Thoughts from the treadmill — Why corporate health demands more than fitness challenges

I’m writing to you from my treadmill. 

It’s noon on a Wednesday. I had a meeting just before jumping on, and I have another Zoom call right after. Yet here I am in my garage, taking care of myself while I take care of my team, my work and my organization. 

Pre-pandemic, I never would have done this. Pre-pandemic, I left for work every morning by 6:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until after 7 most nights. Whatever time I had left was spent with my 12-year-old daughter. Then, with her off to bed, I was back online, making sure I caught up on email before calling it a night. 

It’s important to note I did all of this willingly, happily. I love my job, and I love to work. Like so many women leaders I know, I’m driven — so much so I have long been willing to put myself and my well-being aside. “I can wait,” I’ve told myself. “My daughter and my work can’t.” 

During the pandemic, I fell even further down my list of priorities when, on top of my responsibilities as a single mom and driven female executive, I moved my parents from Michigan to North Carolina. I now serve as the primary caregiver for my dad’s healthcare needs.  

A post-pandemic (work) culture transformation 

As it turns out, the pandemic would change more than just my living situation. In many ways, COVID-19 became a catalyst for transformation in the way many of us work. Aside from essential workers, we were all stuck at home. We all lost child care, got a crash course in remote learning and learned how to live without other support services crucial to our pre-pandemic logistics. Suddenly, we all had to navigate a new normal. And as a result, we all began to understand the old way of doing business doesn’t stand a chance in our new reality. 

While “flexibility” had been gaining momentum as a work culture buzzword for the past decade, it wasn’t until 2020 that the perk of flexible hours and flexible schedules became a business imperative — one that has required a broad cultural shift for many organizations and their leaders, myself included. 

Take (better) care

As we continue to make this shift, to put it simply, we need to take better care of ourselves and the people we work with, and as we examine and evolve company policies and programs to make that happen, we need to take into account what our employees actually need. For instance, you may think “wellness” and decide to host an in-office fitness challenge. In actuality, what your employees want and need may be greater access to mental health services, for themselves or their loved ones. 

It calls to mind a story I heard years ago from a C-level executive who was asked why the company had instituted a policy prohibiting first-class travel. The man asking the question was 6-foot-6 and needed the extra leg room, not the free drinks. The executive told him the policy had been designed by those who don’t fly for work, and, worse yet, it had been approved by those who fly on corporate jets. There were no end users involved in the process. The story has stayed with me because it illustrates what can happen when we devise fantastic ideas without the end user in mind. 

Plan for the (end) user

As a corporate entity, our end users are our employees, and it’s important to meet them where they are by evolving all policies, especially our health and wellness initiatives. For employees, they may be dealing with specific physical conditions. For others, it could be mental or behavioral issues. And while we all have some common needs, a blanket approach is not an effective solution to ensuring the health of your entire employee population. 

But, when businesses take the time to understand the true needs of their people, the impact can be profound. 

Mercer’s 2017 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans found that employers who create a culture of health experienced 11% lower turnover than employers who did not prioritize employee well-being. And, as most we know, the costs associated with turnover are extreme. Gallup found that a lost employee costs between 33% and 150% of his or her annual salary, and the ripple effects can be felt in operations, morale and the overall competitiveness of the business (because there must be something wrong with a business that can’t hold on to its employees, right?). 

Then consider these numbers reflect a pre-pandemic reality. Imagine the importance of health and wellness programs now, as COVID-19 remains at the forefront of our collective consciousness. 

Preparing for a (post-pandemic) future

Fortunately, many companies are taking the experience of this past year as a call to action: 88% of employers are increasing investment in mental health programs, and 94% are expecting to expand virtual wellness services in 2021, according to Wellable's 2021 Employee Wellness Industry Trends report. 

At the same time, I would argue those moves alone are not enough. Leaders must embody the cultural shift through their words and actions. They need to attend meetings from the treadmill. They need to talk about prioritizing their kids’ soccer game. They need to take vacations and turn off email. They need to champion mid-day pauses. 

Whatever it may be, bringing self-care into the open normalizes the behavior. It makes it OK for all of us to take care of ourselves. The results of such an approach are too good to pass up. And the time to implement these initiatives has never been better than now. 

So here I am, on my treadmill, quite literally walking the talk. No longer having to commute 30 to 90 minutes, I’m now driving my daughter to school, cooking healthy meals and testing out new recipes that are heart healthy. Finally! My daughter and I have also started a “laugh log” to bring more joy into our lives (more on that later). And I’m sleeping better than I have in years. 

The result? Because I’ve taken care of myself, I’m able to take better care of my family, my team and my organization. I’m able to do my job really, really well. 

Now that we can see the light on the other side of this past year, I’m hopeful we’ve learned the value in taking care of ourselves and those we work with. For organizations, our employees are our greatest assets, and when we support them beyond the four walls of an office, we all benefit. 

There’s much more to share on this topic, so consider this the start of an ongoing conversation around corporate health and what it means to do it well. Next time, count on me to join from my treadmill. I hope you will, too.