Well-Being in the Workplace

An interview with the well-being specialists of Harvard Pilgrim

Tami Ireland
Director of Population Health Improvement

 

Jonathan Roberts
Operations Manager for Mindfulness-Based Learning

Q: Can you talk a little bit about Harvard Pilgrim’s approach to well-being — how is it different from wellness?

Tami: Wellness is often associated with strictly diet and exercise. We believe in a more holistic, inclusive approach that includes having a sense of purpose, your connections to the community, the impact of your environment, your financial health, and so on. As I like to say it, “You are more than just your BMI!”

Q: How does Harvard Pilgrim guide members toward overall well-being?

Tami: Every Harvard Pilgrim member has access to a personal health coach. These coaches are very skilled at helping members set and achieve their goals. Along the way, we also introduce members to other benefits that can be accessed from our website, including our online well-being program, free mindfulness resources, a discounted alternative medicine network, and savings and discounts on everything from eyewear to child care.

Q: You’ve already talked about “mindfulness” as part of well-being. What is mindfulness?

Jonathan: There are a lot of complicated explanations for mindfulness out there, and it is definitely a topic with many components. But we like to keep things as straightforward as possible — at its base, mindfulness training is simply a way to enable people to tap into their brain’s built-in capacity for clarity and focus. A higher-level definition is to be awake, aware, in the present moment, and knowing it. In other words, being aware of being aware.

Tami: Sometimes people think they need to eat a strict diet of kale and sit on an empty beach with their legs bent in a pretzel shape to practice mindfulness. If that works for you, great (and be sure to check out our Green City Growers discount). But we want everyone to know that mindfulness can also be for you if your last meal was a candy bar and you’re excited to get the couch to yourself. Our resources are grounded in science, easy to understand, and designed to help all kinds of people.

Q: Why should employers care about this for their employees?

Jonathan: The really important thing about mindfulness is that a little participation can make a big impact. Science has demonstrated that mindfulness training can help strengthen neuropathways in the brain that enhance creativity, health, and performance at work and in life. Even the most basic instruction in mindfulness can positively affect mood and sleep quality, reduce your chance of burnout, enhance listening and collaboration skills, and make you less prone to distraction. And I think it’s certainly easy to see why these benefits would be valuable to everyone, from a member of a company’s senior leadership to a front-line worker in a call center.

Tami: We help our clients track and quantify the experience of their employees, either by using simple online surveys or with the help of researchers who are studying the larger organizational impacts of mindfulness training. All the data we see trends in the direction we expect it to — participants report statistically significant improvements on measures like work­–life balance and the ability to stay focused on a task.

Q: How does Harvard Pilgrim bring these benefits to the workplace?

Jonathan: Back in 2005, our colleague Tara Healey — who was working in our HR department at that time — got this idea that mindfulness could be converted into a training program for Harvard Pilgrim staff members. Tami saw that this program could be brought to our employer groups, too, and so Tara developed a whole suite of courses and workshops called “Mind the Moment.” Our clients got really excited about it and to date, we’ve taught our program at over 200 different organizations.

Tami: Though we do think the ideal way to engage people in mindfulness training is with an instructor in person, we’ve learned that it’s not a possibility for everyone. With that in mind, we’ve developed a few different ways for people to engage on social media, where we have a lot of free audio and video content available. We also have a toll-free number people can call to hear three-minute guided meditations, in both English and Spanish. We’ve even partnered with some of the best mindfulness apps out there to create a hybrid program with both live and mobile instruction.

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