Leading by Example: The Positive Impact of Embracing Whole-Person Health from the Top Down

Employers invest in human capital for both their internal and external communities. At MI Health, we view the workplace as its own community, in which organizational leadership is uniquely positioned to introduce, model, communicate, and normalize a “whole-person” approach to health that prioritizes physical, mental, and financial well-being equally. Investments in whole-person health can come in the form of expanded health benefits, changes to internal policies and programs, shifts in workplace culture to allow people to bring their “whole selves” to work, and increased levels of opportunity that recognize the many roles and responsibilities employees take on, such as caregiving.

Sabrina Spitaletta, senior director, Public Health at the Milken Institute, sat down with the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York’s Sharon McLennon Wier, PhD, executive director, and Molly Senack, education and employment community organizer, to discuss the ways leadership within organizations can lead with a whole-person health approach in mind.

Employers are defining "whole-person health” in various ways. As an employer, how do you envision a whole-person health approach in the workplace and in community investments from the employer?

Wier: When I think of a whole health perspective, I think of an employee’s physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. Sixty percent of CIDNY’s [Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York] employees have disabilities, so we understand the necessity of having good health care. We cover individual medical, dental, and vision health. We also encourage mental health well-being, and the medical plans do cover various psychological treatments.

Our staff benefits also include four weeks of vacation, 13 holidays, two personal days, and two weeks of sick time—over nine weeks of PTO (paid time off). And we encourage our staff to take that, because when employees are able to take care of their own needs, it makes it a better work environment to serve our consumers.

Senack: I think the concept of actually building “rest” into the work schedule is integral to whole-person health. For many employees, especially employees with disabilities, it becomes so normalized to ignore your own discomfort. So, when you look at an organization that offers a benefits plan that centers on mental health care, that offers four weeks of vacation, that wants you to take holidays, and actually use your sick time, you’re looking at an organization that has built an environment where self-care is regarded as a respected component of the working process.

What are the risks if employers do not adopt or move toward a whole-person health approach?

Senack: If we are talking about the risks this poses to the workforce, then simply put, the employees will suffer. No subset of health exists in a vacuum; mental health impacts physical health and vice versa. Without a whole-person health approach, it becomes too easy for a health issue to become a health crisis. If we are talking about the risks this poses to an organization, an organization with employees not functioning at full capacity is also not functioning at full capacity.

Wier: Once you find employees who follow or believe in the mission of your organization, you need to reduce turnover because it takes time to look for employees, onboard them, and train them. You want to be able to provide an environment where people will stay but also produce.

CIDNY’s contracts are service-driven, and if we lose contracts, not only are we not executing CIDNY’s mission of removing barriers and serving all of these people with disabilities, as a leader, I’m also faced with the decision of having to lay off staff. And no executive director wants to do that. The staff shouldn’t have to worry, “Will I have my job tomorrow or 10 years from now?” That’s my worry.

What steps are employers uniquely positioned to take to normalize and achieve a whole-person health approach??

Wier: As an employer, you must try to be the example. This is something that I need to work on myself as an executive director: taking time off and really learning how to disconnect from the work. It’s very hard for me, and I think for my directors, to have that work/life balance and also demonstrate that for their staff so that they understand that it’s okay to take time to make sure that you are able to enjoy the little things.

Senack: I agree. Employers who demonstrate the importance of a work/life balance are ultimately going to normalize it for their employees. I think it’s especially challenging in an organization like CIDNY, where people genuinely care about the work they are doing and the services they are providing to the community, but when employees see employers actively reminding them to take their vacation day—to enjoy their weekends—it makes the practice of doing so acceptable.

In your opinion, which organizational leadership roles or positions need to be involved for this integrated approach to be adopted across the organization and in the surrounding community?

Senack: I think if your goal is to create an environment within your organization where physical and mental well-being is respected and prioritized, everybody has to participate. It goes back to the idea of modeling behavior. So many studies have shown that employees are more likely to take advantage of accommodations if they see their employers doing so. When every leader participates in this kind of mentality, it eventually becomes second nature to the people they employ, which, in turn, strengthens the organization itself and gets passed back to the people we serve.

Wier: I think every single position here at CIDNY is important. From the top down, the down up. There’s no position that is more important than the other. Every person—every title—is critical to our success.

I think it’s important that every employee understands how their role can impact the organization and can impact the consumers and clients that we serve. It’s almost like we’re a train, and any broken track can lead to dysfunction, so we all have to work together so that we can repair the tracks and the train can still continue to truck along.

How do employers build a sustainable whole-person health approach that anticipates the ebb and flow of the external environment, whether those are shifts in the economic, social, or political landscape?

Wier: I would say that you need to be a strategic thinker. There is the business side of it; you need to think about how to diversify your funds in case political changes cause certain contracts not to be given out as readily as in other years. You still need to be able to operate your business, because the lives of both your employees and consumers depend on it. But then you also have to look within the organization.

When I came to CIDNY, I noticed there were staff here who didn’t take regular time off and were losing their PTO at the end of the year. I went to the Board and extended the PTO policy. During the pandemic, CIDNY implemented monthly mental health awareness days where staff could take a mental health day because we understood it might help manage the uncertainty of COVID.

Senack: The idea of “ebb and flow” is so important when it comes to whole-person health. For instance, CIDNY is truly hybrid; I am in the office two days a week and remote three, and that, in itself, is great. But what is even better is trusting that if I need to make a change to my schedule for any reason, my supervisor will be receptive to that. That flexibility is invaluable. When mental health is treated as a priority by others, it is easier to treat it as a priority yourself.