Creating a Psychologically Safe Workplace with Sara Martin

My guest today is Sara Martin. She’s the CEO of WELCOA, the Wellness Council of America. WELCOA is one of the country’s most respected resources for building high-performing, healthy workplaces. In this episode, Sara and I talk about creating a psychologically safe workplace, about work and families, how stories impact us, and where the future of work and living are headed.?

In this incredible conversation, Sara talks about her work at WELCOA and how they create diverse, equitable, psychologically safe and healthy workplaces. You’ll also hear her talk about her passion for employees.

If wellness, wellbeing and a discussion about whether workplaces can truly change interest you, this conversation can answer some of your burning questions.

Punk Rock HR is proudly underwritten by The Starr Conspiracy. The Starr Conspiracy is a B2B marketing agency for innovative brands creating the future of workplace solutions. For more information, head over to thestarrconspiracy.com.

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WELCOA’S Mission to Incorporate Wellbeing at Work

Many workplace leaders talk about bringing your whole self to work, finding purpose in your work and “creating environments that allow you to thrive and flourish,” Sara says. But those are lofty things to ask of employees. WELCOA has tried a different focus with helping employees while defining wellbeing in a way that most people aren’t.

“What we’re really talking about is basic human needs. And for WELCOA, those are needs that we think that work an impact,” Sara shares. “So there’s other needs that people have — spiritual and otherwise — that may not really be something that the employer can really make an impact in. But for us, it’s about, beyond physical health, having those needs met that really allow you to meet all the goals that you have for yourself.”

Your wellbeing goes beyond “summer Fridays'' and nap pods at work. Most people will look at wellbeing as an end goal or a marker in life, but Sara disagrees. “It’s not something that you’re always trying to achieve; it’s something that’s walking alongside you, your wellbeing,” she says. Anyone is able to tap in or out of their wellbeing because it’s a personal space created by individuals —not by organizations.

WELCOA provides members with training and other resources to improve their wellbeing strategies. Sara shares that there is software and other tools that people can buy that address wellbeing, but WELCOA’s mission goes deeper. “What we ultimately do is help professionals in the HR and broker communities understand how to weave wellbeing into the fabric of how they do business, or how their clients do business, and ensure that their wellness spend is well spent,” she says.

Leading Change in the Workplace

Some companies haven’t fixed their bad cultures and yet are trying to solve their workforce’s wellbeing problems. That raises the question, “Who is speaking truth to power?” The fact is, businesses can’t blame a lack of wellbeing on employees when the organization isn’t creating a psychologically safe work environment.?

Sara encourages leaders to have the tough discussion about whether their workplace is psychologically safe. “One of our big fears, one of the things that keep me up at night, is the people that have been leading the strategic work are often in the HR space, and they don’t have that direct line to leadership,” she says. “And leaders aren’t coming to them and asking for their help in solving these problems. And the reality is, they have the solution, but leaders are going to have to give them a wider scope of influence to get that work done.”

No one understands the gap in wellbeing at an organization more than wellness managers and? coordinators. At small companies, that source of knowledge could be HR generalists. Leaders might have a sense of the wellbeing gap but often lack a full perspective. At WELCOA, Sara and her team try to help leaders move forward with the right information. “We try to help arm them with the data, and we do a lot of benchmarking across the thousands of organizations we work with,” she says.

“When they get that opportunity, they can say, ‘It's not necessarily me — the Wellness Council of America is benchmarking these organizations, and they found that when CEOs do these six things, performance across the other benchmarks increases by this amount.’”

Psychological Safety in Work, Life and Beyond

There is a global conversation occurring about quality of life and putting life first instead of work. These conversations are essential in society today, and when Sara is working with clients and members, she is looking for every aspect that can hinder progress.

She explains, “We are generating resources and training and skill-building around our members, the people doing this work, also understanding that there are societal factors — health inequity, racial disparities, growing economic divides — that we have to be honest and say, they keep some people from the resources that they need for basic survival.”

Psychological safety is a priority in WELCOA’s operations and offerings. “Every single training that we've built for the year is around psychological safety, trust and positive cultures for those things. And we think that's a good baseline for moving forward,” Sara shares.

Quality of life isn’t limited to the workplace, and it’s not something that can be siloed. “We are really trying to help our members understand that link between safety and security and dignity and, ultimately, the wellbeing goals that they thought were the most immediate goals,” Sara shares. “And we’re saying, the future of work is going to require that we might need to go back to a point of departure and solve some basic other needs first.”

People in This Episode

• Sara Martin: Personal LinkedIn, WELCOA LinkedIn, Personal Instagram, WELCOA Instagram, WELCOA Twitter

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