The WellRight Blog

"What does it mean to live a life worth living? Philosophers, artists, and everyday people have wrestled with this question for centuries, but only in the past few decades has the field of psychology taken it up,” shares Stella Grizont, positive psychology expert and speaker. 

Around the turn of the 21st century, Martin Seligman, at the time the president of the American Psychological Association, lamented the “exclusive focus on pathology” in his field and proposed an alternative approach he termed “positive psychology.”

According to Seligman and his collaborator Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, positive psychology is “the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life.”

If we think of traditional psychology as helping people overcome their mental health issues to improve their functioning, positive psychology aims at empowering people not just to achieve functionality, but to thrive.

We are all living in undeniably stressful times. A deadly pandemic is sweeping the globe, people are holed up in their homes with no real sense of when normal life will resume, and every economic indicator–from the stock market to the unemployment numbers–is setting off alarm bells.

However, even before the coronavirus pandemic–and even during a strong economy–Americans were stressed about their finances. Surveys show a large percentage of Americans routinely rank money woes as the top stressor in their lives.

Whether it comes next month or several months from now, it’s going to happen. The stay-at-home regulations will be lifted, the threat of the coronavirus will recede, and public health officials will deem it safe for Americans to go back to work.

It’s important to understand that going back to the office won’t feel like business as usual for many of your employees. But planning now for the day you finally reopen your doors–however soon or far off that may be–can mitigate confusion and stress among your employees and make for a smooth transition.

Even though many companies have temporarily closed their office doors and are operating with a remote workforce, work stress hasn’t disappeared. Indeed, it may have gotten worse. Back-to-back Zoom meetings, homeschooling, an overflowing email inbox, and working late nights once the kids go to bed can add up to frazzled employees trying to balance the demands of work and home.

Luckily, employers have access to a tool that has the power to help employees manage stress, increase productivity, and improve their overall sense of well-being, while lowering healthcare expenses and reducing absenteeism. Even better, it hardly costs a thing.

Magic? Nope. It’s mindfulness.

Meat has been a staple of the human diet for as long as there have been humans. But do we really need meat? Can fruits, vegetables, beans, and other food that grows out of the soil provide all the nutrients and energy we need to survive and even thrive?

A growing body of evidence suggests that shifting to a plant-based diet can result in major benefits to your health–and the environment.

Contemplating that shift, however, can raise a lot of questions.

Eating better, working out, getting more sleep … taking care of our physical self is relatively straightforward (even if it’s often easier said than done).

Achieving good emotional health may be a bit more complicated—but it’s just as important as achieving good physical health. And yet, emotional wellness often lands squarely on the back burner, particularly in the workplace. Why isn't emotional health more of a priority for overall employee wellness?

Stress is a fact of life. Whether it’s stress caused by personal issues, work demands, or global events, we all experience some form of negative stress in our lives. Indeed, about half of Americans report experiencing a “major stressful event” in the previous year. Fortunately, your workplace can be a surprisingly effective force for good when it comes to reducing your employees’ stress levels. Not only can you make sure your workplace isn’t unnecessarily stressful, but you can use your corporate wellness program to help employees bounce back faster and more fully when stress—from any source—does occur. 

How? By helping employees strengthen their emotional resilience.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an unlimited budget to invest in your employee wellness program? Imagine the rewards you could offer, the unique challenges you could try, the workplace wellness perks you could provide.

A full-time, onsite health food chef? Sure! Smartwatches for everyone? Why not?

Sadly, the sky is rarely the limit when it comes to creating an employee wellness program. You will likely have to make tough decisions and pass on some appealing—but too costly—options.

Make no mistake; some of your employees struggle with mental illness at least some of the time. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that nearly one out of five adults experiences mental illness in a given year. Depression and anxiety cost the U.S. economy $1 trillion per year in lost productivity.

And your workplace itself may be a contributing factor. One in four Americans say work is a source of anxiety.

How should you address mental health issues at your workplace?