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How to Create a Holistic Wellness Program

What does “wellness” mean? Is it about eating right and exercising? Is it about feeling happy? About having good relationships with others? All of the above certainly come under the wellness banner, which means that ideally, they should be part of an employee wellness program.

What is a holistic wellness program?

A holistic wellness program addresses aspects of health and well-being, and goes beyond just physical needs. And such well-rounded programs are becoming a force within HR departments: According to a recent survey from Gallagher Benefit Services, 34 percent of wellness programs now include financial counseling, 28 percent offer volunteer opportunities, and 27 percent offer community engagement.

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2U Uses Grokker to Help Employees Access Wellness Resources Anywhere, Anytime

Erin Newbill is the Senior Director of Compensation and Benefits at 2U, which works with colleges and universities to develop digital education programs. 2U was recently named one of 2017’s Top Workplaces by The Washington Post. In today's post, Erin explains how Grokker is helping 2U employees access wellness resources from the office, at home, and on the road.

Everyone at 2U is passionate about changing the online education landscape, so it’s no surprise they’re passionate about other things, like maintaining their health and well-being. Many of our millennial employees are starting their careers at 2U, and they’re not afraid to tell us that the work environment needs to be a healthy place. We listened to their ideas, and that’s why we chose Grokker.

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Join Grokker CEO, Lorna Borenstein, as Keynote Speaker at The Employers Healthcare & Benefits Congress

Grokker CEO and Founder Lorna Borenstein is taking her popular online culture series on the road with a live keynote event at the 2017 Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress. Lorna regularly interviews trailblazing HR leaders and CEO’s around the globe on how to create employee-centric cultures that promote holistic wellness.

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Glassdoor’s 10 Quick Ways Employers Can Promote Workplace Wellness

A healthy workplace is a happy workplace. Most employers today are aware of this: 80% of organizations provide wellness resources and information, and 70% of organizations offer wellness programs.

It’s an effort embraced by many healthcare providers, but given the most typical source of stress and the high cost to employers, it’s an initiative that would make a lot of sense for companies to take seriously.

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The Real Reason The Panic Attacks Are Winning

Grokker teamed up with SurveyMonkey to examine what most stresses Americans and how the nation is coping with the rising epidemic. Contrary to popular belief, the fears keeping Americans up at night are global or geo-political issues that are out of their immediate control.

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Taking the Summer Off From Work: 6 Ways to Work Less & Enjoy Your Summer More

If you work more than 40 hours a week, you’re not alone. Americans spend an average of 8.8 hours per day, or more than half their waking hours on work and work-related activities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition, 80% of the American workforce are in jobs that require little or no physical activity and 78% of the American workforce reports that their job is stressful. The result is an overstressed, burnt-out workforce with little-to-no time for health-promoting activities.

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The Missing Joy Factor

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of rising female businesswomen about my personal journey toward physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. I am lucky enough today to work at my dream job, where I get to bring my whole self to work every day. But the shifts I made to create a happier and more fulfilling life required challenging the core belief system instilled in me since childhood.

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Your CFO Will Beg You For A Mindfulness Program After Reading This Post

Mindfulness is the latest buzzword in the corporate wellness lexicon, but there is still a lot of confusion around what it actually means to practice mindfulness and how it can have business impact on employee performance. Mindfulness is now becoming a ‘brand’ or a ‘product’, and a misunderstood one at that. In this post and my upcoming webinar, I’m going to demystify mindfulness and help illustrate why companies from Aetna to Goldman Sachs are embracing its benefits.

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Take a Stand Against Sitting: Encourage Employees to Move

You may have heard the saying, “Sitting is the new smoking,” referring to the damage that prolonged sitting does to mental and physical health. (Check out the book Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World, and you’ll never want to do a two-hour stretch in a chair again.) How bad is sitting? According to the Mayo Clinic, sitting more than four hours a day can raise risk of cardiovascular disease by about 125 percent. But unless your business involves training athletes, employees probably have to spend a lot of time sitting at desks and staring at screens.

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Parental Burnout: How to Help

Burnout isn’t always about work. That new mom for whom you just threw a “welcome back” party – the one with the increasingly dark circles around her eyes? And that dad with three kids under 10, who looks like he’s struggling to stay awake during afternoon meetings? Parenting burnout, not work burnout, is what’s hurting these people.

A recent study of parental burnout published in Frontiers in Psychology found that the symptoms mirrored that of work burnout: exhaustion, emotional withdrawal, and feelings of inadequacy. The study found that 12% of parents surveyed suffered from high levels of burnout – that is, experiencing all of these symptoms in a single week.

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3 Reasons to Reclaim the Office Lunch Break

62 percent of professionals say they typically eat lunch at their desks. This stat likely comes as no surprise to most professionals. In fact, I would argue it may be even higher in Silicon Valley where non-stop work at all hours is usually regarded as a point of pride.

What is leading to all these “desktop diners”? About a third of employees say they feel pressured by their managers to work through lunch. While it may seem like working through lunch equals greater productivity, creating a culture where employees take a true break mid-day can have positive effects on your business and your employees’ health.

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Bring Workplace Wellness Home

In her latest post, Grokker CEO Lorna Borenstein urged us to make it personal. As Lorna tells us, “By making employees and their families the focal point of your company, you create a community.”

Numerous studies have shown that social support plays a key role in both health and overall happiness. A January study found that people who feel socially connected to family or friends have lower health risks. Researchers found that socially-integrated teens were 48 percent less likely to be obese, and older adults who were socially integrated were 54 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure.

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NEW GUIDE

Caring For Remote Employees

Many organizations continue to work in remote and hybrid models as the pandemic winds down, but many employees, when given the option to return to work, would actually prefer to continue working remotely. Our new guide, Taking Care of Remote Employees: The Key To Business Success Beyond the Pandemic, gives you actionable steps to ensure that your employees feel supported no matter where they are working. 

Download your guide