We are the founders of LIVD, a benefits platform that makes it easy to offer personalized everyday benefits for your employees.
Today we have a very special interview with Désirée Pascual and Jill Santercier, founders of Simply Human, an HR consultancy committed to empowering transformation, vitality and business growth through customized, human-centered solutions.
Désirée and Jill each bring over 20 years of HR experience across both large and smaller organizations. Prior to founding Simply Human, they both worked together leading the People Team at Headspace.
In this article, we’ll dive into their insights and perspectives on the importance of wellness initiatives in the workplace and discuss how businesses can effectively navigate the complexities of leading multi-generational teams.
The traditional one-size-fits-all approach to addressing employee needs has become outdated in today’s fast-paced work environment, where employees frequently change jobs every 2-3 years. This shift shows a need for companies to enhance their support systems for employee well-being.
However, the challenge lies in how businesses can effectively cater to a diverse workforce with unique and varying needs. Engaging with each employee individually and understanding their specific requirements is essential in cultivating a workplace that promotes genuine well-being and satisfaction. How can organizations adapt to these new expectations and create a thriving culture that prioritizes individual needs?
Let’s get into it.
Welcome, Désirée and Jill! Thank you for sharing your insights with us.
Tell us about what led you to start Simply Human? How did that come about?
Désirée: As the world grappled with unprecedented layoffs and shifting workplace dynamics, we saw an opportunity to create a human-centric, data-informed HR consultancy. Our approach to HR is grounded in behavioral science and human-centered practices, aiming to offer a distinct perspective and evidence based anchor in the ever-changing, ever-evolving landscape of work.
We believe that happy, engaged, and productive employees fuel thriving businesses, and our strategies are designed to build on that fundamental belief, even in the face of crisis and/or quick calls to action.
We built Simply Human during a time when mass lay-offs were rampant, and we saw outstanding employees lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Many of those employees either struggled to find new work, given the challenging job market, or ‘felt the burn’ (particularly in HR) having led through a pandemic, fights for racial justice, political tension, return to work and the advent of AI in the workplace. We immediately knew that we wanted to create opportunities for top-talent HR practitioners who yearned to do good work, but weren’t willing to jump back onto the ‘hamster wheel’. This allowed us to build a deep bench of experts capable of providing mid- to strategic-level strategic support to firms with budget constraints.
Under the umbrella of Simply Human, these experts can “parachute in” to address acute HR needs, and function as anchors in crises like mass layoffs, navigating economic uncertainty, or restoring psychological safety after a disruptive event, including training and resourcing leaders and managers to restore organizational flow swiftly. Every Simply Human consultant’s focus includes collaborating with – and upskilling, and elevating existing HR team members as needed, to get the client organization back on track and standing on their own quickly.
By offering the fresh perspective of a consultant, Simply Human is able to deliver businesses with insights that may not always be readily apparent from ‘the inside’. At our assignments, we are typically focused on a specific area of the business, which allows us to quickly zero in on root causes and then share with clients what they need to know, cutting through the ‘internal noise’, which is appreciated by our clients, who often return for additional services.
In your experience working with clients from all industries, what feedback do you get around employee wellness? How important is employee wellness for employees and employers? Should companies care about employee wellness in general?
Jill: Oh, we love this question! First and foremost, prioritizing employee wellness is fundamentally the right thing to do. While this may sound straightforward, there’s substantial data supporting its significance.
When we talk about wellness, it should be viewed through a holistic lens – it encompasses not just physical health but also mental well-being, job engagement, productivity, and professional growth. By fostering a culture that values wellness, companies create a people-centered environment that not only enhances the lives of employees, but ultimately benefits the organization in measurable ways.
Ultimately, when employees work in a people centered environment, it’s good for business.
Research consistently shows that when employees feel genuinely cared for and supported through initiatives like wellness programs, their productivity and engagement levels increase significantly.
Creating this type of environment reduces turnover rates, a substantial cost and productivity drain for businesses.
When employees know their employer values their well-being, it leads to higher discretionary efforts, greater joy and innovative thinking, and enhanced creativity and collaboration. Although it may not seem intuitive to numbers-focused business leaders, there’s a powerful correlation between employee wellness, engagement and overall business success, backed by various research studies.
Prioritizing employee wellness is not just the right thing to do; it’s also a smart business strategy.
Can you share any experiences you’ve had with workplace wellness initiatives, and how they impacted employee morale and overall productivity?
Désirée: One of our clients asked us to tackle employee burnout post pandemic.
After navigating a pandemic, shifting to fully remote working, and trying to manage the day to day demands, their survey data highlighted a high level of burnout amongst employees.
Despite implementing a range of benefits, the fatigue remained pronounced, mainly due to the excessive volume of meetings and myriad of communication channels implemented while working remotely.
To alleviate this issue, we partnered with leaders to develop and implement sustainable work practices/corporate hygiene regimens. This included initiatives like designated “No Meeting Days”, which allowed team members to dedicate time to focused, deep work, ultimately enhancing their productivity. Through an organization-wide learning initiative, we helped employees implement focus blocks (calendar holds) throughout their days, which allowed them to work on their most important deliverables undisturbed by constant slack and email notifications. This project also included defining meeting hygiene to eliminate non-sequitur, meeting overload. Concurrently, the organization harnessed AI to document detailed meeting notes, so that peripheral stakeholders could efficiently stay abreast of project progress.
To further refine our clients’ wellness efforts, we set up continuous feedback loops using regular surveys to ensure our initiatives aligned with employee needs.
This groundwork enabled us to free employees up to actually think about, and utilize, the benefits that were available to them, as they found themselves with the time– and brain space to consider and utilize options within a sustainable workload environment.
It’s crucial to understand that self-care alone cannot overcome burnout; when individuals are overwhelmed and bogged down by relentless looming deadlines and overwhelming workloads, wellness programs take a back seat. Therefore, organizations need to solve for workplace sustainability first.
Again, a critical component of our strategy involved consistently listening to employees through regular listening sessions and surveys. Establishing a continuous feedback loop is essential for assessing the effectiveness of wellbeing initiatives in place, and ensuring employees feel heard and valued in the creation of these programs.
The insights gained are invaluable, enabling organizations to optimize their sustainability dial, and offer benefits and perks tailored to their workforce’s needs that employees will actually utilize.
What’s the right frequency to survey your employees on their wellness needs?
Jill: I love analogies, so I think about it like a birthday cake.
- Start with a solid base by determining your survey frequency and content depending on size and urgency —perhaps twice a year to begin with.
- Once you establish a survey cadence, it’s essential to craft your survey questions carefully; avoid relying solely on generic questions or cookie-cutter templates—choose a format with a recurring core, that also allows for adjunct modules to measure the efficacy of new initiatives, the pulse on organizational change management, and/or employee sentiments on external headwinds, thereby ensuring a consistent high relevance for your employees.
- Dogged survey hygiene is the final important layer to establish relevance and ongoing participation: transparently acknowledging employee feedback is crucial, even if organizations can’t implement every suggestion. It’s important to be transparent and honest about what an organization can– and cannot reasonably tackle. Communicate action steps that address optimization efforts and keep them aligned with employee needs. Then act, and track (and read out) progress over time.
Finally – training your leaders to continuously take a pulse during one on ones, and identify and surface patterns, are the candles on the cake. The more consistently you do this, the brighter the workplace culture, and the higher the psychological safety index.
This sort of continuous and active listening is pure gold as organizations assess and shape their wellness programs.
Often, companies hesitate to engage employees for fear of unrealistic demands, yet our experience shows that employees are consistently very reasonable when they intuit a sense of agency, and feel that their voices matter.
During every survey readout on an All Hands meeting, begin by sharing the findings from the previous survey, the actions taken since then, and highlight progress made. This practice demonstrates care, accountability and reinforces an organization’s commitment to employee well-being. There’s nothing more impactful than employees witnessing the impact of their feedback and their part in fostering a thriving workplace.
What are some strategies companies can use to identify the wellness needs of a diverse, multigenerational workforce?
Désirée: There’s a tectonic shift happening in the workplace today with Boomers and GenXers working longer, while Gen-Z and Millennials are flooding in, soon constituting the majority of our workforce.
All the while there’s an increasing epidemic of presenteeism, anxiety, and burnout – all indicators that multi-generational employees need a more flexible kind of support that sustains them through work, life, and everything in between.
Different generations value different aspects of wellness. By offering a range of wellness options, companies can meet these varied needs, fostering a more inclusive environment. The preamble to designing an effective strategy focuses first on understanding the varied needs of the workforce. Ultimately, flexible options within existing budgets are key. Such ‘choose your journey’ offerings speak to– and for– organizations committing to support a diverse group of individuals behind the work.
How do you think companies effectively foster a culture of wellness among employees with varying needs? Additionally, how can you measure the impact of these efforts?
Jill: The optimal offering allows multi-generational workforces to build their own journey, i.e. choose from various wellness initiatives that best suit their personal and professional needs.
That variety and flexibility ensures that all employees, regardless of their demographic, feel appreciated and considered, and it signals that the organization values equity, inclusion, and cares about creating an environment where people at all stages of life are supported and encouraged to participate.
To calculate the ROI of wellness initiatives, compare the investment in wellness programs to measurable outcomes like improved health metrics, reduced health care cost, reduced absenteeism, increased employee sentiment and enhanced employee productivity and retention.
What role does management play in promoting wellness in the workplace?
Désirée & Jill:
- Leadership must visibly support wellness initiatives, participating in programs themselves, and promoting a culture of wellness from the top down.
- Leaders can act as role models by sharing their wellness journeys and encouraging employees to prioritize their health and well-being.
- Use multiple channels (email, intranet, meetings) to regularly communicate the importance of wellness and the availability of resources.
- Tailor messages to resonate with different age groups.
- Create a self-care channel on internal communication platforms and encourage employees to share how they used their wellness dollars to practice self-care, and how it improved their well-being.
- Offer workshops and resources on topics like stress management, nutrition, or financial planning that appeal to various generations. Make these resources easy to attend and access.
- Ensure that wellness is embedded in the company’s core values and mission. This alignment reinforces the importance of wellness as part of the company culture.
- Integrate wellness into everyday practices, such as encouraging regular breaks, promoting a balanced workload, and actively modeling self care by starting meetings with a moment to breath or a meditation.
LIVD revolutionizes benefits administration with an intuitive platform that lets employers effortlessly allocate budgets and offer personalized rewards and wellness options from hundreds of top brands. Simplify your HR management and delight your team with tailored everyday benefits that truly matter.
Regardless of what your organization does, you are in the people business. At Simply Human, we help you design and deliver transformative moments that drive joy, engagement, creativity and performance – the fuel that boosts vital business metrics and thereby your bottom line.
Simply Human is a full-stack HR consultancy. We partner with organizations and leaders who are ready for change. We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Your organization and its people are unique, and your workplace strategy should be as well. Our solutions, distinguished by their depth and human-centered approach, are customized to meet each client’s distinct needs. Our bench of expert advisors allows us to offer a wide range of high impact, strategic HR support. Whether you are a small organization not yet ready for a full-time or executive hire, or a large organization looking to tackle a complex business challenge, we can help. Through our project-based and fractional models, we deliver cost effective, high-octane, strategic support without the expense of an executive salary.
