2: into their best and healthiest selves. That Yes, So I
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  Speaker 2: started my own business, and which is called making the connection,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and so I partner with corporate clients like you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: small to medium sized companies, really getting in there because
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times, as you mentioned, wellness isn't part
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  Speaker 2: of the agenda.
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  Speaker 3: It's really you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, it has fallen under human resources and people have
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  Speaker 2: so many obligations under that umbrella, and wellness is like
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  Speaker 2: their side thing, and so it gets pushed to the
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  Speaker 2: side very often when there are other things that are
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: more important, other fires. So to be able to come
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  Speaker 2: into a company and say I've got this, you know,
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  Speaker 2: let's partner and put together the strategy and the plan
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  Speaker 2: and then I run with everything while you know, working
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  Speaker 2: in tandem with my my cohort.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's you hit the nail on the head.
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  Speaker 1: I think oftentimes wellness I like to I like to
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  Speaker 1: this this this mentality or this under this mindset and
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  Speaker 1: helps me understand, like, you know, we all many of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: us live in California's a lot of us have cars,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you know, but we can run our cars and not
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: get the oil changes, not do the maintenance, and how
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  Speaker 1: long will that car last? It'll last for a while,
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  Speaker 1: but eventually it's going to break down and it's it's
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  Speaker 1: not recoverable. But if you're doing this intentional, proactive approach,
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  Speaker 1: and that's what I find too. Amy similarly in the
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  Speaker 1: in the in the organizational team space, and I was like,
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of good enough. Yeah, but your productivity, your
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  Speaker 1: engagement is low, and it could be much better if
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  Speaker 1: you were intentional about it and think often like what
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  Speaker 1: you said, is the urgency of things maybe gets over
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  Speaker 1: you know. It's I think you and I agree it's important,
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  Speaker 1: but sometimes the urgency of things kind of overshadows it.
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  Speaker 1: And it's like, yes, are urgent and important things, but
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  Speaker 1: don't neglect this important area because it'll actually be worse
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  Speaker 1: for your company and you yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Right exactly, And that's why it is great to have it,
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  Speaker 2: you know, beneficial to have it as part of the
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  Speaker 2: DNA and the company. So you tie that well being
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  Speaker 2: all those different facets of well being, because it's really
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  Speaker 2: not just about you know, getting your steps in right.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's physical wellness, it's emotional and mental wellness,
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  Speaker 2: it's financial wellness, it's leadership and development, personal development, professional development.
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  Speaker 2: That is all under the umbrella of wellness. And if
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  Speaker 2: we can leave that into the DNA of the company
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  Speaker 2: and align it with their benefits and their offerings, then
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  Speaker 2: when something else is important, these employees still have a
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: way to get what they're looking for in terms of
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  Speaker 2: resources or support.
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  Speaker 3: And they don't need for one person to be doing
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  Speaker 3: something in order for them to get that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, so this leads me kind of in the
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  Speaker 1: next question then, because I think most companies that I
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  Speaker 1: agree with you kind of just get it. Well. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you a gym membership or you know, some
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  Speaker 1: kind of gift card thing or something, but it's not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily what the company and the workplace really needs. So,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: you know, you and I, as before we recorded this podcast,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you know, you're talking to me about kind of how
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you audit and look at things in the company. Maybe
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: walk us through what what you what you look at
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  Speaker 1: so that the workplace, you know, what's working well hopefully,
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  Speaker 1: and I've got some things, but what are the things
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  Speaker 1: that they're missing in the gap because obviously, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: we're not well and stuff. I'm not a wellness expert
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  Speaker 1: in my space and I work. I've worked with many
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  Speaker 1: companies too that I feel like they're kind of blind
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  Speaker 1: to it. And you know, you listen to a whole
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  Speaker 1: bunch of areas coul we just say physical, but mental, emotional, financial,
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  Speaker 1: there's a whole bunch of areas and wellness. What you
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  Speaker 1: just opened up, So I'd love to hear you share
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  Speaker 1: more about kind of how you audit and look at
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: look at wellness in the workplace.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, So.
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  Speaker 2: When I partner with an HR leader and they tell me,
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  Speaker 2: you know, kind of maybe what's going on in their community.
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  Speaker 2: One of my clients was having turnover, high burnout, and
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: high stress. So taking that information, I set up and
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: create a survey customized for that population. So I asked
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  Speaker 2: questions about, you know, how are you feeling, how's your stress,
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  Speaker 2: how's your at work? How's your workload? Do you feel overloaded?
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  Speaker 2: You know, how many times a week are you feeling
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  Speaker 2: burnt out? That you really just need a break and
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  Speaker 2: can't recover. Are you interested in learning how to create
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  Speaker 2: a budget and you know, create a savings plan. Are
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: you needing some social you know, what's the community like there?
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Do you need more social interaction, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know in getting an idea of their culture as well
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  Speaker 2: and how they all interact together. Is there a recognition
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  Speaker 2: program because that is huge.
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  Speaker 3: In culture especially right now.
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  Speaker 2: What they're interested in, the topics that they're interested in,
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  Speaker 2: So the wellness strategy in program is relevant to them,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll see hig engagement. You know, what benefits and
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  Speaker 2: perks are they.
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  Speaker 3: Aware of and have they utilized them?
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  Speaker 2: And how can we push those so that they have
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  Speaker 2: they can utilize resources that are already there and available
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  Speaker 2: before We get into some things as we go along.
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  Speaker 2: So then once I get those aggregate responses, I put
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  Speaker 2: those in a recommendation presentation and I present that to
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  Speaker 2: my HR partners and then we go through what that
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  Speaker 2: looks like, what I'm recommending from based on the answers,
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  Speaker 2: and then I it together a twelve month program of
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  Speaker 2: you know, kind of what activities, what awareness campaigns we
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  Speaker 2: want to do. If for example, one client is looking
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  Speaker 2: into wanting to do more mental health awareness and May
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  Speaker 2: is Mental Health Awareness Month, so I'm going to be
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  Speaker 2: doing guided meditations once a week in the mornings with
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  Speaker 2: them just to start their days.
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  Speaker 3: So just little.
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  Speaker 2: Things like that which have become more important to companies
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  Speaker 2: and to employees to get their employees in a state
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  Speaker 2: of mindfulness has really been a huge help.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow, you covered a lot of good things. It's
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  Speaker 1: interesting you say, I think that there's your your is
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  Speaker 1: what I hear you saying is you're looking at things
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  Speaker 1: across multiple areas. I love that you come survey. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: different businesses have different challenges. Lets just say I've worked
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: in the environmental consulting industry practice for example, Amy and
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  Speaker 1: there's a there's a client now that I'm working with,
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  Speaker 1: for example, where they have a lot of people that
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: are just always in the field and some people that
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: are in the office. So the things that they're going
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  Speaker 1: to face in the office are gonna be a little
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  Speaker 1: different than the things that they're getting in the field.
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  Speaker 1: So understanding, like you said, from a wellness perspective, it's
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  Speaker 1: like it's not one size fits all. I'm kind of
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  Speaker 1: looking at the culture of the company. How do they
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  Speaker 1: show up right, yep.
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  Speaker 2: And how how do they communicate in how?
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  Speaker 3: So?
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  Speaker 2: Taking all the areas of interest, how can we communicate
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  Speaker 2: with everyone?
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  Speaker 3: So? Is there an app? Is there? Slack? Is there? Uh?
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  Speaker 2: You know, a SharePoint website or something like that, or
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  Speaker 2: a text?
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: You know what?
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  Speaker 2: How can people get their communication so that they can
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  Speaker 2: take advantage of the information and resources?
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, and I'd love to speak about this too.
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  Speaker 1: About what I found, at least in working with companies
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  Speaker 1: is I don't know whatever, For whatever reason, people tend
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  Speaker 1: to tend to just isolate and kind of there there
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  Speaker 1: they are suffering in silence and they just kind of
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: not quiet, and maybe they don't feel worthy or they
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: don't feel like maybe they don't know the resources there
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  Speaker 1: sometimes I think even the resources there, but for some
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  Speaker 1: reason they don't feel like they should take advantage of
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  Speaker 1: it or or whatnot. You know, how do you is
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  Speaker 1: that in part of the surveys? Are you kind of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: figuring out where people are, like you said, accessing this,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: are they just being quiet and not saying anything? You know?
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Are you the first person that they talked to? Like
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know anybody who's paying attention to this?
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Well, that's interesting right, yeah, David.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: So mostly it's they don't know of the resources available,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: so we have to point them to it. I mean
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: when they're when employees are going through open enrollment, there's
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: so much, so many things to think about, and you know,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: really at that point in time, they're more concerned with
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: what does my medical benefits look like? And how much
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: am I paying? Right, and then you get the dental
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: and the vision and such. They're not thinking of my EAP,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: my employe Assistance program. They're not thinking how to access that.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: They're not thinking of, you know, you know, maybe every
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: wards program that they can get points for for for
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: doing different types of wellness activities with rewards. They're not
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: thinking of maybe you know, there's going to be a
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: walking challenge coming up or anything like that. I in
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: my whole corporate world, I hadn't been.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Introduced when to wellness in a company.
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  Speaker 2: Until six years ago. So it is becoming more mainstream
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  Speaker 2: or more of interest, especially since the pandemic, though I
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  Speaker 2: think it still needs a lot of help in terms
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: of getting the word out and where people can go
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: to find what they're looking for.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I would be curious, you know, maybe it is where
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: is there a difference in not just the company culture,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: but are you seeing a difference as well in different
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: generations of what they're looking for in the way of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: wellness or is it across the boarder, because I would
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I would imagine you're seeing some differences and what wellness
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is to me. I'm fifty one to a somebody that's
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in you know, in their twenties to the thirties to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the forties. Do you see that? Oh?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, oh definitely so yes.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: You and I are exers, right and so so while
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: the exes aren't so much involved in wellness and all
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: that it has, the boomers surely are not. But the
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: millennials and the up and coming gen z, the zoomers,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: they really want everything to be there provided for them
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: so they can just go to one spot. These wellness
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: programs about being strategies are more important to.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Them than their compensation.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: They want to feel valued and cared for and aligned
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: with the company's mission and know that they can learn
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: how to build a budget, learn about credit, learn you know,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: get some professional development, can build on their skills and
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: grow their careers.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: This is what they want from their employer.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: So while you and I have stayed at companies a
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: lot longer than some of the younger generations. Gen zs
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: really are looking for for a big package in terms
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: of these things, and they're not afraid to leave if
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: somebody else has it, even for lower pay.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Wow. Interesting, I think this is so important. So as
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: you're on the Businessman Table podcast, I love it. We
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: don't just have business owners, we have other leaders. So
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: you don't have to be in as a business owner.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: If you're managing people listening to Amy here talk about this,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you know this is important and and and so it
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: helps you become more relevant in their world. Uh, you know,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: because if they feel understood, like you said, and appreciated,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: they're likely going to stay a lot longer. They're going
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: to contribute more to be more engaged. So you know
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: what is you know, because I think this is a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: challenge that we're seeing and particularly I've seen it. Like
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I said, businesses don't have a centralized location coming in.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: People are remote or hybrid you know, And and how how
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: are how are you seeing you know, benefits and wellness
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: adapt like you said, pivot past post twenty twenty and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: there it sounds like it's getting better hopefully, But how
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: have you seen you know, this into kind of the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: distributed workfosts, because that's what I work with a lot
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: of clients that do that. They don't have people coming
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in to you know, you know, centralized location. They don't
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: even honestly, maybe they do sign up periodic emails like
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: but you said, like maybe the initial onboarding process, I
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: could see where things get lost because if they're not
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: communicating this on a regular basis, like if there's no
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: centralized website, there's no emails, there's no regular communication kind
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: of like hopefully you find it somewhere in the packet
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: that we gave you of stuff, you know.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Right, David, So, my one of my clients is all virtual.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: They're global, so they've got people around the world and
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: we're doing we've done awareness campaigns every two weeks, a
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: wellness newsletter with hyperlinks on a specific topic. The last
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: one was burnout, so with hyperlinks and how to spot
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: it and you know, you know what ways you can
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: do to prevent it or you know, deal with your
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: how you're feeling about it.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: So we send those out every two weeks.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: We just had we do so we do a lot
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: of things virtually, right, So we did virtual emotional intelligence workshops,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: one for leaders and one for staff. Those were at
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: times where folks in the UK, on the West Coast
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: and then also in Australia could participate for these guided meditations.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: We're gonna mix it up so that some are in
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the early morning and some are in the later in
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: the afternoon, again to get people in the time zones.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: So really we're you know, we continue to function and
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: come together in this virtual world it and it's working.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you have to be creative, I think,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: what is what I'm hearing you say? And adapt? And
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: but I love that. I love that you brought up
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: meditation specifically, because that was definitely foreign to me up
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: until maybe, like you said, maybe it doesn't foreign to me.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: It's just not something in my regular routine or practice.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: And I love that you're doing that, Amy because I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: find like that reset can actually make you much more productive.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: But it's kind of counterintuitive, like why are we going
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: to take fifteen to twenty minutes to do a meditation?
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: It's like that's there's work to be done, you know, right.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Have you heard the have you heard the comment I
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: don't have ten minutes for meditation? Well, then we need
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: a twenty minute meditation, right because you need people need
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: to be still where there's so much coming at us
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: all the time with you know, texts everything. Yeah, so
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: much information, so many notifications, so many things that you
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: need to do.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Sit, be still and don't have.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Any inputs, like nothing, no music. Go outside and you
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: know a great meditation. Go outside and look at the clouds.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Just watch the.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Clouds float by or light and amble, and that's a
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: meditation just watching the light flicker. So it's really about
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: being still. And again that's where creativity forms too. Not
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: only you know, maybe you're getting reset, you can get clarity,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: but creativity falls.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Into absolutely well. I love that you're holding this space
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: for folks, Amy and being intentional. And I think is
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: our audience is listening. If you're a business owner or
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: you know you're a leader, be encouraged by this as
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: you're hearing Amy speak, it's it's you know, and I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: think sometimes it's a little you can be a little
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: scary to speak up and say, hey, we really I
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: think this we should investigate or look at this area.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And the reason why we have the podcast is now
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Amy is there's a way that people can reach out
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: to you specifically and say, oh, I know I heard somebody.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I know somebody that's specially is this. Let me talk
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with Amy and find out what could this look like
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: for my company. And I liked how you brought this up.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: You know, Amy, you mentioned like working with HR and
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: finding strategy partnerships and figuring out this is not a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: one size fits all, you know, and I feel like
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: this is a really I really person like this model
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: because sometimes, like you said, sometimes it's like HR is
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: trying to be everything, and I think I really I've
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: meant a lot of and I work a lot of
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: HR professionals. They know their strengths and they know where
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: they're not strong like I do some leadership and development
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: things that they could do, but they're like, you know what,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'm better on the compliance and getting these other things
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: documented and being all some legal stuff. Let me bring
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in others like yourself, Amy into the picture. And so
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I just I appreciate that collaborative nature that you're bringing up,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and I hope that folks that are listening to the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: podcast realize that you know it, it's not a one
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: size fits all. Find somebody like Amy here that can
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: help you this particular area.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, because it's all about you know, it's all
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: about improving your productivity and in the end improving your profits. Right,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: because when people aren't feeling well, if they're burnout, if
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: they're stressed out, they're not showing up, whether they're they're
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: physically or not, they're they're not collaborating, you know, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: then if you may get those people that are just
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, the bad seed, and then
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: that you know, gets multiplied.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: Right. But when you have.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Well being, people feel cared for and they feel valued,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: and especially you know, as you mentioned with leadership and development,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: when there's you know, an investment for their learning and
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: their future, they really feel excited and valued and heard
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: and seen. And then they're more productive and they're doing
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: better work, they're more creative, your profits are arising, they're
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: an ambassador for bringing in new high caliber talent, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: you're retaining your employees.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, it's a win win for everybody, but it takes
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: away what I find is, like you, just like you said,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you're creating this. It's not so transactional. You can create
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: a very transactional environment, but you can be a very
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: you can be more intentional in that. And I think
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: by just the way you're showing up and collaborating and
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: finding out how do we work with these different folks
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and and and really bridge this shift from just okay,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I'm offering some kind of wellness program check the box,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: which doesn't really but actually, what I like my word
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: steward or business steward. How am I stewarding my people?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: How am I taking care of them? Because if I
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: take care of them, they will take care of me.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: It's a it's a mutually beneficial relationship, right yep.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I and I love.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: How So you know, when you're doing your survey, are
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: going through those things to Amy, I imagine you're you're
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: kind of looking through and saying, okay, like maybe somebody
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: is struggling, like I said, financially so somebody, but that
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: it will obviously affect our physical wellbeing. But you're looking
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: through the survey and saying, you know what, maybe I
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: need to bring in somebody that specializes in financial wellness
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and literacy. You know, as you're going through and figuring
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: out who's the partners And I love, I love this
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: kind of partnership model that you're bringing in Amy of
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: because we have other business owners and other folks that
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: specialize in these different areas and so not, they find
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: ways like, hey, how can I team up with Amy?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: How can we help or I don't know, you know,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: for me, as I hear this, Amy like, I'm working
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: on developing that team, and I'm like, you know what,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing the physical awareness, I'm not leading the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: meditation or thing. And I'm like, man, I have a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: client that really could benefit from this. Let me introduce
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Amy so and together we're all winning. We're all helping
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: each other rise again, mutually beneficial. I really like the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: model that you have.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: So I can't do it all, so you know you
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: can see me as the the contractor, right, so I
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: need somebody who's going to be able to do plumbing
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: and electrical when I can do all the other things.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: So like the financial illness, leadership and development, that sort
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: of thing. That's where I call in those experts to
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: come in and do their magic to help out to
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: help these employees.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, I love you mentioned a couple
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of examples of Worldwide Company, but you know, I love
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I love hearing you know some other examples that you
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: may have had and maybe different demographics or different industries
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: where you know where you came in and said, you know,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: here's what we did, here's what we audited. And especially
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I love to hear kind of what are the what
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: are the gap the gaps you're seeing right now here
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: we are recording this the end of April twenty twenty five,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: where you're like, Okay, these are some of the things
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm seeing pop up and here's how the ways
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: where we're we're addressing it. So that's the reason I'm
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: bringing this up because I want those that a list
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: sending in realizing, look, if if you're hearing some of
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: these issues and you're not resolving them, it's going to
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: cost you more in the long run. I had a
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: couple of podcasts recently with a couple lawyers, and we're
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: talking about, you know, getting those things set up there
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: they're legal house, set up in place correctly, because if
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: you don't do it and you have a problem, it's
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: going to be much more costly and challenging and take
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: a lot more time. So doing this stuff on the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: front end, but talk about maybe you know some of
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: those clients that you've worked with the front end but
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: also you can talk about those that have you fix
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: some things as well. Amy yep.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: And so so part of my process is, you know,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: you take the initial survey, we put the strategy into place,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: and then we also resurvey to see, you know, what
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: went well, where we need to improve.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: So one of my clients is in higher education.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: They are not known for being high paying their nonprofit
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: and since COVID they've had, the staff and faculty have
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: had they've all been longing for community culture because obviously
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: it died down. So they were also looking for ways
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: together to do exercising together, to learn more about mental health,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to learn more about work life balance and balancing stress.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: So that's what came from the survey. So we began
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: this was back in twenty four. We began with I
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: had a coach consultant come in and she gave a
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: presentation and how to manage your stress, which in turn
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: can help your work life balance which isn't real but
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: you know your work life, you know, whatever it is,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: relationships and then also you know, finding time for self care.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: So we had that.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I think it was like eighty percent of attendees responded
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: that this helped their mental health and they had actionable
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: strategies once they left the presentation. Those people folks were
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: also looking for nutrition information and wanting to be better cooks,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: you know, healthier meals. We had a nutritionist come in
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: and do a presentation on that. We held a walking challenge,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: which which I do love a walking challenge because even
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: as you mentioned the your construction industry, everyone can participate.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: You might need two teams because those people in construction
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: are outside and walk around all the time. But you
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: can have two different teams and people are outside, they're moving,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: and there's camaraderie because now you've you know, you've got
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: a little competition going, so you're building some social culture
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: as well. So we put that into place, which was
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: a huge win, and we we reassessed at the end
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: of last year. We found out that you know, not
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: everyone was finding.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Out about these programs, so we so for.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five, we we mixed up how we're communicating
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: and how we're we're promoting. So we had Wellness Week
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: and we had on site chair massages two days of them.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Which sold out immediately. We had restorative.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Stretching two sessions of that that sold out, and I'm
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: sorry I got to go back after the first year
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: of wellness activities, seventy one percent of the folks said
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: that they their mental well being and their mood at
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: work improved.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: So that was a huge, huge win.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: So, like I mentioned, this year where we are expanding
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: it and including new and different things. I did want
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: to point out one thing because you mentioned, you know,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: what's kind of trending and what are folks looking for.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: So this has been new over the past two years
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: that I'm having a lot of clients ask about team
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: building and also supervisory training and leadership training because we
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: find and I'm sure you know this, so many people
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: are promoted because they've done the job. They don't know
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: how to lead, they don't know how to communicate to
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: employees now that they're a manager. So there's a lot
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: of requests for training on those sorts of things.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, well that's where we Yeah, definitely,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm seeing that I called you know, they
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: called the Peter principle, but yeah, you're technical specialists, That's
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: what I was. And then they're like, well, why don't
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: you be a manager or or you know, and management
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: and leadership are two different things, and you know from
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: a health and wellness it's very stressful. If you've never
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: done that before and you're feeling like you're failing, you're
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: not doing it right, it can be very demoralizing. So
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that I think in some previous podcasts
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: episode we've talked about demographics to amy where there's you know,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: where the shift of the baby bloombers have now pretty
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: much are almost all the way out of the workforce.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: They're getting there, and there's a big group of them
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that have been the forefront leaders for decades in some cases,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: and that they're leaving. And you have you know, the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: gen zs gen xers as should say, with the millennials
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and the gen zs behind us. The gen xer is
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: being a smaller population overall, just just do the numbers,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: so there's less there that can then lead. And you're like, well,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: there's a gap, right, there's a gap of leadership. There's
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: a gap that's needed. So it's like you're feeling the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: weight of that in the company. And so absolutely, and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: that's why again why I loved having you here on
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the podcast, because we're about synergies. How can we work
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: and collaborate together and that's why Amy are here. We're
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: happy you know, to talk with you, follow up with you. Amy.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: We're going to provide again links to your website. Amy
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and I are connected on LinkedIn if you want to
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: reach out to us there. As we're getting close to
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it on the podcast here, Amy, I want to just
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: you know those we covered a lot of different areas
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: in wellness and how to audit that. But you know,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: what's a what's a takeaway? What's something that you want
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to leave folks to be thinking about as far as
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: maybe it's a mind shift the leaders you want to
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: adopt to create a healthier worksplace or what is it
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: that you want would just in part to our listeners
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: just as we wrap up the podcast today, well.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Really for leaders to be open to investing in your
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: employees and your workforce and you and your lead, your managers.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: You know, burnouts on the rise.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: We saw from the Gallop the recent Gallup report, the
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Workplace report that a big percentage of managers aren't feeling
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: aren't doing their job well and it's affecting how the
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: employees are and the manager and.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: They need to be supported.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, and it doesn't have to be a huge, huge, money.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, we can do this.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Right, absolutely no, it's the preventive you invest now, and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: it's much less expensive than having you know, lawsuits, losing employees,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: having so many other challenges. And that's why we do
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: this Business Aroundable podcast to have folks like yourself and
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: you need to help educate and know that people have
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: another resource that they can reach out to you.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much. Thank for joining us on
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: the podcast. It was really a pleasure having you, heymy,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: thank you and sharing your knowledge and wisdom. And I
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: hope that you the listener go and reach out to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Amy and connect with her. I'm honored to have you
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: here on the podcast. Thank you, Amy.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Thanks, I'm so grateful and it was a pleasure spending
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: time with you.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: David, thank you. Thanks everybody for joining us. We always
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: appreciate you liking and subscribing. Leave a review, comments, Amy
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: and I will follow up on any comments you have
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: for us. I'm happy to do that and again appreciate
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you guys being here. Thanks so much. Until next time,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: take care and be well everybody.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: Thank you,